The Girls weren't helping at all today

 I mentioned earlier about "The Girls", Googles answer for navigating you to and through the strangest of places. On my P48 trip they were my (almost) constant companion, offering up navigational insights, and a healthy side order of humor, almost daily. There are two voices whom I have dubbed Gertrude Pauline Schuster and Gloria Pauline Stewart, both having the same monogram. They sometimes disagree with each other, a couple times Gertrude has started speaking Mexican (when I was near the Mexican border) or French (when I was near the St. Lawrence seaway). They like to put me on Interstates, which I try to avoid, so when I by-pass an on-ramp they go into panic mode, trying to get me on track. That's when the fun starts.

But they have their frustrating side too. Like when they decide to not show up for work! They're supposed to feed me navigational instructions through a blue tooth receiver on the side of my helmet. However, they have failed to show up for work on more than one occasion. Today or example.

My routes thus far have been rather uncomplicated, staying on the same highway for days at a time. When I rode south yesterday to Cranbrook I was riding on highways 93 and 95, together. It is precisely at Cranbrook that the two highways split, each eventually crossing the border into the U.S., but many miles apart. I had looked at the map while still hooked to Google through my WiFi connection. I then entered the name of a town on my desired route so that, when I was ready, I could "force" the program to follow my choice of route instead of an alternate route.

After church I powered up and hit "directions" in my Navigator. Bluetooth was on, clear sky, everything was set, but the girls said nothing. I tried a couple of things then, thinking I could figure it out on my own, I rode through some neighborhoods in the direction I thought would put me on the highway. A highway I found, but which one?

I turned left (away from town) and started to accelerate. It was then that I noted a mileage sign giving three city/town names that I did not recognize. It mentioned nothing about the U.S. Border, nor could I find a highway number (which has been a common occurrence). So I did a U-Turn and backtracked to a gas station. 

The two people I talked to convinced me I wanted Highway 95 and sent me out the other end of town. I turned one ramp too soon and had to do a U-Turn but it did not allow me to turn back east. I ended up turning around again in the driveway of the hotel I had stayed at last night. I started out of town yet again but, thinking I was turning right to head south, I found myself looping up and over the highway and heading back to where I was yesterday.

Another U-Turn and I was finally headed south on 93/95. My feeling of success was short lived however as I came to a fork in the road. The straight-ahead sign gave me two city names that were totally unfamiliar and said "93 south/ B.C.3", the ramp to the right said "U.S. Border by Cranbrook hey 95". I opted for the ramp to the right and just as I past the point of no return I recognized it as being where I had exited yesterday to go into town.

I turned around at the hotel again, forwent the first turn, the next ramp and finally found myself on 93 south/B.C.3. It took me 45 minutes to clear the city limits of Cranbrook!

Not only were The Girls silent through this entire operation but they had told me last night that East Glacier was only 135 miles away. This too proved to be untrue. I rode for an hour, passing through the tiny town I had selected, Jaffray, and not a word from The Girls. The signs along the way gave mileages to Fernie and Spitwood (or something like that) but never said a word about the U.S. Border. In the tiny burg of Elko I cruised right through an intersection before noting that the route to the right looked to be a major road. The sign, upon inspection after doing another U-Turn, said 93 south Roosville, but still mentioned nothing about the U.S. Border! It was another 15-20 miles before I saw any mention of the border or customs. Side note: Roosville showed on the map only after selecting the option for "show imaginary towns that you will never find".

As I pulled up to the back of the line of 5 or 6 cars lined up at Customs, I shut the engine off. It was getting quite hot and I didn't know how quickly the line would move. As my engine went silent, Gloria yelled in my ear, "Welcome to the United States"!

I don't know where the 135 miles came from on Google but I refueled twice before I turned toward West Glacier! Granted, neither of the fuel stops were because I was running on empty. Call it a Canadian hang-over. Never pass up a gas station!

I had elected last night to "let the good times roll" as Bobby and the Spring-fed Dovelettes used to say. I haven't heard anything from my house sitter, so I hope that's good. As long as I'm "in the neighborhood" there is one other loop that I want to ride and it requires I be on the east side of the mountains. So if you're in northern Montana and you need to go from one side of the mountains to another, what do you do? You "Go To The Sun"!

I was in Whitefish and The Girls directed me to West Glacier (I did stop and look at their map to be sure they weren't routing me south of Glacier N.P.)

I entered the west portal at exactly 3 p.m. (Other than refueling and lunch I had ridden since 11:30 (plus 45 minutes to get out of Cranbrook), so I'm guessing it was a tad more than 135 miles, and THAT was supposed to be to East Glacier, about another 85 miles!) It was 99 degrees. But the combination of great scenery, a cool breeze and constant motion made it an enjoyable ride. 

NOTE: If you are interested, I wrote last year about why Glacier N.P. is so special to me and also about what I saw along the Going To The Sun Road, the Crown Jewel of the National Park System. It can be found at:

frogP48.blogspot.com

Go to the page labeled Closing the Circle (8-7-16)

and 

A closed loop tour of Glacier National Park

(8-8-16)

I actually rode this route twice last year, first clockwise, then counterclockwise, taking more pictures than Yogi has pickinick baskets! So this time through I just gazed side to side, bottom to top, pausing at Logan Pass to take a picture of a mountain goat, 

then literally coasting down the east side,

 into St. Mary's, then south along a couple of fairly good state highways, to East Glacier. It was on one of these twisting highways that, while coming around a sharp bend, I suddenly found myself staring at the drivers door of a Toyota pick-up. He apparently had looked my way, then thinking it was clear, looked the other way, then pulled out onto the road. I turned and braked as sharply as I dare. He floored it and managed to get far enough across my lane to allow me to miss the back fender and still stay on the road with the shiny side up. The end of my handlebar missed the back corner of his truck by about six inches. Too close to be fun!

When I pulled into East Glacier things took a weird turn. I went directly to the Dancing Bear motel, where I had stayed last year, to see about getting a room.

They had one left, but it had a problem. They had 5 different plumbers come out to try to fix a water leak. They had it fixed but the floor (carpeting) was still "a little wet". She said she could show it to me and, if it was acceptable, give me the room for the night for half price! Always ready for a bargain, I agreed to look at it.

It was the same room I had stayed in last year! She showed me that the toilet now flushed and did not leak so I said I'd take the room. So as she checked me in she gave me a 10% discount coupon for a restaurant around the corner that they now own.

I began to unload my stuff into the room and it was then that I noticed the pungent odor of a disinfectant. Furthermore, when I walked around to the bathroom side of the bed I could see water oozing up around my shoes.

I went back to the front desk and told her it was more than a "little" wet. She said I could go eat and, if I thought about it and changed my mind, she'd refund my money and let me find a room elsewhere.

I walked around the corner to "the restaurant with the flower baskets hanging in front". It was the Aspenglow, where I had eaten last year! My experience at that time however was less than great. If I recall the service was lousy and the food over priced and average. They had explained at the time that management had just changed a few weeks before. I wasn't going to eat there but I had a discount coupon!

To make a too-long story slightly shorter, the service was terrible and the food was not good. My baked potato was literally burned. I removed a layer of ash from the top side of it. The corner of the salmon filets were also burnt. The ice tea was weak, I had to ask for a menu and there were no condiments on the table. Then, as I struggled with the ethical dilemma of how much to tip, the waitress (finally) returned with my credit card to explain that their machine was broken and wanting to know if I had cash. The bill came to $26.00 (over priced?) and I showed the waitress that I had but a single $20.00 bill. She said that's fine, $26.00 minus 20% discount with the coupon came to $20.60 (the coupon was 10% and that comes to $23.40). So she took my $20 bill, and my credit card and declared us even! I reminded her that I would need my credit card and she returned it. I normally would have corrected all of this but was quite disappointed in both the food and service. Had I had more cash I would have paid more but I had no idea how to make it "right" without using my credit card. Then, on the way out, I noticed an ATM machine in the corner that could have come in handy. And as I walked out I noticed that the piece of carpeting outside the door was saturated with water from the flower basket watering system. Must be a systemic water issue. I think they have some problems. When I got back I told them I would be open to relocation. A young man (the manager) had taken over front desk duties and he called around and found another available room (rooms are at a premium as there is another AGM in a nearby town, so many indigenous people have flocked to the area).

I checked in to Bob and Diane's TR lodge (travelers rest?) and got their last "cabin". It's in a barn (so no, I wasn't born in a barn but I stayed there once!) but it is really quite nice... Except there is no WiFi. 

and it had a place for Harry Potter to stay!

So this entry in my blog is being done through extraordinary means, to be posted at a later time. I worked on it, and uploaded my daily pictures, at the Glacier Grand Lodge but had to give up.

The huge old lobby is impressive but hot (no a/c) and the rockers on the front porch were great but I could not tolerate the mosquitos!

I guess I'm off the grid again, but with electricity and running water!