Day 9 – Problems arose on this day – Actually June 4, 2015

Upon leaving my motel I see a beautiful church outlined against the morning sky just a few blocks away so I twisted and turned to get nearer.  http://www.sthelenas.org/ This is a beautiful church and I took a couple of pictures.  The link above will take you directly  to it.  The twin spires looked great early in the morning.

Stopping to fuel up I found a Jalapeno Burrito which I devoured for my breakfast,  Sorry, folks, but did not find a Denny’s this morning.

Several times in the past few days I have seen a billboard advertising a Testical Festival.  Had no idea what it was or where but driving past a tiny little town I saw a sign advertising it again.  The town was Ryegate and although a very small hamlet it had a nice little park alongside the road shaded by cottonwood trees, so  I parked under said trees and walked around for a bit.  A street sign at a crossing showed the names to be First Street and First Avenue.  Very innovative thinking on someone’s part. 

What happens in Montana, I hope stays in Montana.

After taking a few pictures the bike failed to start right up.  It clicked once, then twice, then started.  Zoom, on down the road.

Next stop was in Roundup, Montana.  County seat of Mussellshell County.  The population of the entire county in 2010 was 4,538,  Small town but it had County Courthouse, and IGA food market, two motels (one closed and for sale), and one gas station. 

I filled up and again bike clicked and failed to start.  I finally pushed it away from the pumps and alongside the building and started thinking.

Click sounded so I figured it probably was not the switch.  The click sounded like it came from under the seat.  Unpacked the bike, pulled off the seat, got into tools and found the volt meter.  Checked the battery and got12.56 volts.  This bike needs 12.7 volts I believe to start it. 

Found out there were actually two parts houses in town so walked down about a quarter mile and they actually had one that would fit.  Purchased the battery and went back and installed it and first try the bike was running.  Put bike back together, reloaded luggage, set the dead battery on top of my T-bag and drove down to the parts house to reclaim my core deposit.

My gas receipt was timed stamped at 1:30.  The receipt for the returned battery core was time stamped at 3:10.  I was very pleased to have only been stopped for 1 hour and 40 minutes before being back on the road.

I was originally planning to stop  in that town for the night, but really wanted to get away from there.  It took me about another 140 miles to find a motel in Miles City, Montana.

Ending mileage 163,490 for daily total of 434 miles.  Total for trip so far is 3,788.