Notes From The Common Man: July 6 update

Pat and Charlie and I got up early on the fourth, ate breakfast and headed out for an early 2000 ft climb. We rode for about eighteen miles on a moderate uphill grade, and then began the real climb of about 4 miles to the pass. After topping out the pass, we zoomed down to Virginia City, Montana. I thought this was the Virginia City of Bonanza fame, but someone corrected me on Facebook. It's actually Virginia City, Nevada in the TV show.

Going on down the valley there was evidence of gold and silver mining all along the creekside. We had a down hill slide for miles through a rocky canyon and then a straight downhill run into Twin Bridges. The grade was so gradual that we barely had to pedal for about 15 miles. Pat said it almost put him to sleep.

Pat had booked a room in Twin Bridges, but Charlie and I decided to push on to Dillon so that we would not have such a long day on the fifth. We had a tough time of it. It was slightly uphill for the 28 miles into Dillon, but the real problem was a mean headwind.

Charlie and I split a room in Dillon, Pat got up early and met us in Dillon about 7:00. As soon as we left Dillon, I knew I would be in for a tough day. We had a long moderate uphill climb followed by back to back climbs over two passes. By the time we reached Jackson, I was toast!

Jackson is not much of a town, just a few houses, a hotel/birdhouse where we stayed, and a cafe which was rustic, but had good food. The doors of the cafe were open and a couple of dogs wandered in and out. I don't really mind, I wish every restaurant were like that.

Here's a story my friend Cathy told me about a dog at My Mitchel State Park. She said, while waiting to be seated, a lady with a small dog asked the hostess if dogs were allowed in the restaurant. The hostess in a slow mountain drawl said: "I want you to listen very carefully. Could that dawg be a service dawg?" The lady thought for a minute, and replyed: " well I suppose it could be. " "Well come on in then" said the hostess.

We spent the night in the Bunkhouse dormitory, and got a good night's sleep, although we were awakened by a strong earthquake around midnight. I woke up well rested, and as soon as I got on my bike I realized I would have a good day. We rode to Wisdom, Montana, where 9 riders including ourselves ate breakfast, and then rode uphill through a beautiful wooded valley for about 24 miles, and then had a pretty steep climb up to Chief Joseph pass at 7400 ft. From there we dropped 2000 ft over 9 miles to Sula, Montana and then had an easy downhill to Darby , where we are staying.

We are spending the night with a warm showers host along with 4 other cyclists who are staying here. The host is really going all out for us, cooking dinner, providing shower and beds for all of us. He's hosted 24 others in just the last few weeks. It's almost unbelievable how nice people have been to us and others we have talked to.