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Published: August 13th 2008
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Today is Monday Aug. 4th
Got up this morning and had coffee first thing. Chuck's camp coffee was becoming camp espresso. It rocked! Didn't take much to do the job. (=
Left the campground and rode toward Ennis. On the way, we checked out a rip-off observatory @ Earthquake Lake. Didn't go into the place just out of general principle. We shouldn't have to pay for something we already pay for in the first place.
Chuck, Pat, and Corrie had gone into the place, but the dude @ the counter with his little radio and mace got all testy because Chuck walked around the corner without paying his admission fee. None of them even knew there was an admission fee. The guy was really rude, so they told him so, and came back out.
We decided to go on up the hill to the lookout, and check out the view from there. It was pretty cool. There were info stations that explained what had happened when an earthquake had hit the area and completely took out parts of the mountain ranges. We were able to look out over the lake, and over the whole valley. For having been destroyed,
Earthquake Lake
It was amazing how much of the mountain slid off into the Lake. This is part of the old slide area. it was a spectacular view.
From there we rode on into Ennis. We found a laundromat, and took the time to do our laundry. We also found a NAPA parts store, and Chuck got some parts he needed. He was able to borrow their grinder, and fix his bike. We added oil to his bike, and mine too.
We asked several people where a good place to eat was. They told us the sports bar was excellent, so we tried it. It wasn't as good as they had made it sound. Corrie ordered fish, and it was overcooked and rubbery. He was pretty irritated by it, and told them it was not good. Chuck ordered fried ravioli, and they came out extremely crispy and dry. Pat had a buffalo burger, and liked it. I had a rueben, and it was okay. Tammi ordered mini cheese burgers, but didn't say much of anything. The service sucked, and it took almost an hour to get our food. So, if you're ever in Ennis Montana, I wouldn't recommend the sports bar there. Go to the Pharmacy instead. They serve food there too, and it rocks!
Pat had been trying to
Earthquake Lake Lookout
One of the views from the lookout get his ATM card to work every since we had gotten into Montana. He was getting pretty frustrated at this point, as it wasn't working in Ennis either. He started saying that all the banks in Montana must be in-bred. It made us all laugh.
We fueled again, then blasted up the road toward Virginia City. We unanimously decided not to stop because it was a GIANT tourist trap. Instead, we rode on aways to a little Mining Museum near Nevada City, in a place called Alder Gulch. It was so cool. You could pan for gold if you wanted to, or take a tour on a bus, or just browse all you wanted. We decided to browse, and watch the other people pan for gold in troughs. Chuck and I both gold-pan, so it was kind of funny seeing people so excited about panning in troughs.
Corrie bought Tammi a gold leaf for her jacket, and they took the time to put it on while we were there.
After that we rode to Twin-Bridges in search of an ATM for Pat. No luck. If you blink you might miss Twin-Bridges though, because it's so small. I liked the people there, they were all nice.
We met an old dude who builds his own bikes. He lives right across from the tiny market/restaurant/gas station. He was cool to talk to. He was an old scooter-tramp, and had some of his custom bikes sitting out front of his place.
Went on into Sheridan from there in search of an ATM for Pat, but still no luck finding one that would work with his card. Pat said that Montana is definitely an in-bred state, and all their banks were related too. He was pretty frustrated at this point. We fueled and bought ice, snacks, and water there in Sheridan.
Rode on to Dillon from there. We stopped near a Farm Supply store, and noticed a sign advertising a KOA campground.
Corrie went to check out the price of it, while Pat rode back to a Safeway store we had seen coming in. We figured he could at least get cash back from a Safeway store.
When Pat got back, he was still agitated because Safeway had given him a runaround to get money too. At least he finally got a little more cash for awhile.
Corrie came back with the KOA info, and we were trying to decide if we wanted to go further on up the road and look for another camp site, or if we wanted to be done riding for the day. Pat didn't give a hoot at that point, he was saying he just wanted to get out of the in-bred town of Dillon, Montana. We were giving him a little extra space at that point.
We finally decided to stay at the KOA there just outside of Dillon, so we loaded up and rode out to check in.
We paid for the night, and went to find a spot. The camp host had been watering all the sites, so there was a limited # with enough dry spots for our tents. We found one with enough room, and began setting up camp.
Right next to us was a young guy and his dog. He was camping his way to Boise. He was coming from Colorado. We offered him dinner, but he opted to go for a HUGE ice cream cone instead. He shared a bag of bing cherries with us, as he said he just couldn't eat any more of them. He reads heart ulra-sounds, and is moving there for his first job right out of school.
On the other side of us was a retired Presbyterian preacher and his wife. They were from Seattle. They liked the look of our tent trailer, so we got their email address so we could shoot them some info on tent trailers when we get home.
Went to an ice-cream social at the rec center at KOA. Met some bikers, and visited with them awhile. They were headed to Sturgis.
We all took showers, swam in the pool, built a fire, and ate freeze dried meals for dinner.
Afterward, we sat around the fire BSing.
Chris and his dog came over to visit. His dog, Katie, did tricks for some Cheetos. If we ignored her, she would put her paw up for more Cheetos. She was a fun dog. Chris is the Ultra-sound guy headed to Boise.
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