Montana Wolfpak: Aussie Weekend

We spent a fun filled weekend in Meeteetse and Cody. My sister Bonnie Bley and her family were coming to Meeteetse at the end a June and it was a perfect time to run down and get in a visit with them.

I had made reservations to stay at the Oasis motel for Friday & Saturday night back in June, this would give me plenty of time to visit and then I could come home on Sunday afternoon.

The timing was perfect. Gary had been in touch with a gentleman from Australia that was planning an American vacation with some of his friends, this man Phil has posted a question on the HOG chapter website about riding over the Bear Tooth Pass. He wanted to know when was the best time, Gary answered him. This was a year ago.

About a month ago, Gary received an e-mail from Phil that his group would be in Cody on July 28 and asked if Gary would guide them over the Bear Tooth Pass. No problem, we were going to be in Meeteetse anyway what was another day. I made a reservation at the same hotel where they were staying, the Holiday Inn.

Friday afternoon we loaded up the bike and headed down to Meeteetse. We stopped in Eidelweiss for a beer, Gary has wanted to stop there for a long time and it never happened. For a small bar in the middle of nowhere Wyoming, it was full of people. We had our drink, then made our way to Meeteetse.

Got checked in then went to Grandma's house. It was nice to see David & Karen Bain there, so got a short visit with them. Didn't get to visit much with Grandma on this day, she was pretty tired and wasn't feeling well.

Gary and I went into town to get some dinner and then we waited for the Bley's to go to the Cowboy, the Bley family went fishing for a bit on the Lower Sunshine Lake. We met up with Mom and Bley crew at the Cowboy. A lot of fun. We got locked inside the bar which was a first for us.

The girls in the Cowboy. Mom got Sam to join in the photo

Saturday was spent just visiting and spending time with family. Our first order of business was eating dinner at the Cowboy for Jim's delicious ribs. Gary and I got our yearly fix on ribs. The Chocolatier was hosting author night with Craig Johnson, author of the Walt Longmire series which is now a tv show on the A&E Channel. It was fun listening to him. Very interesting hearing how he gets his ideas for his books. After talking with Craig Johnson and getting our books autographed, back to the Cowboy we went. Again we were locked inside the bar.

Sunday was spent getting the last visiting in before we went to Cody, got photos with my nephews who are growing by leaps and bounds. Gary received his phone call from Phil so we headed to meet up with the Aussies.

We spent a wonderful time with the Aussies, there were six in all. We had drinks in the bar, then dinner. They were kind enough to buy our dinner. They were easy to understand, but some of the terminology was different. The ladies told me that they were excited when they saw hamburger and chips on the menu. They got potato chips. They call French fries chips, and potato chips crisps. They had an awful time with tipping wait staff. In Australia you don't tip. Also some of the terminology for food was different. Our appetizers are entrees for them, our entrees are the main meal. They found it funny that we eat waffles for breakfast, waffles are dessert.

Monday morning we guided them over the Chief Joseph Highway and Bear Tooth Pass, our friend Dale Butterfield came down to ride with us. It was a cold morning but a very fun time. We pulled out at our favorite stops, Dead Indian Hill, the River Gorge, Top Of The World Store and Vista Point.

They were very pleased with everything. I fed the chipmunks at Dead Indian and Vista Point which they found amazing. We made our way into Red Lodge for lunch and a bit of shopping, then we said our goodbyes. Their original plan was to ride back over the pass, but they ran out of time. They had to get back to Cody so they could watch the shoot out at the Irma then go to the rodeo. We took them over Bear Creek.

Phil gave Gary a very nice belt buckle in Red Lodge and his wife said that they are going to buy t-shirts for Gary and Dale. We are going to send them a canvas photo of all of us at Dead Indian and then we will go to Red Lodge and buy them the t-shirts that they really liked. The store didn't have their sizes.

I told Gary that I was very glad he wrote that little blog, they have invited us to Australia and I would really love to go in a couple years.