Another Surge celebration at Marias Pass! (5200 ft., 1585m)
Another Surge celebration at Marias Pass! (5200 ft., 1585m)
Last Modified on 9/23/97 at 17:22:47
Day's Narrative: I left Coram about 6:40 am. About 20 miles out of town, around 9:00, I came to the Staunton Cafe & Bar. The only place to get service was at the bar where I ordered a Coke. The owner and wife were at the end of the bar and absorbed in the morning newspaper and didn't seem interested in talking. As I drank my Coke, I looked around the bar and noticed several hundred one dollar bills with writing on them pinned all around the wall up next to the ceiling. I asked the waitress why they were there. She said they were from people who wanted to be remembered as having been there. I didn't think it was such a memorable experience, so I decided not to give them one of my dollars. In a few minutes the waitress brought me a book and a pen and asked me to enter my name and address. I did, and put "bicycler" in parenthesis. I asked her if they see many bicyclers through here. She said yes, lots. It appeared that there was not going to be any more conversation, so I finished my Coke and left. The climb to Marias Pass at 5,200 ft (1585m) was not steep, but very long. I would really prefer to have them steep and get it over with. Anyway, Connie was waiting for me at the top with another Surge drink (see photo), Then I left for East Glacier (pop. 250) 10 miles (16 km) away inside the Blackfeet Indian reservation. I got there in good time but could not find Connie. Had she not found a motel and gone on to Browning 13 miles away? I rode the town several times in the next hour, looking at all the motel parking lots for the truck. It simply was not there! Finally, since motels in this area of Montana fill up very fast in the afternoon, I was getting nervous about getting a place to stay for the night. So I used my credit card to reserve one of the few rooms left in one of the motels, then went back down to main street to sit and wait. As I was sitting on a bench outside the town grocery store, a young, overweight Indian man came up, sat down beside me and said "Hi there, whatcha doing buddy?" I could smell alcohol and I decided the best thing to do was short-answer him and hope he would get tired of no conversation and leave. I said, "Waiting for my wife." He replied, "How old's your wife?" I said, "About 50." He answered "Well, I guess she's not out playing around then." Then after a pause he said "I gotta get home. I came to town, and then got drunk, and now I gotta find a ride home." In a few moments he got up and left. This area of Montana has a tourist season of two months -- July and August. There aren't any chain motels here. I suppose it's because the money they make up here for the year is made during these two months. Chain motels can't survive under these conditions. So, the motels that are here are all Mom & Pop motels. Most don't have phones. Some that do won't let you direct dial a long distance number. Therefore I can't use my computer. It may be possible to manually dial and use my laptop, but I've tried, and I can't figure out how to do it. After about an hour I saw our truck pull out of a side street and head back towards Marias Pass. I stepped into the street and waved, hoping she would see me in the rear view mirror, but no luck. However, I did find the motel where she had checked in. [Connie] I had waited for 2 hours in the motel room, and then decided that something must have happened, so I took off for the summit, only looking forward and in the distance on the other side of the road, hence my missing Ray as above. I got to the summit without seeing him and started down looking in all the roadside ditches in a pretty good state of panic. Then through East Glacier toward Browning, only to find the road torn up and graveled, no way for a road bike. Back to the motel, only to find Ray at the computer in the room, thank God. [Ray] Connie came back about 4:30, having driven back to Marias Pass looking for me. She had parked the truck by the road in a restaurant parking lot, a place I didn't look since I was so intent on motels. We need to get our meeting plans together. In order to post the last two days of travel, the Porter Motel owners graciously let me use the telephone in their motel apartment. © Ray & Connie Poore, 1997
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