The Dog gets run over by a damn old train….

I have been talking with a friend here in town that rides a nice big KTM 950 Adventure motorcycle. He told me about a trip he tried to make that involved going up and crossing the Missouri River on the three remaining ferries. The cool thing is that they are all on gravel backcountry roads. We had sort of planed on going this last weekend. I got my the Yellow Dog all oil changed, packed up, fuse lit and I was ready to RIDE!! I got a call from him and he said that his wife had committed him to a barbeque and there were several things that needed to be done around the yard, etc, etc. The fuse I had lit finally burned down to the power and I blasted off without him. Jeez, I hate to do something like that but I really needed to get out on the road, as this quiet camp life is getting me jumpy.

I headed off and my first stop was for lunch at The Jersey Lilly in Ingomar, MT. They are ‘world famous’ for their beans. I have eaten several things there but I never did eat those beans until I went this time. wow, they are great. In these little towns, you get real food most often as ranchers and locals come in to eat and they want good food or they don’t come back. This is the little Bison that sits outside of the Jersey wearing my new Hi Viz coat. This is the coat that I hope will let drivers know I am there, so they don’t hit me.

I tried to take the little back roads that would be gravel or dirt if possible. This is the view on the road from Melstone to Moby. I am heading into serious wheat country.

I just love the old elevators. There are fewer of them all the time as they are not used much anymore as the rail roads are abandoning the spur lines and they will only load trains at the larger cement terminals.

I took the highway over to Grass Range and then north to Box Elder Creek and over to Roy, Fergus and Hilger. From Hilger I went north again up to Winfred which is a little town way out in the middle of serious wheat country. When I got into Winfred it was about six thirty and I was getting hungry. I stopped at a little bar/restaurant and it was packed! I found a place at the bar and when I asked for food, this HUGE guy walked out of the back room/kitchen with a little pad and asked what I wanted. “Anything you suggest SIR!” I said.

 “Burger?”

“Yeah, that sounds great!”

“With fries?”

“Yeah”

Well, it is worth going up there just to get one of those burgers!! I could see him go into the walk in and come out with about 25 pounds of burger which I guess he grabbed off a hunk and made my burger. The guys at the bar near me said they were about half pounders. The guys were really friendly at the bar and started filling me in on the local history and interesting things like. Don’t even look twice at the underground missile sights scattered around the country. There is a guy that grew up around here and went to Bozeman and came back a multi-millionaire. He is building a 5,000 foot runway and large hanger and a huge community building for the community. He I guess has the money and wants to make things easier for the folks around here. When I told them I was on my way up to the ferry and wanted to ‘do’ them all, they were quick to come up with stories about the operators. They gal I was going to meet at the one up north of here is supposed to be a really good old one. on the weekend it is her daughter who is supposed to be a good looker. Humm, I would hit is on Friday. Oh, well….

The folks on the south side of the river call the crossing the Safford Ferry while those on the north side of the river call it the McClelland Ferry. I guess it makes a difference in that the ownership of the ferry or where the person lived has changed over the years. This is the view from the top before going down into the Upper Missouri Breaks National Monument.

This road is gravel and steep as hell in spots.

The lady saw me coming otherwise you use the radio.

The little motor makes some noise and she wears ear protection.

Along the banks of the Missouri.

I could see some canoe folks camped for the night across the river.

This is from the top of the ridge and the ferry is at the lower right.

She told me that there was a really good camp spot up on the ridge but that if it rained I would be there until it dried out. As it was there were thunder storms coming through and I sure didn’t want to take a chance on being back there for ??  I had only a can of beans, a few granola bars and some milk and Granola for food. I could have probably lasted for two days but I hit the road north. It was a wonderful road that runs along the Bear Paw Mountains. When I arrived at Big Sandy it was getting late, actually sun down and there was a large storm near by. As I came into town I noticed a couple of baseball fields and I pulled in there hoping to find a place to set up my tent. As it turned out there was a nice newer bathroom facility that was closed and I pulled up to it and decided to camp in the little hall. As the storm got closer I just rode my bike on in there and I was set for the night. This was really out of the way and I don’t think anyone knew I was there. As luck would have it, the storm passed on by but with high winds and I was happy to be protected in there and I didn’t have to set up my tent.

In the morning I headed on down to Coal Banks Landing where the Virgelle Ferry is located.

Very nice gravel roads, but you gotta watch it.

I thought this was the ferry place but it is off to the right out of the photo.

This is serious recreation area and lots of folks put in rafts and canoes here for journeys down the river.

This was a group just getting started.

I came into the little town of Virgelle and they have on of the old ferries up on the bank across from the Mercantile building.

I met this guy John who along with his partner run the Mercantile store that is just jamb packed with antiques. They go all over and get antiques and sell them here as well as a really cool old bank building just down the street.

John was a wealth of information and such a pleasant person to visit with. They run guided canoe trips as well as rent canoes. He said that some days there are around 400 canoes on the river. Yikes! There are campgrounds along the river and people come from all over to float the river. John runs the ferry when the gal that is running it during the summer goes back to teaching school. This is at the old  bank building just down the street.

Everything is for sale! Even the buildings and business…. The store was packed with cool stuff and even the basement. Lucky me, I ride a motorcycle and cant buy anything….

John took a picture of me outside the Mercantile store.

A nice old International fire truck.

The ferry was just coming to shoire when I arrived.

The gal that runs the ferry also teaches school up at the Rocky Boys Reservation during the school year. She told me that these ferries are new last year and are the result of the preparations that were done for the Lewis and Clark 200^th year anniversary. She said that the ferries cost over three hundred thousand each and  with the new rigging and landing work necessairy it cost almost a million dollars each. The county had to come up with 7% of the money but they were unable to do that so the state stepped in and  helped them. These are county (Chouteau) owned and  operated as they are on county roads. She has a really nice old dog. She said that the dog used to swim the river over and back rather than take the ferry but now it rides. He likes pets!! The power is a three cylinder John Deere diesel engine. She doesn’t wear ear plugs but wants the county to rubber mount the engine so it doesn’t make  some much noise. She usually keeps the door shut to keep the noise down. They really did a nice job on these ferries.

This guy had more grain than storage so he piled it on the ground. Lets see, the one of the guys back in Big Sandy said that the winter wheat did 50-60 bushels but the spring wheat didn’t do well at all and some didn’t even head out before it got baked and no rain.

I think this was coming down into the Loma Bridge area.

All along the way I have been seeing the supers stacked up on the bee hives. It appears that this was a good honey year.

Loma.

The sign up here on the bluff over looking town and the river junction.

I rode on into Fort Benton and when I looked up from parking my bike, I saw that this is where Shep was from. I remember the story from years ago and it sure made my eyes water.

I went into the restaurant across the street for lunch and when I turned around I saw I was seated next to a photo of Shep.

I had to run out to the bike and get my camera and take a photo of him. The waitress came over and told me that he was buried up on the hill above town if I wanted, I should go up there.

Run over by a damn old train…..

I had to take this photo of a nice older plane for my plane buddies. I don’t know what it is, but it was waiting and in pretty good shape it seemed.

When I saw this up on the hill I knew I was getting close to the last ferry.

I showed up at the Carter ferry just as another guy was coming down the road and wanted to get across. I walked out on the end of the front loading platform to get a photo of him coming on the ferry and when he did it bounced me up in the air and the ferry operator was really pissed at me and yelled at me to get the hell off of there and stand next to my bike. He was pissed at me all the way over and was glad to see me get off his ferry.

It was hard to tell which road to take and I finally asked a woman in a truck leaving one of the farms how to get to Belt. She said that was where she was going and to follow her.

There is a lot of grain in the area and this spot used to be on one of the short rail lines that no longer exists.

Belt is a nice little town but I had more miles to make, so off I headed into the heart of the Little Belt Mountains towards White Sulphur Springs.