Day 40 – Beating the Heat to Climb the Pass

I woke up and thought that it was quite early to be leaving but I knew that later I would be thankful for the decision that was made. When I came outside I saw that the man from Australia, who was also riding across the country, had already packed up his tent and was on the road. I guess we weren’t leaving so early after all. For the first time on the trip, I kissed my sleeping kids and wife goodbye, dressed, and got on the bike to go have breakfast in town.
The eggs, bacon, and pancake at the Ennis Café were just what I would need to make it up the hill that faced us about 4 miles out of town. 4 miles didn’t give us enough time to warm up so I climbed a little slower than normal and my surgically repaired knee, really for the first time, felt a little stiff and painful. No worries I got sufficiently warmed up not too far up the hill. The hill was about 8 miles long and gave us both vague recollections of the steep hills that we climbed in TN and GA. The view of the valley that we were climbing out of was a great bit of scenery.

Morning scenery, to me, is much more enjoyable than afternoon or even evening. The top came finally and we met and talked to a nice man who was riding east. We talked for a little while but since the goal was to get out of riding in the heat of the day we did not talk too long.
We zipped down the other side into Virginia City, MT, a historic gold mining town.

It was neat to see the old town preserved as it was about 100 years ago.

The old buildings, the narrow gauge railroad, and the dredge hills next to the river almost audibly spoke to us of past success and the booming days of the 1890s. The road followed the river down to the city of Nevada City, MT and then on to Alder, MT. We stopped for a little while to fuel up and make a few necessary phone calls and made a quick trip out of the 12 miles to Sheridan, MT (we made it in about 35 minutes!).
Dad had been looking forward to the cit of Sheridan, MT since he had done an externship there as a senior medical student.

Dr. Warren Swagger had been the doctor that Dad was with for two weeks, 34 years ago, and as we found out was still living in town in the same house as he did when Dad was there. A nice man on a four wheeler led us to the house and we approached the front door. No answer. We heard some noise out back but it was only the caretaker. He informed us that the Swaggers were in KS attending a family function. It was quite disappointing to Dad but he left them a note and we rode to town to meet the girls.
We needed water. The morning though early was hot and I had consumed 1.5 liters of water. My CamelBak was empty. We got ice and a refreshing Gatorade, filled up on water from the car, and got ready to go. We were just getting on our bikes and we noticed a biker readying to leave also. I talked to her for a moment. Then her other two riding mates came up and we talked about our trips together for a while. They were going east and I had to break the bad news to them about the long steep hill that loomed on the horizon for them. They were troopers and didn’t seem too discouraged by the news. Check out the link to their website on the right. It is called “Two Grads and a Dad”. A quick picture and we were on our way.

Twin Bridges, MT came only 9 miles later and left 28 to go and nothing between here and where we were staying the night. It was 11:45. Do we eat lunch or push on to our destination? This was the question. We have both gotten pretty used to eating lunch so we did stop and got a quick bite to eat at the local grocery store. It reminded me a little bit of eating lunch in Marcellus, MI, when I would ride with Chad and get a sandwich at the Marcellus Market (Hey Chad! How’s the 351?). The sun was hot and we were now turning into the wind. The wind was not much but it was just enough to slow us down and require a little more effort from our legs.
We trudged through the first 14 of the 28 and came to Beaverhead Rock.

This was a point of reference for the Lewis and Clark expedition team. It stick up out of the ground with nothing else within miles of it. The Beaverhead River was also there and we didn’t know which got its name first since the rock did not in any way, shape or form resemble a beaver’s head. I guess it is like discussing whether the chicken came first or the egg, neither really matters. It is what it is!

The next 14 seemed to go faster and we pulled into the KOA at about 2:30. I was able to get a very refreshing nap and an even more refreshing dip in the pool to follow. It was nice to arrive early because I was able to spend more quality time with the children. We went down to the playground together and just had a good time. Pizza Hut was on the docket for supper, which has become our once a week tradition. The bed is calling my name and I will answer the call soon.

Thank you to the family members who have left comments on the blog!! What about the rest of you though? Is there anyone besides family reading this? If so let me know!!