We aren’t making the miles we wanted at the beginning of the Long Ride North, but at least we are moving in the right direction, north. The weather has had an influence for sure. I left you good folks this morning in Butte, MT where it had rained all last night and was still raining when we  stirred this morning.Then, right before our very eyes as we were fixing our morning coffee and debating on what to do, the rain turned to snow. Thoroughly amazed at what we were seeing, we settled back down, poured another cup and watched the show, shaking our heads. Here’s the video. Click on the link Snowing in Butte Finally about 11:00 AM we saw the sun peak through the clouds and we made the decision to go for it. FIRST, however, we had to clean the snow off of the bikes. We stopped at the Harley dealer on the way out to see if they had an idea of the road conditions. We got mixed opinions and decided we to go anyway. While the skies were partly cloudy we managed to avoid anymore rain and the roads were fine. It was a bit chilly so we left our rain suits on more for the protection from the cold than anything. Just before Great Falls, MT the interstate goes through an absolutely beautiful valley with the Missouri River meandering along. The views were just stunning. Sunlight would break through the clouds and highlight portions of the valley with the river glistening. For several miles we followed the Missouri first on our right and then on our left. We stopped at a great little rest area for a late lunch and read up on the Lewis and Clark Expedition while eating our sandwiches. It’s incredible what those guys did. I’ll have to read more about their journey. The views around Great Falls are always scenic. Rolling green fields of grains with patches of sunlight highlighting just the right areas, all set against a back drop of very dark ominous looking storm clouds. Hmmm. Apparently we weren’t out of the rain just yet. Our plan was to turn left just passed Great Falls and come out at St. Mary’s at the foot of Glacier National Park, and then go through the Chief Mountain Border crossing, which we have done before. Once in Canada we had planned to spend the night in a quaint little motel in Waterton National Park. It was obvious that wasn’t going to happen. We stopped at a Montana information center/ rest stop and caught the weather. Very severe rain storms over the area with high potential for flooding. After some discussion on the matter we decided to stay the night in Shelby, Mt just 30 miles up the road and reassess the situation in the AM. So tonight finds us at the Glacier Motel. Apparently there were several other bikers who decided to take advantage of this little mom and pop motel and wait out the storm. We chatted with one couple from Michigan who are spending their second night here. A fellow on a BMW who checked in just ahead of us had ridden down from Canada in the tail end of the storm and he reported that it was terrible with water running across the interstate deep enough he had to lift his feet off of the foot pegs to keep his boots from getting soaked. We are happy here in our motel room for the night. Notice the blue skies? We wandered down to the Dixie Inn, Casino, Bar and Grill for supper and were treated to a classic Montana bar. The hostess suggested we eat in the bar if we didn’t mind as they had just seated a large party of 25 in the dining room. We thanked her for the tip and promptly headed that way. What a treat that was. Reminded me of the Four Aces in Hardin, Montana. How is it I know about the Four Aces you ask? I’ll save that one for another story. Before you knew it there was an old classic country tune playing on the jukebox. I smiled. With a dollar bill in hand I found that old relic and selected some of my favorites. One from Hank Snow, one from Whispering Bill Anderson, another from Waylon Jennings, one from Porter Waggoner and a final from Conway Twitty. Classics all. The sirloin was pretty good to boot. And that brings me to here and now. So there you go. That’s the latest and greatest from the road. More tomorrow when we cross into Canada and the real adventure begins. Stay tuned.