July 9 - Life Couldn’t be Better - Clear Skies, Mountains, and Piccola Cucina

I am so grateful for second chances! Yesterday was rather challenging in some regards as I had a fifth somewhat essential item break and the route I took on Chief Joseph highway was blanketed in smoke for much of the way, making it difficult to see many of the pretty vistas. But thankfully today was a completely different story! In my wildest dreams I don’t think I could have scripted a more joyful experience – one blessing after another after another. Today’s ride took me on Chief Joseph’s highway again, Beartooth Highway, and then to one of my favorite restaurants in the country for dinner.

My plans today led me back up the mountain I just came down yesterday as there was no way I could pass up doing all of Beartooth Highway. As I headed west from Greybull Wyoming towards Cody there was still a thick blanket of smoke in the air. However, shortly after turning up Chief Joseph Highway, the winds must have shifted because the skies parted, the sun came out, and the vistas along the highway were magnificently displayed. The bright orange cliffs, greens meadows, white capped mountains, and blue rivers and lakes stood in stark contrast to the grey of yesterday and I appreciated everything so much more!

I was positively giddy with excitement as I took in Pat O’Hara Mountain, Windy Mountain, Hurricane Mesa, and Pilot Peak on my way up to Cooke City. I charged up one glorious curve after another, breathing in the cool crisp mountain air and thinking how lucky I was to be on the road with my bike.

I stopped in Cooke City for an amazing freshly cooked meal at the MontAsia food cart (as their sign says – half Montana, half Asia equals MontAsia). The owner was friendly, the meal came with free WIFI (hard to find in dining establishments in that town), the food was all cooked to order, and the meal was just what I was looking for – light but delicious.  

Fortified by my delicious kung pao chicken I swooped down the road to complete all of Beartooth Highway. This road really is one of my top five in the country because it has it all – lots of s-shaped curves, roads in good condition in most places, clean air, numerous lakes, and mountains here, there, and everywhere. I feel such a sense of elation traversing back and forth across the mountain to the top and then plunging down the other side with the valley before me. The road had slid down the mountain in several spots and there was road construction with delays of up to 40 minutes. But in keeping with my good luck for the day I arrived at the end of a very long line right as the pilot car at the front took off.

My dinner at Piccola Cucina in Red Lodge that evening was one of my best yet. I plan each of my summer trips around eating at this restaurant as it is one of my top ten favorite restaurants in the country. The food is authentic Italian, the chefs are Italian, the mood is festive, and the prices are very reasonable. I couldn’t decide what to eat so I ordered five dishes – the fried zucchini, deep fried mozzarella covered in bread, meatballs with spaghetti, huckleberry panna cotta, and crème brulee with pistachio nuts. True to form, the restaurant cranked up the music and everyone including me started dancing in the aisles. At the end of the dinner the waiter told me the two desserts were on him.

To top all of this off, when I arrived at my Bunk A Biker home tonight the friendly owners gave me my own room inside their home with a deluxe bed and a hot shower right next door. Life is so very good!