Day 8 (339km): The day we went AWOL

This morning we decided to stray from the CDT route. We were making bad time (I'm slow on dirt) and we thought it might be fun to check out Yellowstone Park (since none of us had been there before). So off we cruised down I15 and then onto HWY 43. We took this amazing road down to HWY 278. My map doesn't show the name of the road but the whole time I was day dreaming about coming back on my other bike. The only caveat is you need to watch out for the wild cows. Oh and lookout for the signs telling you to turn left for the Ghost town. It wasn't so much of a ghost town as it was a ghost house. A huge letdown. So it was an amazing start to the morning. We then broke free from the TomTom itinerary and went east to Dillon for lunch. 

The view from the amazing mystery road

Alberto down again. It was like playground gravel! For a roadside turnout.

Checking out the ghost house

The middle of nowhere.... like in the movies

After a bite to eat at the local burger joint (Dairy Queen) we traveled east on some other mystery road. We inquired with the local forest ranger and she said we would know in the first 5 miles if the road was fit for vehicle travel. 

Lunchtime, as recommended by a local

Luckily it was and it was one of the nicest roads (for scenery) we'd been on since entering Montana.

On the road

Wow!

Some civilization

 After a while we stopped to check a map because we thought we should have hit HWY 287 by now. Good thing we checked. We had missed a turn 8km back. So after a bit of back tracking we were back on track. Oh boy, were we back on track. The road we needed to take to get back on the highway was seriously rutted. Thank goodness it was not wet otherwise we would have been camping there. We did eventually make it back to tarmac and a campground. Yay I survived, and I didn't drop my bike (looks in Alberto's direction). 

Trying to figure out the fastest way to the HWY and therefore dinner

New Plan: Go straight to the Highway