Free-RANGING

Day 22—Tuesday, Aug 23—Llama Ranch to Helena 

46 miles; hot

Early morning at Llama Ranch (with audio!)

Missed the pancake breakfast at Llama Ranch (heard it was great) to get an early start and try to avoid the heat of the day. Rode alone up a long grade and then crossed the continental divide for the 2nd and 3rd times!  Free-ranging, mooing black cows everywhere in the road. Said something mildly derisive to one about slowing my momentum and she kicked up a pile of dirt in my direction. Taking note to be nice to the cows.

It was a beautiful morning and I made good progress until….until a wrong turn took me southwest instead of southeast toward Helena. I ended up at the junction of a five mile climb up a paved highway to McDonald Pass which was about 6,500 ft. The ascent gave me a long view of Helena in the distance and then treated me to a seven mile downhill ride topping out at about 35 mph. Fun!

MacDonald Pass: the benefits of getting lost

Remains of the Empire Mine (gold/copper/lead)

Something weirdly and disturbingly American about this story and the telling obit

Lots of these fellas dot the landscape

These traffic death memorials line the highways; I remember them from a childhood trip across Montana.

Reading comprehension challenge

Rural architecture

On the road into Helena, Paul and Arend caught up to me. I stopped at a cannabis shop to use their Wi-Fi and contact my host in Helena. Cor and Dana stopped by and we shared our plans. They just spent several years in Uganda where Cor taught special Ed and Dana opened a bike store. They are taking a year off to travel around the world, some of it on bike, and will probably end up in the Netherlands.

Cor and Dana—Happy Birthday Dana!

I rode into Helena and parked outside the GoldBar where I imbibed a mix of lemonade and cold beer to chase the dust from my whistle.

Linda Gryzcan (Warm Showers host) met me at the bar and we picked up some burritos (the Mexican food is getting better as we go south) and rode back to her lovely home where I met her partner Constance.  

Linda is a very experienced bike packer and we reviewed the trail ahead with her recommendations. They are kindly allowing me to stay two nights to catch some rest.

I pitched the tent in the front yard and eventually drifted off to the bike path in my dreams.