Post 24, 28 July, from Wisdom, Montana

Dear all

I have now had three days riding in Montana. It is stunningly beautiful! I am constantly amazed.

Wide views, wide skies

 This SW corner of the state is characterised by hugely wide river basins - reminiscent of South Park and North Park which I loved so much in Colorado. The valley floors grow hay, which this year - after such a wet winter and spring - is bright green, but intermixed with wild flowers.

Almost an English cottage garden!

 Then further to the sides, usually on the moraines left by the glaciers, the sparser grasses are yellowy brown. Then beyond them, the mountains rise either side several miles away - often with traces of snow. And as I ride through these valleys, wherever I look is supremely beautiful....

Ennis main street, early morning

Yesterday morning, leaving Ennis, I climbed away from the beautiful Madison River basin, which had given me such great cycling for a day and a half, and for 80 miles or more.

Last view of the Madison River basin

The route then went along a narrow valley called Alder Gulch, site of a frantic gold rush in the 1860s. Two towns sprang up, boomed, and died, but they have been reconstructed and preserved, so that their Main Streets are now like a living museum.

Virginia City, preserved gold town

One of the original dredging machines lies in a pool by the road side. Where they operated, the dredgers literally turned the valley upside down, and the piles of dredged gravel are still very visible.

One of the gold mining dredgers

 Then lovely riding in another wide basin, this time along the Beaverhead River. (Beaverhead Rock was an importantly prominent landmark on the Lewis & Clark Trail- a bit like Split Rock on the Oregon Trail in Wyoming).

Beaverhead Rock

 Today has been similar, though with the challenge of two long climbs to the delightfully named Beaver Pass and then Big Hole Pass. (The French apparently called these wide valleys 'grands trous', and here the name has stuck!).

Big Hole valley

 At the top of Big Hole Pass I was rewarded with a magnificent view of the Continental Divide range in the Rockies, with high snow-clad peaks. It was another major "Wow!" moment, like the first view of the Tetons.....

Snow on the Continental Divide Mountains

 Tomorrow I cross the Divide, for the ninth and last time (no less - I feel as though I have been living in the Rockies, but you can tell I'm not complaining!). Psychologically, though, I will feel good knowing I am heading for the Pacific.

One bonus yesterday was meeting up with two couples both doing the TransAm Trail west-bound. Wendy and Graham are semi-retired New Zealanders, and Olive and Ben are from Seattle, have just got married, and this is their honeymoon! I rode with them for several hours, and as we chatted the miles rolled by very easily. Good company!

Wonderful colours in the Beaverhead Valley basin

 What else to share?

Well, at the risk of appearing to be a grumpy old man, to someone used to British caravans (and British fuel prices!) the sheer size of American 'RVs' ('recreational vehicles') is amazing, even ridiculous.

 Some are like articulated trucks, towed by big pick-ups; others are the size of 30-seat coaches. The latter often tow large 'SUVs' ('sports utility vehicles'), so that when they get to their campgrounds they can go driving some more.... And the SUVs sometimes themselves have bicycles on rear racks. It all seems to be a statement saying, "Look at me, I love the outdoor life!". Yet many RVs have a/c, flush toilet, separate rooms, and even satellite TV. Basically it's like taking their home with them!

Something else continues to surprise, even shock, me. Walking into a sports shop in Ennis, it was a shock to see rows and rows of hunting rifles for sale. When I asked the shop lady if I could take a photo, I explained that guns simply weren't part of our culture in Britain. She was as surprised by that as I was by their availability....

Guns for sale, it continues to shock me

 Another cultural thing: tipping in restaurants and cafes. Gary alerted me to 20% being the norm for good service. And I must say service here usually is good. But 20% adds hugely to costs when one eats out just about every meal. And the waitresses sometimes take it for granted. Having a second breakfast the other day in a sort of resort lodge, with Manny, our young lady waitress was hopelessly slow and forgetful. My bill was $5.30; I had no change so gave her a $10 bill, and she had the gall to ask if I "needed" the change!!

This Post isn't meant to be a catalogue of complaints; far from it - there is very very little I have to complain about. As I have often said, the vast majority of people I meet are kind, open-hearted, and intrigued my my loopy adventure.

No odd names to share this time. Some of the mountain and valley names are enchanting: 'Hangman's Gulch', 'Old Baldy Mountain', 'Sunrise Peak'.

I did stop and stare at a car licence plate for Idaho. State licence plates often have a slogan; Idaho's claim to fame seems to be "Famous Potatoes".... !
More in a couple of days, probably from Missoula, MT.

Till then, all best wishes to all,

Ken