And this is a rare, "I'm eating pizza for lunch in Lincoln and they have WiFi and I'm still cold" midday update.
Yesterday I bid adieu to wet Helena, expecting fair skies, but it was cool and cloudy. I rode about 12 miles on the westbound highway which surprised me that it was so long on the highway then hit our favorite forest roads for three continental divide crossings. A phalanx of blue birds escorted me at the start, but they soon lost interest as I climbed higher.
Heavily forested land, following a creek to the pass. I just had to laugh when I finally reached Priest Pass and saw the standard forest service sign, marking the pass and elevation:
Pr s
El
The middle of the sign had been completely blown to smithereens by hunters shooting at the sign.
As I tell the southbounders, for every uphill, there is a downhill. So, a nice downhill run through aspens, pines and the occasional massive, abandoned mine.
But I had another continental divide crossing to do, so up we went. Some of my sweat flowed to the Atlantic, some to the Pacific...
I had mentioned that there was a cabin that a woman was letting riders stay in for free. I stopped to look; very comfortable, small, old cabin that had two beds in separate lofts, a wood stove, food and water.
I went to the house just to thank the woman for her generous support. She answered the door, but I had caught her in the middle of dyeing her hair. With dye dripping everywhere, she accepted my compliments then we said our goodbyes
Not for the last time...
I felt like I should have stayed, but it was early and I had only put in 40 miles. As I started to climb the last pass before Lincoln (another country western song?), the clouds descended with a vengeance, the wind picked up and it really started to rain with thunder rumbling in the distance.
OK, OK. I can take a hint. I'll go back to the cabin even though I'd have to make up this distance today.
When I got back to the house, Barbara was just about to leave and offered me the option of sitting by myself in the cabin OR attending her monthly book club meeting.
You already know what I decided...
Six Montanans attended the meeting, but only one person had finished reading the book. So we spent our time making dinner, cleaning up (no dishwasher) and talking about a wide variety of topics.
Quite a change from communing with the coyotes.
After the meeting, I retired to the cabin and slept on my pad with my sleeping bag as the beds were way too saggy. It was nice, though, to have a sense of being in the middle of nowhere but still having 4 walls to keep the bears at bay.
This morning I did the last continental divide crossing I wussed out on yesterday, pedaling through similar scenery as yesterday then bombed down to Lincoln. The top portion of the road was just two tracks with fallen trees hanging down above the road, trying to neck tie me...
And that brings us to The Pit Stop where I just stashed 1/2 a pizza to eat later. I'm hoping to reach a campground 35 miles away. Have to climb Huckleberry Pass (beware of Yogi and Boo Boo) then mostly downhill to the campground.
Hopefully it will warm up...
Next update maybe tomorrow from Seeley Lake.
JK
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