Trip to Nelson and Missoula

Another weekend bites the dirt and again I packed in a lot. However I did not take as many pictures as I would have liked but enjoyed every moment ( well perhaps there were a few very rainy moments on the interstate I could have done without.) On Thursday I packed up and met my friend Mac and rode to Nanton where we met Peter Rodland. Mac came back to Calgary and Peter and I headed for Nelson, BC via Highway 3. When we got to Creston we decided to take the ferry so headed for Crawford Bay. I was really impressed with the Lupins and Forsythia which grow along the side of the road. Just beautiful. Peter and I stopped for fuel in Frank, Alberta and as you can see it was a gorgeous day.

 When we arrived in Nelson Peter had reserved us a campsite at the City Park and we put up our tents and I tried to reach the contact I had for the 3 Flags Classic volunteers but unfortunately his phone was turned off so I said to Peter we need to hike down to the Prestige Resort and see if they have checked in and at least make contact. When we arrived they were out on the patio of the beautiful restaurant and we arrived just in time to have dinner with them.
Jim and Lorraine Partridge from Fruitvale were there and he is our Canadian liason. Huey, Dennis and Les from California were doing the preride so they could get all the situations that may arise ironed out. I was delighted to learn that I had met Huey at Agua Caliente on Jan 1. We had a great meeting and Peter and I now feel we know what our duties will be come Sept long weekend when the riders will be finishing there. Here are a couple of pictures of the beautiful resort.

The next day we met at 10:00 with the committee and the resort people to finalize some of the set ups and what would be required and then I headed out. Peter stayed another day in Nelson and I guess he had a wet ride home. I however had a beautiful ride south and stopped just before the border to take these pictures of the Salmo River.

I carried on down to Spokane and then East on I 90. I encountered some rain showers after the summit of The Fourth of July Pass and then again as I rode into Missoula it was raining and thundering and lightening so I went straight to The Brooks Street Motor Inn for the night. There were several bikes there as there was also some kind of British Bike thing going on( but I am afraid not my kind of do) as the bunch I met seemed to be pretty heavy drinkers. I called Betty to let her know I made it and she picked me up the next morning to walk in the walk for Cystic Fibrosis.

This is Betty and her greatgrandson Micah who has Cystic Fibrosis. With the help of others Betty and I made the helium balloon arch. When it was over I went back to the hotel and picked up the bike, Went to Big Sky BMW to pick up the manual for my new bike and then headed over to Jim Iversen's for the campout. I had to give them a bad time...I was told it was a MOTORCYCLE CAMPOUT and for the longest time I was the only one there with a motorcycle and a tent. Most came in their motorhomes or went home after dinner. The dinner was excellent.

Above is our gracious host dismantling the next day. I had coffee and rolls for breakfast and packed up and headed up to Art and Betty's. The supper that evening had guests from Luxembourg and Munich. Horst our friend passed away last week on his way to Germany to visit everyone and his son Dieter and sister Christa were leaving the next day for home after taking care of affairs here. Kind of a sad reason to meet but very delightful to meet them.
The following day Art, Betty and I went to Paradise Falls for breakfast and then Art and I rode together to Columbia Falls and had a bite to eat and I traveled on home and Art back to Missoula.
I texted from Sparwood to ask if it was raining but Mac said not yet but he had heard thunder. I carried on and never did run into any rain. Maybe he just farted??? HAHA. I guess they did get a downpour but I managed to evade it. So once again I am home for a little while. We will see what the next adventure brings.