Whitehall to Livingston, 87 miles, 2770 feet of climbing, just about all of it compressed into two long, tough climbs - one between Whitehall and Three Forks and the other 15 or so miles outside of Livingston.
The picture at the top of today’s entry is of a war memorial in Manhattan, MT where we stopped to reflect on what Memorial Day means, and all of the people that we need to thank for their service - and who we should think about more than on a single day each year, including three of Mike’s brothers and his father, and Bill’s father.
From a bicycling perspective, the photo is also quite informative: the flag is blowing stiffly in the breeze distinctly unfurling to the west. This means that the wind is coming out of the east; that is, right into our faces as we continue our ride east. We continue to hope that this headwind is transformed into a tailwind soon.
Other than the wind, our ride today had some great moments, some big climbs, some fast downhills and some pass-throughs of eastern Montana towns. It was another great day on the bike.
A word about routes: Montana is a big state, roughly 600 miles from east to west, and there are a number of ways to bicycle across. We carefully listened to advice and suggestions from friends. Jay Z (no, not that Jay-Z), the economist at Boston University who authored a very nice blog about the route he traveled on his cross country bike trip, pieced together miles and accommodations on a route a little north of where we are now. Tom K (yes, Notorious Tom K from Winthrop WA) also pointed out another good route across the State. Others, mostly local Montanans, that we met along the way were very forthcoming with their own strong but not always consistent views. They were also quick to point out that carrying camping equipment opens up some good options and not having it pretty much closes them down. We did the best we could in processing all this and are following the corridor that will eventually bring us into South Dakota - although it wouldn’t come as too much of surprise if we modified it somewhat. As it now stands, if we piece it together correctly, our route will lead us right to a sight or two that we are really interested in seeing - we’ll let you know if it works out.
What a magnificent way to see this country! How do you have the energy to climb into the wind all day long and then write a clever informative post? You are impressive guys!
ReplyDeleteBettina