Driftwaters, MT

I don't know if you've seen the film 'The Horse Whisperer'. I'm sure it's a pretty sappy film but I remember a scene where they drive a horse box through Montana and it looks stunning. Since then I have wanted to visit Montana, the big sky country and so far it has not dissappointed. The cold nights and strong winds (& I feel they will mostly be headwinds!) may make this a challenging state to cycle in but I'm sure the scenery will make up for it.

It is 73 miles between West Yellowstone and Ennis. I'm feeling pretty strong so a 73 mile day on easy terrain would not have been a problem. However I'm in no rush so two short days it is!

I have been cycling towards snow capped mountains, around a lake and into a valley surrounded 360degrees by distant mountains. And the sky is indeed big. Fishing in the lake and Madison river (which I will continue to follow to Ennis) is very popular. I am staying in Driftwaters Resort - one of many campgrounds / lodgings out here in the middle of nowhere catering to the fishers.

For $10 I can pitch a tent or, as the night will be cold, pull out a sofa bed in the rec room. So I get a bedroom complete with model storks, a fish tank and table football. Plus a hot shower, bargain! As I'm back on the Trans Am route they get a fair few cyclists crashing here over the summer. No one has yet appeared to challenge me to table football though!
B
I met David from New York who is doing the Trans Am race. This goes West to East. He is about 100th out of 150ish riders, 35 or so who have quit. The leader is already in Kansas and riding 200-250 miles a day. David is riding about 130miles a day, practically no gear or clothing - the racers crash in open post offices, churches, the toilets of campsites etc. They have met snow coming through Montana and it sounds like a way of getting hypothermia to me! Quite a different experience of cycling to what I'm doing, they won't be stopping to admire any geysers in Yellowstone.


I was happy with a short day, especially when I saw how nice this place was. I made some hot chocolate and had it with cookies watching the sun on the mountains. The picture with the American flag in it shows the view out the front of the campsite.

Tomorrow will be another easy day to Ennis (about 40 miles trending slightly downhill) and then I will have 3 mountain passes to climb over 2 days.

PS - today marked my 1000th mile of cycling in the States. That justifies the diet of mostly cookies I think!!