Ted and I covered a little over 500 miles today riding from Missoula, MT to Buffalo, WY. The roads were in great shape and we enjoyed 80 mph speed limits for most of the way with very little traffic. That way sound fast, but the bikes we have are made to run at that speed all day, which is pretty much what we did. The landscapes, horizons, scale and vastness is hard to describe, and from the seat of a motorcycle it is a lot of fun. Mostly it was open cattle range and rolling grass covered hills.
On one pit stop in Butte, Montana, we spoke with a local. When I asked him what the smokestack was for in plain view from the gas station, he explained it was on one of the world's largest Superfund cleanup sites in the country. The Berkeley Pit is currently one of the largest Superfund sites. The water, with dissolved oxygen, allows pyrite and sulfide minerals in the ore and wall rocks to decay, releasing acid. The acidic water in the pit carries a heavy load of dissolved heavy metals. A water treatment plant has been operating since October 2019. It's hard to believe that there is such a polluted site in the middle of such beautiful country.All of today, and most of yesterday, was spent on I-90. Plus, all of tomorrow will be on I-90 also. We're aiming for Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Ted riding his new bike in the Wyoming hill country
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