Road Trip #3 Day 3 - The road to Darby MT

July 15, 2012
Colorado, USA

From White Sulphur Springs MT to Darby MT

We lingered a bit at the motel this morning, trying to let the day warm up a bit. Eventually, we grabbed some gas and a cup of convenience store coffee and rolled out about 9:30 am toward Townsend chancing Hwy 12 for at least another 33 miles. It was partly cloudy and about 40 degrees. It was nice to put what remained of the storm clouds still boiling over the foothills in the rearview mirror.

If Townsend had anything to offer, I do not recall what it was because we turned north and rode on through to Helena in search of breakfast and coffee. We found donuts and coffee in Helena and talked about which direction we would ride today. Further west or south?

West won the toss so we continued on Hwy 12 and for a while traveled under partly sunny skies and mild temps.

MacDonald Pass (elevation 6320) Hwy 12 near Helena MT

We eventually hooked up with I-90. This part of the interstate is scenic and we enjoyed the sights along the way. We ran up on what looked like a controlled burn or at least the fire fighters had managed control. Given the wildfires we have seen this year, any sign of smoke is cause for concern. Before long, we found ourselves in chilly Missoula MT and riding through more rain. By this time we are tired of riding the interstate, tired of little orange signs and a bit disgruntled with the chilly, damp unseasonable weather. So, we abandoned the idea of riding further into the northwest territory and headed south on Hwy 93 with at least a stop in the quaint little town of Darby MT in mind. We had ridden through Darby a couple of years back during a logging festival of some sort and remembered it looked like a fun town.

As we pulled into Darby, we considered the time of day and the stretch of road we would have to travel south to reach another point of civilization (that being Salmon ID) which we knew included riding over a Lost Trail Pass. Traveling east would likely mean a night in Butte - nah - so we happily called it a day in Darby.

After riding Main Street a couple of times and considering the limited choices available we rolled up to the office of the Mountain Spirit Inn and checked into yet another over-priced, no frills room.

By this time, all we had on our minds was food. And beer. But mostly food. As we strolled through downtown Darby on a Sunday afternoon well before 5 pm, we found not one restaurant in town was open. Having almost resigned ourselves to convenience store food, we sauntered into the only place in town showing signs of life - the Sawmill Saloon. Well, we agreed the day wasn't a total loss as we at least found the beer. The Sawmill is a charming place in the rugged tavern style. We immediately felt at home. We were greeted with a friendly smile and served before we had settled into our chairs. About halfway through the first round Tim says - I smell pizza. Well there's nothing wrong with the ol' boy's sniffer because sure nuff, the bartender was cooking pizza in a counter top oven like my Grandma used to cook cinnamon toast way back in the good ol days. We ordered pizza without asking what kind of pizza. Our server said it would be a bit of a wait - we said no problem. Even a frozen pizza sounded better than whatever the convenience store had to offer.

Afterwards, we patronized the convenience store on the way back to the motel, loading up on sweet and salty snacks. We spent the rest of the evening roaming around the logging park and the Veteran's Memorial across the street and lounging around in chairs in front of our room. TV reception is bad. WIFI connection is worse. Yawn!

We have yet to decide which way we are headed tomorrow but Idaho of all places is looking pretty good.

Today's ride = 269.4 miles

Slide show of today's ride = 89 photos

Alternative link to this slide show