Mile after mile, Montana is spectacular

       Virginia City typifies  the old west.  Every store is a time warp, a lot of charm, but verging on being overdone and definitely too many tourists.   The town has a good thing going so I should not knock it.  I wish New London had half the charm.

     Leaving town entailed a four mile climb into a strong head wind.  My walking muscles had a good workout.  Energy conservation is a big part of long distance cycling and I have nothing to prove.  I was making 3.9-4.1 mph pedaling and 2.6-2.9 mph walking. The spread wasn't great enough to justify grinding away in the granny gear.  

     On the way down strong crosswinds forced me to ride the brakes to maintain my stability.  It is a unnerving to be flying down a hill and be hit by a oscillating headwind.  Not knowing when it was going to hit me and how hard had me on guard at a much lower speed.  The next eight miles to Ennis head winds fought me the entire way.  I put my head down, drop down a few  gears and forge ahead.  Complaining as about going downhill sounds lame but I want to get there alive.  I stopped in Ennis briefly to grab a sandwich for the road.  Nice town, it seems to have been discovered but not in a bad way.  You have to wonder where the regular folk live when a town becomes destination, in this case fishing.  Probably part of the California creep just the way New Yorkers have invaded Connecticut.

        For the fifty-five miles I covered yesterday,  there was nothing but mountains, valleys and rivers, a photo opportunity every few miles, very majestic out here. As the altitude increases, the snow gets closer.  Will I need studs?

         Like yesterday I met several cyclists traveling west.  A sister and brother started April 15 from Miami, went up 1A and then took a left around Virginia.  Two guys from Colorado met me near the end of the day.  It is fun exchange information on where we have been and tips on various mutual concerns such as camping, food, road conditions, other bicyclists they met and so on.

      West Yellowstone was too far to travel by days end so I pulled off at a camp area for the night which advertised on a small sign "bicyclists welcome".   Not much civilization in any direction but the campsite made up for it by having all the amenities including a gourmet restaurant and a small store to buy road provisions. The fast flowing clearwater river (?) abutted the site and mountains on four sides.  The draw here is the trout fishing and, of course, the spectacular scenery.  

        As the lone camper, I had the pick of locations and set tent up out of the wind with a killer view of everything.  Before hitting the sack, I am piling on the clothes.  The temperature drops like a stone at night around here. 

       Next to my tent is a fenced off pasture with horses grazing. I could easily live out here for a month out of the year, during the warmers months that is.  Maybe I should take up fly fishing? I tried and it didn't take. For sure the property taxes are much lower out here than in Connecticut.