Day five consisted of riding some of the beautiful rides of British Columbia, Canada followed by crossing the boarder back into Washington then into Idaho and then into Montana.

While riding through Montana, off to the north there was a large storm brewing and moving south toward me.  Before the rains actually hit, the winds started to blow with a strong gust from one side of the road to the other.

With these winds came large tumble weeds.  Big balls of dried out, dead round balls that would dart from one side of the road to the other.  At first, it was existing to ride along dodging these things but after awhile it not only became harder but more worrisome until one of them, the size of a hood from a VW bug came flying at me.  With little time and nowhere to go, I smacked right into it.

Never hitting one of these things before and with this one being so large, I braced for impact...  Impact, to my surprise, was nothing more than an explosion of small twigs flying everywhere.  "Cool."

Still the storm was coming and with it brought not only rain and winds but hail the size of marbles.  Marbles that would shatter on the windshield.  The same windshield that I cowering behind while flying down the road.

After about twenty miles or so of this, I pulled into a truck stop for gas, food and shelter till the storm passed.

At this truck stop was a restaurant called the Three B's or something like that.  A restaurant that had the best tomato soup you could ever imagine.  It was so good I ordered another bowl and asked for the recipient.

From there, once the storm passed, I hit the road once more before stopping for the night at a local hotel.