West Yellowstone

Yesterday was both a strange and typical day in Montana. We left Virginia City and went through Ennis where we stopped to update the blog. After Ennis, there was really a lot of nothing but the beautiful scenery we've become accustomed to. As we rode along Route 287, we looked for a place to eat. Alas, in this part of Montana it seems that the most common eating places are bars. About 3:00, we spotted a combination campground, RV park, eating establishment. Unfortuately, it didn't open until 4:00. We decided to make sandwiches with the tuna and buns we still had with us and were ready to settle ourselves on the front porch when a pickup truck pulled up and the owner and a friend got out. We explained our situation and asked if it was okay to sit on the porch. He said, "I'm just going in to clean up and get ready for opening. Come on in out of the wind and sit at the bar." He got us drinks and asked about our trip. After looking at our Adventure Cycling map, he showed us a place about 15 miles farther that had camping and served breakfast and lunch. We decided we'd head for there. In the meantime, he decided to make us French fries, since "it's no big deal to throw something in the fryer." Then his barmaid and a brand-new cook who just drove in from two states away for this new job showed up. Then one of his suppliers came in. We all chatted as we ate our French fries, and just as we were getting ready to leave we noticed clouds. We tought we'd wait a few minutes to see what the weather would do. Good decision. A hail storm ensued, just as a couple from Allentown, PA pulled up in their rental car. So we all waited out the storm. Keep in mind, this bar wasn't open yet! It rained hard for about an hour. The barmaid decided we needed hot tea, so we had some of that. Eventually, the sun came back out and we continued, after saying good-bye to people who by that time seemed like family! That's Montana.

That really has been our experience of hospitality here. I guess when you just don't see that many people, it's easier to treat the ones you see nice. We spent the night in the Campfire Lodge campground in a really cute tiny cabin on the Madison River. (According to Bob, it's about this time that Ward, Skip and Randy should begin drooling.) The place was all about the fishing. It was family owned and run and they were not serving dinner but sold us some canned goods from their restaurant kitchen that we could microwave in our cabin. We had a great breakfast there this morning and are now in West Yellowstone.

From here, we'll ride to Madison, Wyoming where we'll have to stop and camp since there are no rooms to be had at Old Faithful. We'd hoped to get those few extra miles in today, but it is tourist season, if early. Tomorrow we'll take in the sights of Yellowstone Park. It occurred to me that my first awareness of Yellowstone and Old Faithful was through those old cartoons we used to watch on Saturday mornings, so it will be great to finally see them in person.

We have never been out of sight of snow since we got here. There are always snow-capped mountains in the distance in some direction. We had a minor mechanical failure when the tire on our trailer blew today. We got it patched and then took care of replacing it when we got to West Yellowstone, which has a bike shop. Not bad for a week's riding.

By the way, our friend Diane mentioned that she couldn't leave a comment without signing up for an account. If you don't want to do that, just email your comments to our email address. It's nice to hear from people.