Did I tell you that Montana is beautiful? It is absolutely gorgeous. Of course it helps that the weather is cooperating, but who knows how long that will last. It seems like I'm either climbing, descending, or riding across wide valleys surrounded by mountains. The mountains are ever-present, but unfortunately it's been almost impossible to get good pictures of them. The light is pretty flat during the day, and the mountains seem to fade into the sky. To get really good pictures I think I'd need to be out during the edges of daylight, or I'd need to have a camera with a very wide angle lens and filters. I guess I'll have to use the pictures that I have to jog my memory. I'll keep taking more pictures. Who knows, some of them might even turn out to be good shots.
I went back to the Ennis Cafe this morning for breakfast - one pancake. I know that doesn't sound like enough, but I can't even finish one plate-sized pancake at one sitting! The cafe also had great cinnamon rolls, so I took one with me for my mid-morning snack. Plus, the ride today actually went through several towns, so I was able to stop at a bakery for a sandwich for lunch. That was a nice change from my usual energy bars.
I went through Virginia City and Nevada City - both restored mining towns. I thought I'd spend more time there, but once I got there I didn't feel like stopping. Typical Denise! Virginia City seemed to be mostly shops and inns. Nevada City looked more interesting because it had an area that was a restored town. I did stop to talk to people in both places. When I got to Virginia City I met a retired couple from Iowa who driving the Lewis & Clark trail in their RV. They are cyclists too. They told me that someday they'd like to take the train to LA and ride Route 66 back to Chicago. We talked for a while in Virginia City, and I saw them several other times during the day. In Nevada City I ran into the couple (Harley riders) who had the room next to mine last night. We had talked a bit last night, then talked some more in Nevada City this morning. They are from Texas, but said that they live on a houseboat in Branson, Missouri - in the heart of the Ozarks. They were in Sturgis for the Harley rally, and are spending some time wandering around Montana before they go home again.
Cyclist sighting for the day - I met a couple from Portland, OR who started riding in Florence. They took the Donna Ikenberry alternate from Missoula, so they had just come south from Butte. My route for the next 3 days is different from theirs. I asked if they'd had any problems with fires in Oregon, and they said that they haven't. That's good news. I also asked how long it took them to get here. They said the days are already blending together. They said they thought it took them between 3 and 4 weeks. That sounds about right to me - I was just trying to get their time for comparison purposes. It's really hard to figure out when I'll get to the coast just based on the remaining mileage. I guess it doesn't really matter when I get there...
Harley sightings have been getting fewer. The rally in Sturgis ended on Sunday, so most of the riders have probably disbursed. I did talk to a couple of guys yesterday after I arrived in Ennis. They were from Texas, and thought that the miles they were covering on their motorcycles was quite a challenge - at least until I told them I was riding my bicycle from coast to coast. I don't know - I can't imagine sitting on a motorcycle for hours every day. It seems like that would be a different kind of hard.
I passed a sheep farm this afternoon - the first of my trip. I stood and watched the sheep for a while. They were pretty funny. When I stopped on the side of the road it seemed that some of the sheep were watching me. And unlike the cows I've been talking to on the side of the road, the sheep were noisy. Baaa! Baaa! I do get a kick out of watching animals.
Wildlife sightings for the day: deer and hawks. The deer was pretty funny. It was standing in a field and was not too close to the road. It saw me coming and ran off, but of course it ran in the same direction that I was traveling - so it had to repeat its run several times.
Yesterday was a hard mental day. Today was much easier. It seems that there are low energy days and good energy days, and there are good emotional days and hard (bad) emotional days. I can't seem to control either, just have to take them as they come. I'm very glad that I have more good days than bad!
