Day 28 Chester, MT

Back in the U.S.A....... Greetings everyone. Well, it was a long ride today, but we made it state side. We are in Chester, Montana and because it's in the middle of nowhere we still have no Internet service. What a glorious day we had for riding. This morning was a little chilly but the sun was shining. We rode out of Maeythourpe around 8:20a.m. and headed for the border. It was a change of scenery from the past several weeks. Alberta is flat, the roads are straight and well paved. We rode for an hour before we came to our first curve and it was a small one. The country side is loaded with cattle ranches and horse farms. Acres and acres of pasture, stretched as far as the eye could see. We could see the rockies way off to the west. I have no idea how far they were but after riding through them and remembering their size we figured them to be far away. The snow still covered the tops and it was a beautiful sight. More so because we weren't going to be riding through them. The speed limit was 65m.p.h. so I held the throttle at 70 and kept it there. There was no traffic that was cruising through the country side so maintaining speed was no problem. We took route 22 south to avoid Edmonton and it proved to be a wise choice. We came to a town called Rocky Mountain House and decided to fuel before getting on the expressway. This town gets the “Friendliest People Award”. Everyone who came near us wanted to talk and they were sincere in their cheerfulness. We had a bite to eat then headed out for the next leg. This time we got on to the expressway heading to Calgary. We were told that it wouldn't be tough getting through the city. The highway speed was 75m.p.h. so 80 it was, and we were off. All of what we saw in Alberta was pretty much the same. Cattle, horses and pasture lots of pasture. Everything was green and you could see for miles. The expressway was also one straight line to Calgary. We arrived in Calgary around 1:30p.m. Traffic got heavy but it was still manageable. We did get off for gas and found no stations so we got back on the highway and continued south. Calgary is a very large city and it covered about 20 miles. We found a gas station on our third try at exiting into the city. We knew we would make the U.S. border on schedule but when we left the city I really hammered on the throttle. It was nice cruising 80m.p.h. and not having to worry about being pulled over. As we neared the U.S. Border the landscape started to roll. There were little hills and mounds of rock scattered all over. We could see a mountain off to the east but it was much smaller than the rockies. The towns were industrial towns servicing oil rigs and grain elevators. We arrived at the border around 6:15p.m. and had no problem entering Montana. The guard seemed like he didn't want to be bothered. He asked three questions and sent us on our way. We pulled into Shelby, Montana around 6:45p.m. and we were at our destination, or so we thought. Every motel in town was booked. They are building wind towers here and most of the rooms are taken by the workers. We had no choice but to head to the next town. It was 35 miles east on route 2. We prayed that the Lord would once again bail us out and provide shelter and true as He is He did. We checked into a motel in Chester then headed to the Great Bar and Eatery. The name speaks for itself, we had a wonderful dinner there and nice conversation with everyone. If your ever in Chester be sure to stop there you wont be disappointed. The chicken and shrimp were excellent and the price was a relief from what we have been paying. We left the restaurant and went to Bills Buggy Bath to wash off the Yukon dirt that covered our bike. The sun was setting and on our way back to the motel we saw the most awesome view of the mountains off in the distance. We showered and got the Alberta dirt off ourselves and are now settling in for the night. Todays ride was 572 miles but it didn't seem like we went that far. We both feel pretty good and are ready for what tomorrow brings. Time to make a game plan for the morning, so have a good night and God Bless.