Day 70: 65 miles
My campsite from the previous night was in a patch of grass. I think they had been watering, but it wasn’t soggy.
Deidre woke still feeling sick so we split up again. I had an amazing breakfast: my fave, an omelette and a stack of pancakes while she saw a doc to be sure it’s just a cold.
After I had eaten my breakfast, I saw these pies and sticky buns in the front case. Those are 15 x 10 pans— so each bun is the size of a small cake. I was too full to get one but kind of regretting that now.
Then I headed out for Missoula, where I hoped to get my handlebars re-taped. Deidre planned to go a shorter distance so she can get some rest.
The final 50 miles to Missoula was all on a bike path. It was kind of strange after so much riding through the wilderness. It felt like riding at home with four lanes or traffic along side and all the attendant noise and distractions. Of course, the views were much better than at home.
I actually had to ride several miles north of the city to get to the campground. It was a tough final stretch because of bumpy sidewalks, lots of traffic, and the fact I was worn out. It’s weird, it’s not the pedaling that feels hard. It seems my legs could just pedal forever at this point. It’s the sitting in the saddle, the leaning on my hands, which fall asleep. My left foot also falls asleep. I think I sit crooked. Regardless, I rolled into my campground ready to rest.
When the woman who checked me in told me the only wildlife I had to worry about was bunnies, I joked that I would remain “bunny aware,” but I had no idea how serious she was. There are a lot of bunnies here!
I had some chores to do when I arrived. I did laundry, took a shower, set up my camp, and cooked a dinner of dehydrated lasagna and mini donuts. It seemed a long time before I could get in my tent and finally relax. But it’s always a treat. My tent feels like a fort, or a nest.
Have I mentioned that my air mattress has begun to deflate? I have to wake up and blow it up again in the middle of the night. But I’ve also gotten so used to sleeping on the ground that sometimes I don’t bother. However, it happens that My campsite is right next to an REI, so tomorrow I’m going to go see about getting a new one. I don’t want to get to the point where I’m blowing it up several times a night when it’s cold or otherwise extra uncomfortable.
And guess what? That’s the end of week 10!!
AND, our next long day of riding will be in Idaho, so here is my map updated to include Montana! 😀
Day 69: 58 miles
Started the day with a group breakfast— coffee with Mick and then oatmeal with Robin. It was fun to have other people around. But then it was time to say goodbye, which always seems so sad even though we’ve only just met, it’s funny how making connections feels so much more significant when you’re way from home and family.
A quick look back at our camp before heading out for big hole national park, which is where Connor worked last year.
It was weird being in Wisdom and being at the park because I was here last year with Steve visiting Connor, so it felt familiar but nobody here knows me. An unusual experience to have, especially when so far from home for so long and seeking out familiar things.
Mick from camp actually joined us at the park because he had missed it the day before, so he rode back to learn about the Nez Perce. He and I parked on the porch and chatted a bit then noticed the sign that said, no bikes here. I was laughing because I’m sure the folks who put up the signs think it’s so obvious, but somehow we didn’t see it at all. We moved our bikes.
One reason for coming here: Steve had mailed one of my resupply boxes to connors old coworker. When I picked it up, there was a surprise: mom and Laurie had sent a care package with fun treats, including homemade whole wheat rolls, and a family classic: butterscotch bars. Deidre and I literally ate half of the butterscotch bars in five minutes.
The ride west from the park included a 17 mile climb over the latest pass. This time, I’m not even sure of the name. It also went through an area burned by a fire from two years ago.
About 2 miles from the summit i met these two blokes riding down. We chatted for a while, and the subject eventually turned to food which reminded me I had an entire batch of homemade whole wheat rolls in my bag—more than I could ever eat. I whipped those out and we had a little feast right there on the shoulder. Such a treat for all of us!
As usual the ride was beautiful. I took only a few pictures because I knew the photos just wouldn’t do it justice. Also, I had to stop every once in a while because my hands were cramping. Sometimes the down hills are harder than you think.
Randomly, we saw this herd of long horn sheep. But they appear to be in somebody’s yard so I wondered if they were domesticated. Do people keep herds of longhorn sheep? But then, after I passed this house, I saw a sign for long horn sheep crossing. This made me think they were not domesticated. I don’t know.
In town, Deidre and I revised our plan. Have I mentioned that she is sick? She has had a cold, and is not feeling better. We were supposed to stay at a warm showers house tonight, but didn’t so that we don’t infect other people. She checked into a hotel so she can have a comfortable warm bed. I am camping in the nearby RV park so that I’m not in the same room with her. I’m also out to dinner eating this amazing salad. Two days with vegetables—yay! I snuck in my homemade rolls to eat with it, making it even better.
Last thing for tonight: got back to camp and all my stuff is covered in ash from the fire in Salmon. The sky has been dark and ominous all evening from the smoke. But by bedtime, it appeared to be clearing out.
Day 68: 69 miles from Dillon to Wisdom
Sorry to leave our cute camp. Not so sorry to leave Tom, the guy who raced Deidre to the camp last night in his CAR. Did I write about that? He didn’t know I was already there and cut her off on the road to pull in first. Grrr.
We climbed over 2,000 ft today in two segments. This sign greeted me as I approached the first peak. I would have liked them to be more specific!
The good thing about going up…is going down!
But on the other side of the pass was the valley of Big Hole. It was worth the work.
The valley is known for hay making.
After 30-something miles I came to a porta potty on a mt overlook—just sitting there by itself. I approached and the door said “occupied.” I thought, wow, I’ve come across someone who thought they had ultimate privacy and I’m going to surprise them with a knock on the door! But it was empty, and super clean.
After 55 miles I came to Jackson, a town with one restaurant, one hotel, and a post office. I tried to buy water from the lady at the post office who was manning the hotel, but she couldn’t change my $20. It was ok because I was just being polite by buying water. I really just needed the bathroom—another porta potty, this one on the sidewalk of Main Street!
Then I was off for my final 15 miles. Delilah (P.O. worker) and I had chatted a bit about the town. She seemed tired and sad and talked about the businesses that had closed—- restaurant and gas station most recently. It was overcast and I left feeling blue. Sometimes the end of my rides feel this way—in that space between setting out but not yet having arrived and found “home” I sometimes feel homesick, sad, or just out of sorts.
Soon enough I was in wisdom—kinda surreal after Connor lived here a year and we talked so many times about how I would ride through on my trip. The towns bike camp is really nice. A shelter, pit toilets, bear boxes, electricity.
And the view from camp is beautiful.
I have been struggling with veggies again—until today. Got a spinach salad from Safeway with walnuts and cranberries and cheese. Ate it at mile 30. It was delicious. Also bought a handful of green beans and munched on them while riding.
I met two folks at the bike camp. Mick is a journalist writing about how America has changed in the last 30 years. He has been on the road for 35 months doing research. Robin is a solo woman rider going to Kansas. Robin joined us for dinner. She lives in Ireland but is originally from Arlington. Small world.
Now I’m lying in camp listening to the mourning doves and cows calling back and forth to each other.
Day 65: 54 miles from Yellowstone lake to West Yellowstone.
In West Yellowstone, we stayed in the historic Madison hotel. This was a really cute place. We stayed in the hostel portion with dormitory style rooms that had shared bathrooms and showers. The hotel used to be a stop for stagecoaches. It had all original log construction and was pretty cool.
However, I went to bed with a headache and woke up in the middle of the night feeling like I had a terrible hangover. I think I was just dehydrated from the elevation. I felt better in the morning.
Day 67: 74 miles from Ennis to Dillon, MT
Today started with the guy camping next to us hitting snooze at 4:30 am for a half an hour. Deidre thought it was my alarm and that we had miscommunicated. She started slowly packing up, listening for evidence I was awake. Meanwhile, my air mattress had deflated (must have a hole! 😩) so I was also awake, trying to decide if I should blow it back up with so little time left before we had to get up. After we started making breakfast in the freezing cold (it’s still so cold!), the neighbor came back from his run and said “I hope my alarm didn’t wake you!” We were polite but our “not at alls!” were very fake sounding.
After a few miles on the road we started an 8 mile climb on a narrow road. It was pretty gentle, and the trucks thinned out after we passed this new neighborhood. I think this is the reason Montanans are wary of outsiders. So many people moving to this beautiful state turning the open range into neighborhoods. Of course, the open range was gone a long time ago.
I have to remind myself to turn around every once in a while to see the view behind me!
The overlook at the almost top.
After the climb we descended 3 miles into Virginia city, on old mining town with many original buildings. I got a chai latte and a maple donut at this cafe (behind the bar!).
Original buildings with a boardwalk. The pictures don’t do it justice. It looked like a movie set.
Then I passed this little bike camp dedicated to a guy named Bill White outside twin bridges. There was a guy mowing the lawn who looked disappointed when I drove off. I felt bad but still had 30 miles to go.
I came across a huge wetland conserved thru cooperation with a local environmental group, academics, and private property owners. This was heartening to see. The name of the place was Beaver Rock. But I thought the rock looked like the head of a T-Rex! 😂
I left beaver rock and pedaled hard to outrun the afternoon storm that has become a regular thing. Every day me barreling down the road at 2:30 pm pedaling my hardest when I am my tiredest as black clouds rumble along behind me.
Thankfully, I won the race again today and made it to the bike camp in Dillon without getting wet. Lois and Larry welcomed me. Such nice people. They used to be warm showers hosts but it became too much so they built this camp! One of the cabins had 17th century logs from an old cabin. A neighbor donated them. Larry is a retired physics teacher and Lois a retired school nurse. We chatted for an hour about teaching and physics experiments that Larry sent into space in a NASA rocket. He said they classified his research because it was about life in space—so he sent plants into space to study the relationship between calcium and gravity and was never allowed to see the results.
Lasagna for dinner tonight. And a whoopie pie. Not too many vegetables since leaving the Denver area. Deidre found a limp broccoli floret in my food bag this morning. I bought it yesterday and was munching on it throughout the day, but I guess it had seen it’s prime, so I threw it out. I did make myself a tomato and avocado sandwich at a grocery store with the end of a loaf of bread I’m carrying around (will get one more sandwich out of it) and veggies I bought at a little grocery. It’s funny, sandwiches don’t need mayo and mustard and cheese like I thought! I was sorry not to have any onion, however.
Day 66: West Yellowstone to Ennis, MT
Today was as uneventful as a ride can be when you’re going downhill for 70 miles with the tail wind. How do we get so lucky? I basically just have a ton of pictures that don’t do justice to the beautiful landscape and not much else to report.
Montana is so interesting because the landscape is so dramatic, but the colors are so muted. The grass is all pale, lemons, and limes. The mountains, green, but shadowy. And the regular flow of clouds cast still more shadows, creating a sense of movement. Of course, none of that comes through in photographs at least not in mine!
This is earthquake lake. Formed when an earthquake started a landslide that dammed off the river and created a lake. Folks camping at the time were swallowed up along with a cabin or two. It appeared one mother and four children all perished. Now we just see the treetops to remind us the lake is still relatively new.
I stopped at this Lookout to make my lunch, whipping out by loaf of bread and vacuum-packed tuna. I wondered if that was a bad idea in bear country: was I sending out a silent snack signal? I decided that was silly but still I ate quickly.
The rest of the route followed the Madison river all the way to Ennis, so we had water in sight almost the entire time.
While I was enjoying downhill, and the tail wind, riding 22 miles an hour, without hardly pedaling, I met El. She is only the second solo, female cyclist I have met. She had such a good attitude about her uphill ride into the wind and informed me that she had a tailwind yesterday, which doesn’t bode well for my ride tomorrow. Also, she told me everybody she met so far has been so “old.” Unsure of what she meant by old, I asked how old she was and she said 20. Then she said she was “behind” on her plan because she was supposed to do this trip when she was 18. I laughed because it took me 35 years to plan this trip, and Amber who I met a week ago had been planning hers for seven years. We are both in our 50s. I told El she was right on time, but being young I’m not sure she believed me.
It seems everyday brings a surprise thunderstorm, which makes them not a surprise anymore. I waited this one out at a post office and also mailed some letters while there. Very convenient!
Our RV park is 2 miles out of town so we ate in town before reaching camp. I got a very distinct Montana vibe in the restaurant. That is, that protective “dont come to our state and ruin it” vibe I’ve felt before. First we could t get anyone to acknowledge us and tell us where to sit. Then when they did they were a little gruff, then they sat us in a separate room away from the locals and fun music. Later, other tourists got the same treatment. I heard one woman say, “wow, they really are taking us to the back.” But then our waitress was nice and let us wait out the rain at our table and when we got to camp, I met a really nice guy who lives here and wished us well on our trip. So it was just one vibe. Also, I guess this is a ski town—this is the fence outside the brewery.
Right now I am in my tent and the wind is cranking outside! Hopefully it quiets down by morning.
I guess we were tired. We planned to get up at 6 AM and leave at seven. We were both really tired the night before. Deidre was asleep by 7:30 and I was asleep by 8 PM. We agreed we did not need to set an alarm. I usually wake up at at least five every day. Both of us slept until almost 7 AM— deidre was so disoriented when she woke she thought my tent wasn’t there— she thought I had already packed up without her. But meanwhile I was still snoring away! We both slept for about 11 hours. Also, it was FREEZING. Maybe low forties? I was so glad to have swapped out my sleeping bag and be cozy in my down mummy bag. The cold also contributed to our late start as we did not want to ride in that weather.
This is us all rested and leaving at 9 AM instead of seven.
Of course Yellowstone was amazing. It was hard to take pictures, however, because of the constant flow of traffic. So many campers/RVs!
We cross the continental divide twice and road at about 8000 feet of elevation most of the day. We both felt the fatigue from that, which is part of why I think we slept so much the night before.
This little lake was located at the top of the continental divide. It was interesting because the east side of the lake flows into the Pacific Ocean in the west side flows into the Atlantic ocean.
Deidre and I met at Old Faithful for lunch and sat with all the throngs of people and watched the geyser blow.
Then we walked around for about a mile to see some of the thermal pools.
Part of the burned forest. Not sure what kind of tree, but they were beautiful. Aspens?
We can’t believe we are in Montana. Everything is going by so fast especially Yellowstone. We were really only here for two days.
We went out for dinner, and I had salad from my first salad bar of the trip. I piled my plate with lettuce, beets, broccoli, and other fun stuff.
Day 64: 39 miles. From colter bay to Yellowstone lake
Doug left today around 6 AM. Not wanting to ride to the park so early in the morning when wildlife are more active, Deidre and I went back to bed. We didn’t actually leave until around 9 AM but that’s OK. We only had a 39 mile ride.
I admit, I felt a little creeped out this day after seeing the Bears on the road riding into the Tetons. I wouldn’t mind seeing a bear in a field or on the other side of the river, but seeing one in the road that I have to pass, is a little more excitement than I want. So I kind of started this day off starting my eyes around, checking the lawn grass on the side of the road for paws and noses sticking out. 😂
Eventually, I relaxed, however, and took a few pics.
At times, there were no cars and words that just went on forever. It was a very isolated feeling, but not in a bad way.
All of the sudden, the road was rising, and a tremendous gorge, opened up on my right.
At times, it was a pretty steep drop, which was tricky with the traffic whizzing by.
Then magically the river was eye-level again.
We climbed again till almost 8000 feet to cross the continental divide.
We camped at Grant village at Yellowstone, lake, which was deep and Blue and beautiful.
Oddly, Deidre and I were both exhausted. She went to sleep at 7:30, I hung until 8:00. Don’t know if it was the elevation or the emotional aspect of taking two days off then having to get back in the groove of riding again. We have both noticed the trip takes a lot of mental energy. Some thing we had not anticipated. For example, neither of us is very good at Wordle anymore. I just can’t think of words. All the planning of routes and lodging and food and access to services takes so much thought, plus keeping track of our stuff, packing it up, keeping our electronics charged, finding a place to do laundry— it all takes brain power. we needed the rest because we had taken a rest. Sometimes life is like that. Right?
