''ACROSS THE TOP'' COMPLETE & ''THE LOWER 48 IN THE BAG''
storms gathering over the great lakes
Continuing west, I had the option to take a short cut into Canada, however, I remained in the USA and followed the southern shores of Lakes Ontario and Erie. On the shores of Lake Ontario, the notable village of Sackets Harbour provided an enjoyable and informative stopover. It was almost a mini history lesson. Following the Seaway Trail west, in complete contrast was the sprawling and characterless resort city of Erie. Erie sits in northern Pennsylvania and on the southern shore of the lake with the same name.
When leaving the city of Erie westbound early on a Saturday morning, I recall I was completely surrounded by active thunderstorms, with the sky in every direction looking extremely threatening. Remarkably, my path remained dry and calm for the 350 miles or so to Lansing, Michigan. I was lucky! Leaving Michigan, I did take a short cut. I crossed the 68.5 mile width of Lake Michigan on the high speed ferry from Muskegon-Michigan to the brewing city of Milwaukee-Wisconsin. The enjoyable capital Madison and the striking Wisconsin countryside, made way for the metropolitan sprawl of the twin cities. Thankfully, this was the last major urban area encountered on this section.
Further west, the states got big again and entering the Dakotas, I really got a feel of open space and the big sky, even though I had not yet got to Montana. The sky did appear to wrap around the whole picture ahead. It has to be seen. Montana turned out to be quite an impressive state. I wasn’t surprised. I entered from North Dakota and headed west on the highline route along the top of the state close to the Canadian border. The road runs parallel to a busy rail freight route and the trains at least a mile long, normally hauling double-decker container trucks, forge east and west with great frequency. All the towns grew up on the railroad and have most unusual names. As if picked randomly from an atlas, Glasgow, Kremlin, Zurich, Chester, but to mention a few. I stayed in Malta where I met local Ranchers in a rustic bar. They were keen to tell of their ranch life and original cattle rearing methods. Here, annual branding days are a big event where a young bullock may be pinned down and subject to branding, castration and inoculations, all at once. Then there’s the rest of the herd! It’s a physical day, managed by an organised and expert team. It was a priceless conversation and insight into Montana ranching methods, which are still practised in adjoining western states. Further west in the huge state, an early morning ride through Glacier National Park was very much a highlight of the month. After a hearty brunch in the small town of Lakeside on Flathead Lake, the vibrant city of Missoula on Independence Day provided a great finale to the Big Sky State.
freight train bisects Malta-Montana
glacier national park-montana
Close behind in geographical spectacle were Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks in Wyoming. After the latter 2, I stopped over in Jackson Hole. I thought this small town would be an ideal venue after the National Parks. Alas, I disliked everything about this tourist and grossly expensive place, where even some of the locals were pretentious and unfriendly. It is quite similar to Sedona-Arizona-very commercial. This type of place does not represent the real America. The locals want your money and not your conversation. Thankfully I have experienced few similar places on my journey. One good thing about Jackson Hole was the road out of town. It crossed the southern end of the Tetons and lands in Idaho. Idaho is another extremely geographically diverse state. A mixture of rich lowlands with fast flowing rivers, high desert, verdant agricultural plains and striking mountain ranges. The cosmopolitan and unpretentious city of Boise is aptly the capital of this impressive state.
yellowstone-wyoming
grand teton-wyoming
Next door is Oregon, where the eastern part of the state is on the high desert, descending just a touch towards Bend and Chemult which are quite close to the unmissable Crater Lake and Cascade Mountains. Prior to the capital of Salem, it was refreshing to see and smell the Pacific Ocean again, this time on the Oregon coastline. Whilst in Oregon and undoubtedly an aviation highlight on this trip, was a visit to the aviation museum at McMinnville. Here I was able to view the immaculately maintained ‘Spruce Goose’ and even allowed to sit in Howard Hughes’ Captains seat. Thereafter, it was a quick jaunt up to Olympia, the capital of Washington State and a visit to Mount Rainier National Park concluded my ‘across the top’ sector and putting ‘the lower 48 in the bag’.
crater lake-oregon
spruce goose-mcminnville-oregon
in Howard's seat........
I achieved my objective of completing the lower 48 by remaining in the lower 48. My mileage was somewhat in excess of what I planned on this sector and instead of 4000 miles, I rode 5300 miles. The journey total so far is 21 700 miles.
mount rainier-washington state
Next-north for the 49th !
