Park & Sweetgrass Co.

Park County Courthouse - Livingston, MT

2000 population 15,694. Founded 1887

Indeed the rain hit was I started up the pass from Bozeman to Livingston. I had to pull off the freeway because the rain combined with temperature in side my helmet made for a visual nightmare.

The rain began to let up to a drizzle, so got back on the road and into Livingston. Notice the yellow pack on the back of the bike. It was a garage sale item for 50 cents. A heavy thick rubber white water rafting dry bag. A great asset on this trip. Clouds were threatening rain again, but I thought I could out run it to Sweetgrass Co. and Big Timber.

Sweetgrass County Courthouse - Big Timber, MT

Boy, was I ever wrong about out running the storm. I got pounded about 6 miles outside of Livingston. I looked to see if I could get off the free way and take a side road into Big Timber. Big news, No side roads that could get you from Livingston to Big Timber. I-90 Truck traffic was brutal. OTR trucks and pick-ups with trailers were making visibility scary. Now the lightning was spewing all over, and the rain was very heavy. I saw an exit sign, which meant I could seek shelter under the overpass. As approached the overpass, I was met by about 30 Harley riders who had totally blocked the road and were huddled under the bridge. I had been meeting a lot of groups of riders headed for

Sturgis on the road and a fuel stops. A quick assessment of the situation told me to turn around and hit the road. After this photo, the water spigot was turned on, and the water was running like a river down the Streets of Big Timber. I think the weather report said there was 2 inches of rain in a little over an hour. I parked the bike under a closed business awning, and ran for cover in a bar restaurant. I had supper and waited for the storm to pass. I would put me two hours behind schedule. I call my Friend Jeff to warn him I was running late. I thought if I could get to Billings by 9PM it would still be time to visit and catch a few blues sets at the festival. I gave up on my schedule after two hours in the bar. I did however have a chance to dry out. Had to bypass Still Water and Carbon Co. to make it Billings by 11:30. Festival was shut down. Jeff had to come and guide me to his house. It was a short night, as we had booked a golf T-time for 7:30 with Jeff and his dad Lonnie. I played well. Good catch up time as we had to sit out for about an hour out on the back nine. Chalk it up to the adventure. It's all good.