Sula - Hamilton, MT - The cat named Chevy won't stop this tour, and neither can COVID

July 19, 2020

Sula - Hamilton, MT

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392 elevation gain

We turned over 2,000 miles yesterday! It will be about 2,300 for the total trip. It would be possible to ride a much straighter line, but that wouldn't be as scenic. For example - we could have cut this little loop through Jackson and Sula out and ridden: Helena, Great Falls, Missoula.

We about froze last night. That seems odd to us at 4,400 feet elevation in mid-July, but we are much further north. It's not dark now until almost 10 PM. We were scoffing at the wool blanket on the end of the bed, but sometime in the middle of the night I closed all of the windows and pulled up the blanket. I could hardly be forced out of bed this morning and Jacinto didn't waste time going to the restaurant for coffee. There's no microwave in our cabin. I will be making oatmeal on the stove.

Jacinto asked if I wanted to ride together today. We have a target depart time of 9:30. We are going to take an alternate road - Old Darby Highway to Sleeping Child. Bill, who summered in Hamilton one year, said the Old Darby Highway is dirt and when he tried it he was concerned about bear and mountain lions because the road was closed in. Eeegads! I did have a man at Island Park as me if I carried bear spray - I told him no, I was too stinky. His quick reply is that the more you stink, the better you taste to a bear. Yesterday I did watch the woods closely, thinking that I might see some interesting animals out in the quiet. I've seen deer almost daily, but not as many antelope as I expected and nothing near as exciting as a bear.

My favorite bear encounter story.

Being on time isn't Jacinto's specialty. He's only on time to work - other than that, setting a time is a suggestion, not a fact. We left after 10 AM. The very last thing Jacinto did was pump up his rear tire. It was 25 pounds low. Hopefully that isn't a sign of a problem.

I told Jacinto that my definition of riding together means together - not together for a half mile and then I don't see him again for 30 miles. Within two miles he had fallen behind. I waited. He had taken a photo. This happened a couple more times, but I waited for him each time. Is this how Oren feels when we ride together and I stop for photos?

We had a nice shoulder for four miles. Then it disappeared for seven miles, luckily to come back for the remainder of the day. During that seven miles I did pull over a couple of times to let vehicles pass. Today is Sunday, so I think people were heading home after playing in the mountains.

Today was a nice payback day for all of the climbing we've been doing. It would be difficult to get a flatter day for that many miles anywhere.

We had just gotten back to the wide shoulder part of the road when we saw two loaded cyclists heading our way. How exciting! We didn't see a single cyclist yesterday. I thought we might see more, since we are on the TransAm route. Jo and Steve had come to the USA from Australia to hike the Appalachian Trail. After one month on the trail, services shut down because of COVID. They had met someone from Chicago who invited them to reboot at their house. Jo and Steve bought bicycles and rode Rt 66 from Chicago to ??? (they didn't say exactly), then the rented a car to Seattle (I think) and started bicycling from there. The plan is to ride back to Chicago and then see if they are allowed to fly home. If not, they will have to fly somewhere that will accept them as their USA VISAS will be expired. Jo said they cycle as far as she can each day - when she's done, they stop. Steve had a giant bag on top of his rear rack that had their backpacks and other hiking gear in it. My knees shuddered at the thought of hauling that load up Chief Joseph Pass the direction they were headed. But, they've been on the road awhile, obviously it's within capabilities. They had been warned to watch for moose and deer heading up Highway 93. I'd love to see a moose in the wild . . .

We had planned one side road today, with six miles of dirt. I was surprised when Bertha beeped at me and told me to turn right on Rocky Mountain Road. It was obviously dirt and dusty at that, as two vehicles were traveling down the road kicking up plumes of dust. We discussed giving it a try. I hadn't caught that it was on my route. We had been looking further down the road at the planned alternate that I had discussed with Bill. We decided to give this road a pass. A little dirt is ok. The majority of the day on a dusty road is on the wrong end of my fun meter.

When I rode the Lewis and Clark, we had stayed in Darby on the 4th of July. I remember being so, so hungry and the cooks for the day had hotdogs and potato salad. It was a disappointment . . . I recognized the place we camped at, but not much else in town.

Soon we came to the turn for Old Darby Road. We discussed if we should take it or not. Sure? The highway was fine, but a side road would be a diversion. It wasn't any more elevation gain or miles. It was just a dirt road on the opposite side of the river. What we didn't know in advance was about the washboard. It was no fun at all with my bicycle. There's no such thing as getting your butt up on a recumbent! Luckily we had regular respite as the road was graded and sealed (mag chloride?) in front of each residence. Old Darby turned into Sleeping Child, which was a short ride for us before getting back on Highway 93. I saw Jacinto crossing all four lanes of traffic and I wondered what the heck he was doing - but then I saw he was getting on the bike path. It had started already. We rode that into town, then it turned into a regular sidewalk crossing lots of business driveways. Jacinto took a left and said let's ride on the side street parallel to Highway 93. It was stop and go with frequent stop signs, but we saw some of the old part of town. Eventually we wound our way towards our motel. I wanted to stop at Taco Bell, but it was drive up only with a long line. We couldn't even do carry out. The Quality Inn was right next door and on the other side is a big grocery with a deli. We are going now to see what's to eat. The Quality Inn isn't well placed for restaurants, but it looks like they are all have carry out only. There were quite a few lodging choices in town, we stayed here because I had points to use for a free room.

Let's see what's at the deli. I think that's dinner, since even if we did go to a restaurant, it would be take out only.