Best of The West Rider/Reviewers: STEVE & CAROL SADO At about 10:30 a.m., as the sun was fighting its way through a streaky overcast in an endless Montana sky, my husband and I eased out of the Beartooth Harley-Davidson/Buell dealership. It’s Saturday morning—a great day for a ride and we’re feeling energized by anticipation and a cool breeze as we turn north onto the Roundup highway. Then, right in front of us is a forbidding sign – TRUCK ROUTE. While we love to ride under just about any circumstances, wrestling semi-trucks for space on a two-lane highway is not our idea of fun! The TRUCK ROUTE is actually in great shape, winding through rolling, rock-faced hills dotted with ranches and homes. A lot of the highway follows the beautiful Musselshell River, and as we admire the scenery, it slowly occurs to us that we are literally alone on the road. Would all of the truck drivers have taken off the 4th of July weekend? By now the sun is out, the sky is incredibly blue, and although it is only 44 miles from Billings to Roundup, we pull over at a small turnout area to enjoy the river, smoke a cigar, and take a few pictures. In Roundup, we stopped to have lunch at the Busy Bee café. It is an easy place to find on the main road as you enter town—just look for the building with the stallion rearing up on top. Now, we thought about this one for quite a while before we gave up. Bee – stallion, your guess is as good as ours. As we waited for our waitress, we listened to country music and played the IQ Tester Pyramid game—it appears that neither of us is very smart! After lunch and a cold beer, having forced down a chunky wedge of warm homemade apple pie, we checked into the America’s Best Value Inn. We were early, about noon, but our room was ready and the staff were warm and welcoming, checking us in and sharing with us the hotel’s fine features— exercise room, laundromat, and a guest computer room with free Wifi. This could surprise some folks. Largely misunderstood and highly susceptible to rumor, small town southeastern Montana is full of surprises. You get those incredible winding roads through changing landscapes under endless blue sky, and then, when you unsaddle for the evening, you get free Wifi! Our room was also very clean and cozy, had an air conditioner, refrigerator, and microwave—and for those big city folk, even a place to plug in your curling iron. Roundup is a classic small western town—clean air, small shops, friendly people, and just about everything within your line of sight. We left our hotel after check in, in search of the fairgrounds and the River Walk. We found the fairgrounds less than 6 blocks from our hotel, and entered over a single lane gravel bridge to a fairway with rides and attractions for kids. We parked our bikes at the front gate of the stands and proceeded to look for the River Walk. We could see the river and a path around it, but we couldn’t find the start of the path. We asked several workers at the fair where the start of the River Walk was, and no one knew. As a matter of fact, no one knew there even was a River Walk! We decided to give up and go back to the hotel. When we turned to get on our bikes, we noticed a small sign with tiny print that stated RIVER WALK with an arrow pointing to the path. The sign and the entry had been right in front of us, and most of the people we spoke with, the entire time! We moseyed down the River Walk to enjoy the river, the scenery, and the birds and wildlife. The Roundup River Walk is an official site on Custer Country’s Southeastern Montana’s Birding Trail. On this hot July day, the Musselshell River was low and moving slowly, and the wildlife at the river’s edge was predominately extremely large, blood thirsty mosquitoes. We found ourselves unarmed and helpless. After slapping ourselves silly for about 20 minutes killing mosquitoes, we ditched out on the River Walk and headed back to the bikes, the moving air, and our hotel. We discovered that within a block of our hotel there was a small local bar in one direction and a grocery store in the opposite direction. A nice walk resulted in a couple of beers, a bag of popcorn to pop in our microwave, and cortisone cream to soothe our mosquito bites. We decided to head back to the Busy Bee for dinner before the concert and fireworks, and arrived at the Busy Bee at 5:45 p.m. There was a sign on the door stating that they were closing at 6:00 p.m. so their employees could enjoy the concert and fireworks. We were lucky to get in before they closed. After another great dinner and homemade pie, we headed back to the fair grounds, and we parked our bikes at the entrance gate. We sat in the stands and were entertained by Joe Gandelman, a ventriloquist; Terrance B, a hypnotist; and The Official Blues Brothers Revival. What a great show! We thoroughly enjoyed the entertainment and would recommend it to others. All three acts involved participation from the audience, and the fireworks were some of the best we have ever seen. The entertainment ended about 12:30 a.m. After waiting for the crowded parking lot to clear, we arrived back at our hotel about 1:30 a.m. for a very good night’s sleep. America’s Best Value Inn had a free continental breakfast, but we’d grown attached to the Busy Bee so we decided to go there for breakfast before we left town. Again it was great, but I think secretly we also wanted one more opportunity to test our diminishing IQ on the pyramid game before leaving Roundup on the road to Ingomar. The ride to Ingomar was on a great sweeping road that followed the Musselshell River and was surrounded by fields as far as the eyes could see of beautiful yellow clover. Ingomar is smaller than Roundup—on this day, I think the population was five. But, it is the home of the famous Jersey Lilly Saloon & Eatery. On the National Register of Historic Places, the Jersey Lilly was originally an old brick bank that opened in 1914. It was converted into a restaurant/bar in 1933, and it still has the original pressed tin ceilings, bank vaults, and outline of teller cages on unfinished hardwood flooring. The Jersey Lilly is famous for its beans and its sheepherders’ hors d’oeuvres. We had a wonderful all-you-could-eat salad bar with deviled eggs, salad fixings, pastas, fresh fruit, beans, and dessert. They have a wide selection of sandwiches and hamburgers too. After stuffing ourselves, we boarded a genuine stagecoach that took us on a journey around Ingomar. We went by old homesteads, drove past a buffalo herd, and toured the old public school house that has now been turned into a bed and breakfast called the Bunk-n-Biscuit. We enjoyed this unique trip, and it also confirmed our belief that motorcycle riding is a step up in luxury from the old days of riding in a stage coach. We left Ingomar in the soft saddles of our Harleys and drove to Forsyth. After gassing up, we went to Fitzgerald’s for dinner. Since we weren’t very hungry, we split a meal of fried shrimp. The menu offered steaks, hamburgers, and seafood. Alcoholic drinks were also available. The shrimp was excellent and reasonably priced. We look forward to going back with a bigger appetite and trying a steak. We left Forsyth and hit the interstate back to Billings. Our stomachs were more than full from all the good food we ate. And we were satisfied at having a good weekend away from Billings and enjoying the concert and fireworks during the Roundup Independence Day Extravaganza (RIDE). _______________________________________________________________________ For questions regarding this article, please contact info@thetyperider.com,
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