Today as just a travel day. Getting from point A to point B by the fastest route. In other words, all slab.

Day started out at 38F and sun. Lots and lots of sun. Before long, the temperature was in the 40s. By the time I quit for the day, it was in the mid 70s. No rain, no wind. Some days are good, even on the slab.

Simple route, all on I-90.

For today, it is easier to just let the pictures do the talking.

Loaded the bike this morning, put all of the gear on, turned the ignition on, and the bike would not run. At least I was still in the motel parking lot.

Called the tow truck and was taken to Maverick Motorsports. Service department took the bike in and started to work on it. Everything checked out fine, but the bike would not run. They continued to try and find the problem.

In the mean time, a Montana Cutie:

While I was waiting, they said that I could take a ride. No not that, a demo ride on the bike. The Zero is an electric bike. Very impressive little bike and fun to ride. I had no real time limit and took off on the bike.

During the demo ride I discovered that the deer could read the road signs.

View of the mountains that I was suppose to be riding through today.

Later this afternoon I got the good news. Bad fuel injectors. Then the bad news. The closest ones were in Georgia and they could not get them here before Wednesday.

So now I have 5 days to re-plan my route. Will not be back on the road until Thursday.

Past few days were spent just hanging around the motel and walking to the different restaurants.

Went down to Maverick Motorsports this afternoon to check if we had gotten lucky and that the parts had come in today. No such luck.

However, the service manager asked me if I wanted to use a demo bike for the next couple of days and check out Hwy 12. DUH!! Had to think about that one for a while. Gave it a lot of serious thought. And after a long period of debating, I final came to a decision. Of course! They had been trying to contact me at the hotel to see if I wanted to use a demo bike, but the hotel told them that I was no longer there. Wonder if I can get my money back for the room it I was not there?

The demo bike:

2015 Yamaha V-Star 950

Got my riding gear on, filled the bike up with gas, and headed southwest into Idaho on Hwy 12. Got a late start in the afternoon so the ride was only around 3 hours.

Hwy 12, what little time that I spent on it, was a great road. Great scenery, mountains, streams, and lots of curves.

Lolo Peak. Over 9,000 feet tall.

Have not ridden a cruiser in a long time. The V-Star was a great bike and handled well on the road. Definitely different from what I am usual riding.

Missoula, MT:

Looking south

and north

Took a short local ride on the demo bike this morning.

Fuel injectors came in Wednesday. The shop installed the injectors and the bike ran great, in the shop. They took it out to road test it and it started cutting out around 4K rpm.

Back to the shop and they checked out the fuel pump. They pulled the tank off of a new V-Strom and put it on my bike. Problem solved. Took the new tank off my bike. Pulled the fuel pump out of the new tank and installed it in my tank. Put my fuel tank back on my bike and it would not run right. No chance of making my planned departure.

Today I went down to the shop around noon. They thought that they had the problem fixed but were still putting the bike back together and wanted another road test. They had found some shorts in the original factory wiring. They wiring and been fixed and the bike was running great. Another couple of hours and it should be ready to pick up.

I had dropped the V-Star back off at the shop yesterday evening. Bent, one of the co-owners, asked me if I wanted to take another demo bike out for a ride while I was waiting for the bike to be finished.

Brent did everything possible that he could to make my delay as easy as possible.

One last Montana Cutie:

Hoping to leave around 4:00am in the morning.

Next 3 days should be around 15-16 hour days. One half day on Monday and I should finally get into Anchorage.

Critter Count:
 Deer: numerous
 Black Bear: 1
 Bison: 1 herd (30 +/- )
 Bunny Rabbits in the middle of the road: 4

Finally got back on the road. 3:45am departure. Hwy 93 north. After a couple of hours, began to get some daylight.

Back east on Hwy 2 and through the southern part of Glacier National Park. Mostly partly cloudy with temps in the high 40s to 50s.

Hwy 49 out of East Glacier Park north to Hwy 89. Small narrow, twisty two lane that finally made it up to 6,000 feet. Fun little road.

Then a little fog just to keep it interesting.

Continuing north on Hwy 89 to the border

Reached the border and it took about 5 minutes to cross.

Not much difference on the northern side.

Started getting overcast and the last 5 hours were in on and off light rain. About 10 miles from Valley view the sun came back out and the rain disappeared. Good ending to the day. Tomorrow will be another long day.