Day 10 - Columbus, Montana to Powell, Wyoming

Dave and I were talking today and thought it might be a good idea to offer the opportunity for people to ask questions. We're ten days into the experience, so we thought that maybe by the fifteenth day we could respond to questions. We're interested in questions from cyclists and non-cyclists alike. We talk to the locals in every town and they are variously curious, amazed, skeptical, and even amused. Perhaps you've got a question you want answered. Add it to the comments section on this post (down at the bottom) or e-mail it to me at scott.tarry@gmail.com and we'll compile the questions and answer them in a few days.

The morning was cloudy and cool today with the threat of rain, so we bundled up and wore or at least packed our rain jackets. It didn't rain, for which we are especially grateful, because about ten miles into the ride we had to ride through about 8 miles of construction. The pavement had been scraped off and was in various stages of disrepair. For the most part the road had been reduced to hard clay and gravel. Everyone navigated through safely. The road would have been difficult if not impassable had it been raining. The pictures are of the traffic and our group of riders waiting to be permitted to ride through the one-lane portion of the work area.




The clouds shrouded the mountains, which made the scenery beautiful in a different way. We rode near the Beartooth Mountains all day. Everything was exceptionally green as we climbed over hill after hill. Unfortunately, the hills weren't close enough to one another to be considered rollers in my book, so it was difficult to take any momentum from the downhills into the next climb. I think we were lucky to have the cool temps and cloud cover for this demanding stretch. I've also included a video (at the bottom) that was shot from the top of a climb to show the expansiveness, if that's really a word, of our surroundings.

One of the more light hearted things going on during our trip involves something you've probably heard of if you have kids or know someone who does. One of the crew members, who also rides every other day, brought along a Flat Stanley for his 7 year old nephew. Most of us have posed with Flat Stanley as Carl has documented his journey across the nation. When Carl rides he keeps Stanley either in a jersey pocket or tucked in the leg of his shorts. A couple of days ago, Stanley fell out. Carl didn't realize he had lost him until he stopped for lunch. Needless to say, losing your 7 year old nephew's Flat Stanley isn't a good thing, so Carl was not too happy. But the story has a good ending. One of the other rides happened to see Flat Stanley laying face up in the road and picked him up along the way. There has been some discussion whether Carl is responsible enough for Stanley to remain in his custody. I've attached a picture of him sitting on top of the hand wash jug at a stop during today's ride.



We crossed into Wyoming today after five days in Montana. I have to say that despite having driven through Montana several times over the years, I never gained an appreciation for the state's beauty until I rode across on a bike. Granted, we had great weather, but the scenery has been spectacular from end to end. The rivers, mountains, ranges... everything made the long days on the bike much more interesting and certainly easier to endure.







The terrain changed when we crossed into Wyoming, but it has also been very beautiful. The final pictures for the day show the Beartooth Mountains again after the sun came out and we crossed the border into Wyoming. We included both pictures, because it looks like we photoshopped Dave into the picture. I told him that I was going to write in the blog that he'd been sagging to avoid the 111 miles and 6,200 feet of climbing, but wanted me to alter the photo to make people believe he was on the bike. Don't worry... he was... and he will be tomorrow as well when we head to the Big Horn Mountains for the most climbing and descending we've done thus far. I think we're both more anxious about the descents. We'll be sure to post our thoughts tomorrow evening.