My Route


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Saturday

Day 58: Tuesday, 28th August. Destination: Bunkhouse Inn, Augusta, Montana

Back on Saturday 11th August, in Fargo, you may recall that Bill gave me an alternative map across Western Montana which cut off a huge detour. Well, today's the first day on it so perhaps a little explanatory digression is in order. There are two ACA routes between Great Falls and Missoula, but only one of them is titled as such. The other is called Missoula to Clarkston - and that's the one with the alt route on it. A bit confusing. So, I headed off with the 1st version packed away, feeling not so bad about it as the route wandered its way south following the Lewis & Clark trail through some spectacular sounding scenery before bending back up to Missoula. The alt route cuts directly west, like drawing a line across the top of a letter U. I was slightly worried that the directness might come at the cost of scenery, but rolling farmland with Continental Divide on the horizon created an epic (if just a little bit daunting) backdrop.

Augusta sat at the foot of the mountains, a picturesque hunting'n'fishing town with a cowboy feel to it. The Bunkhouse Inn, a white-painted two-storey timber frame building on main street, with a porch and small, simple rooms seemed to fit the mood just right. As one lady had written in the guest book, "Hangin' out on the front deck made me want to put on fancy clothes & wave at the boys. Hmmmm…"