Day 35

Mileage: 108
Total mileage: 3124

Today had been an amazing day of extremes!

I was woken up this morning a little before 7 when the rest stop management crew came by to empty the trash and clean the bathrooms. One of the guys asked why I slept outside last night (it was cold and windy). I said that I didn't think I'd be allowed to sleep inside the building, to which he replied, 'Dude, it's a Montana rest stop. Pretty much anything is allowed.'

So I didn't get in trouble, which apparently gave me the peace of mind to go back to sleep for two more hours. When I woke up, there was a bitter wind whipping out of the south. It was the kind of relentless, gusty straight-line wind that you hope you never have to ride into. I was heading due north for 35 miles, and it was at my back!

I eagerly hopped on the bike and sped off toward the little town if Ennis. I was riding in this huge valley between two enormous mountain ranges and the scenery was breathtaking as I cruised along close to 30mph. There's an incredible feeling of release that comes from riding down a straight, flat road, trying to gear up and realizing you're already in the highest gear. It took just over an hour and 20 minutes to ride into Ennis, which is probably the fastest average speed I've pulled for a leg of this trip.

Ennis was absolutely delightful! It's a little tourist town that focuses primarily on fly fishing. There were anglers standing in the rivers outside of town, people grilling in the park and even an instructor teaching a couple how to cast on the lawn of the park. The pharmacy in town had a nice little breakfast diner (weird right?) And I took a minute to look at my maps. To my horror, I was doing a u turn maneuver and heading south into the wind while climbing a 6 mile, 2000 foot hill. It took me just as long to climb that hill as it did to do the whole ride into Ennis.

So with two extremes down, the best part was coming up. There was a steep 4 mile descent into Virginia city where I quickly lost almost all the elevation I had just gained. It was through a narrow canyon and the wind was finicky, whipping through at odd angles, changing directions at every turn. It was the most fun descent I've ever done. No brakes, zipping around corners, leaning hard into the turn and then getting rocked back the other direction by a huge gust. It was like riding an incredible roller coaster that required super focus to stay on the rail. When I finally came shooting down into Virginia city with my heart racing, the radar by the side of the road measured me at 37 miles an hour. I was sad that it was over.

The rest of the day was quintessential Montana, cranking out 50 more miles across the huge landscape studded with mountains and dotted with cattle. This is beautiful country and I could ride through it for weeks without ever getting tired of it.

Tonight I'm in Dillon. I stopped into a random bar quickly to ask directions to city park and ended up chatting with the bartender and the only other patrons which happened to be two ladies from rural Montana. One was a cowgirl who trained colts for a living and the other was a lumberjack. The bartender got out a coil of rope at one point and the girls taught me how to throw a lariat. It was a far more interesting night than I expected it to be.

I stopped by the park, but there was no cover and I'm always afraid it's going to randomly rain here despite clear skies. I stumbled across a church that had a covered front porch and it looks pretty secluded. Church doesn't start until 10 tomorrow so I'll be up and out before people start arriving. G'night!