Day 43: Ennis to Dillion Montana
Mark and Jolee wanted to have a lay in so everyone else packed up and hit the road. The Chinese couple gets up ridiculously early so I wasn’t surprised to see them gone when I got up. I wasn’t looking forward to this climb as it was one of the steepest ones on the map. At the base of it Brent and Evan caught up to me. I was feeling discouraged but after fist bumping them and promising to see each other on the other side I attacked the climb with renewed vigor. It wasn’t long before I climbed to the top. The view was spectacular. The last hour or so hardly seemed relevant as I stared at the landscape before me. The descent was trilling. I tried to get a new speed record but it was too curvy to really fly. I ate up the miles until I hit Twin Bridges. I stopped at the park for a snack break and to refill my water. I met an older man who said his daughter was biking the continental divide. I was impressed as that route is really challenging. It’s almost all in complete backcountry. After Twin Bridges it was a straight shot into Dillion. I finally ate my Banana Nut Bread clif bar. I’m going to review it later. About 8 miles out the wind picked up and I was worried I was going to get poured on. I passed large fields that looked out of place. All of them had sprinklers on them so they were green. The surrounding landscape was brown so it looked quite odd but still pretty. I got into Dillion and headed for the McDonald’s for an early dinner. I noticed there was a Safeway so I took the opportunity to buy some fruit. They also had one dollar clif bars. And they had EVERY flavor. I jumped at the chance to buy apricot which I hardly ever see. Brent and Evan went to the Patagonia outlet store so I headed over go meet them. We didn’t know where to stay for the night. I did some googling and it seemed like out only option was a KOA campground. Since there were 11 of us they gave us a good deal. We headed over, showered and I called my Dad to let him know where I was for the night. As it turns out there was a geology field camp staying there too! It was fun to talk to them about where they had gone and what exercises they had to do. Unfortunately they all had a mapping project due early the next day so I didn’t want to distract them. Mark and Jolee soon showed up. We decided to get food at Safeway and bring it to the local brewery. They let you bring in outside food. The wind was really blowing and dust and dirt covered my clothes and hair on our way back over to the brewery. I debated on taking another shower. I was too tired so after eating some very good Chinese food I headed back to our campsite. Although when we got back to our campsite we found it overtaken by chickens. They had escaped from across the street. It was fun to round them up. It was still a little early to go to sleep so I reflected on the day. I thought about how something so small like an encouraging smile and fist bump from Brent and Evan completely turned me around. I was dreaded that climb but in less than 10 seconds I had forgotten all about whatever was bothering me. I wonder if I’ll ever be able to have that effect on someone. Tomorrow we are trying to get to Sula. It’s going to be a long day as it’s about 110 miles away and goes over three climbs.