Even though I didn't do any mountain biking, I certainly felt the spirit.
Waking up later and later has it's toll. I hit the road about 11 after chatting with a couple in the campground. I know Dave is rolling his eyes at me.
This couple is just driving around, seeing the sites. And I got the best response when I asked where they are heading next:
Oh, we'll just drive and stop somewhere else cool. We'll head home towards the end of summer.
Go them.
I ran into Ohad just out of North Fork.
And that is all Ohad had - inspirational.
He is hiking the continental divide trail. After comparing notes, I am sure glad I am not walking... Only a town every four days!
Kudos to him.
I had a beautiful climb for the next several miles. In hindsight, there is no way I was tackling this hill last night.
While slugging away, I saw a tree decorated like a Christmas tree. Odd to see in such a remote area, so I snapped a photo. It is a terrible photo, and does not do the sparkly tree justice. I'll keep it to myself. Instead, here is my bike.
At the summit, I met Chris and Sherri. After taking a picture of them with the Welcome to Montana sign, they grabbed one of me.
They also unloaded a bag of beef jerky and some candy on me. Thank you Chris & Sherri! I appreciate our summit chat.
I only pedaled a couple hundred feet before running into Miguel. After all, I was in Montanta, land of cycle tourists. Well, the moment I crossed the border, I saw them everywhere!
Miguel is doing the trans-am trail with his father. They just climbed a brutal, 20 miles hill. Maybe more. I just coasted the whole way down.
I really like his front basket bag setup. And his down-tube mounted water bottle holder. He has the super touring model of my bike. Go Surly!
Anyways, from that point on, I coasted all the way to Darby, which has a nano brewery called Bandit Brewing.
I walked in, they poured me samples of all their beers and a patron at the end of the table started talking to me.
Meet Rick.
Yeah, that porch cover is a car.
We chatted for at least 3 hours. He's an avid mountain biker in the area, lives nearby and loves the local craft beer. Chock full of good advice, I really need to get back in the area with a mountain bike and a car. I'll probably be repeating that statement every day now.
He also introduced me to Allen, a renowned white water canoe-er, to look over my route. Allen hooked me up with an extremely detailed map of Montana. Thanks!
I was really impressed with this nano brewery's setup - especially operating in a town with less than a thousand people. And doing great.
I headed for a couple miles out of town to the tin cup creek national forest area to camp. In the middle of the woods I met a guy playing the saxophone. He says he needed space to play 100%.
We were in the middle of nowhere.
He provided a great camping recommendation just down the road. Thanks saxophone guy!
Joe