Date: 2007-05-26
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

5-23-07Ennis, Mt72 miles today3009 miles totalI made a pot of Starbuck's this morning, then went down stairs to the continental breakfast. This is a tourist area and the breakfast was too busy with people getting ready to head into Yellowstone National Park for the day, so we walked down the road to a small cafe and ate.It was 27 degrees and the sun was out. Haven't seen too much of the sun lately. :-))When we walked back to the motel, I saw another biker and talked to him. His name was Larry and he's the second bicyclist that we've met that started on the coast of Oregon.It was 8am before we checked out and headed west.There were signs along the way warning of bison in the road, but all I saw were bison pies. :-))We turned toward Hebgen Lake and rode along it's shores for about 10 miles. That was a beautiful ride with the lake in the foreground and snow covered mountains in the background.I was riding along near the far end of the lake and I saw an osprey fly by with a rainbow trout in it's talons. I thought to myself that it would have been a beautiful picture, but I didn't have time.I heard a commotion behind me and turned the bike around just in time to see a bald eagle diving towards the ground in between Mrs Gorp and me.Pretty soon I saw another bald eagle. They kept coming back to the same area between Mrs Gorp and me.When Mrs Gorp caught up to me, she said that one of the bald eagles attacked the osprey and stole the fish in mid air...and she saw the whole thing.I dropped my bike and took my camera towards where the fish had been dropped. The two bald eagles landed on a branch that was only about 25 yards from me. I got some fantastic photos of both of them together, then went over and took a picture of the rainbow trout.I threw the trout out towards the eagles, but they took off.That was by far my best ever bald eagle encounter!! :-))We rode on and found a fly fishing shop that was open. I got a coke and a small bag of Fritos and sat in the warmth of the building and had that snack.We headed on and Mrs Gorp was just behind me. She said to look at the mountain goats. I was riding almost up to them and didn't even see them at first. They blended in very well with their surroundings.There was about 6 or 7 and I got real close to them and got some great pictures.They were funny because when one would move, the whole pack moved with it. I think I have some pictures of them and the bald eagles that are going to be suitable for framing.We headed on and I finally started chilling down. I had been wearing my shorts and a light jacket, but I stopped and put on my wind cap and heavy gloves along with some tights.We had been riding into a 10 to 20mph wind and that cold wind finally got me cold. :-))I think Mrs Gorp was secretly happy to see me get cold. Ha!! :-))Mrs Gorp was way behind me near Refugee Point, a place where people were rescued in 1959 after a 7.5 earthquack in this area. She spotted an elk that I didn't see.We started seeing quite a few antelope again and I saw a beautiful blue bird. It's been awhile since I've seen any of those little buggers.Another bird we've been seeing lots of for the last week and a half is the magpie. I didn't know what it was until I saw it in a bird book yesterday.We had been seeing a dark snow cloud to the northwest. It stayed away for a long time, but by the time we got to Cameron, it started snowing with mixed rain.We stopped at the PO and mailed some maps home, then went next door to a cafe to wait for the storm to pass.I had a good, hot bowl of tortilla soup and some chicken wings while I waited. :-))We rode on about an hour later. It was cold enough that I wore my winter gloves again.We got to Ennis and found a room at the Fan Mountain Inn for the night.They recommended a good place for dinner, but it was closed, so we settled for a Dairy Queen hamburger, fries and a large vanilla milkshake.I've been having a great time on this whole adventure, but this last week has been extra special with all the snow covered mountain ranges and all the wildlife we've been seeing. I love that it's past the middle of May and it still feels like winter out here. :-))We are also at 5,000 foot elevation tonight. I think that this is the first time in well over a week that we've been at such a low elevation. We will climb back up to 7,000 feet first thing in the morning though...should be a frosty ride. :-))Oh yeah, we've now gone over 3,000 miles on this trip!! Woohoo!! :-))Another great day on the Trans Am Bicycle Trail. :-))5-24-07Dillon, Mt72 miles today3,081 miles totalWe packed up early and was at Ennis Pharmacy by 6:30am for breakfast. Breakfast and coffee were very good there and they kept my coffee cup full. :-))I also bought a couple batteries for my pocketmail since it went dead this morning when I checked email.We had a climb up to 7000 feet to get over Virginia Hill. It was a 12 mile uphill ride.I could see showers around in different directions and was hoping they would miss us. It was in the low 30's and I really didn't want to go through a cold rain so early in the day.Well...one of those storms did hit us, but I was real happy to see it was snow and not rain.It was beautiful ride up to that pass. I kept looking back at the mountains behind us and at the road we came up...it looked so small from near the top.We got to the summit and headed down the wet road. I actually used my brakes some on the way down because I was afraid of hitting an icy spot, but I still managed to clock a 40mph top speed. :-))We were planning on stopping at a cafe in Virginia City for some hot drinks. When we got there, it was nothing but old historic buildings and nothing was open.We headed on to Nevada City, just another mile or so and thought we might get something warm to drink there, but the wasn't anything open there either.We found out there was a place open just another 8 miles down the road in Alder, so we headed on.This area has a lot of history to it. There was gold and garnets discovered here back in 1862 and Virginia City swelled to 10,000 people. I doubt there were 10 people there today.The sheriff was also part of a criminal gang that would rob and kill some of the prospectors...until they were eventually killed themselves by the town's people.I still didn't like the area between Virginia City and Alder though because it was all dug up from prospectors and all the buildings were old and run down.We got to Alder and got a snack. Mrs Gorp was talking to an old timer in the store and we found out he's lived in the area for 40 years and wrote a book called "The Himalayans To The Rocky Mountains". I beleive it is about the bighorn sheep of the area.We headed on and rode through Sheridan. It looked like they drove a herd of cattle down the road because it was filled with cow pies. No one understands just how dangerous it is out here trying to avoid all the road debris. :-))I got a nice picture of an old guy and his wife on their horses. They were herding up some cattle.We had been seeing quite a few pronghorn antelope again and I saw a small group of mule deer.We rolled into Twin Bridges and found a really nice cafe for lunch.It was another 30 miles to our destination tonight in Dillon and when we turn to go southweast towards Dillon, the headwinds were back. :-((We were pedaling hard to go about 9mph most of the time.Earlier today at about 11:30am, Mrs Gorp looked at me and said we were going to get rained on at 2pm.We rode into very high winds and a really cold rain....at 2pm.The rains were blowing so hard that it was stinging my delicate face. It was also hard keeping the bike in line with the side of the road.That rain stopped after about 15 minutes and I pulled off the road to wait on Mrs Gorp.I didn't know whether to be upset with her that she made it rain at 2pm, or happy that she warned me that it would rain at 2pm.I rode on and the winds dried me out in about 30 minutes. I pulled off the road to wait on Mrs Gorp again and when she got there, I told her that I thought she might need a break about now. She shot me with cold water from her water bottle and got it all over my clean glasses and my shirt.I guess she didn't need a break after all. :-))We rode on and saw some of the areas that Lewis and Clark had traveled. This is also the area where they met Sacajawea's brother at Beaver Rock and knew they had found a friendly tribe of Shoshone.We rolled into Dillon and saw a sign for a motel on the other side of town for $44.00 and headed there.It was nice to be inside and know we weren't going to get hit with anymore rain. We could see rain storms all around us, but we were lucky enough to have dodged them.I saw a grocery on the way in and when we started talking about dinner, it was decided that I would ride back to the grocery and get a rotisseri chicken. I did that and got rained on heading back to the motel.Mrs Gorp looked at me and said; "Oh, is it raining??" then she said; "Let's eat!!"Not one word about me getting wet for the fourth time today. :-((We heard on the news today that a guy got mauled by a grizzly in the same area we rode through in Yellowstone just a few days ago.Another great day on the Trans Am Bicycle Trail. :-))5-25-07Wisdom, Mt67 miles today3148 miles totalToday started out good. We checked out and rode about 2 miles to Sparky's Garage and had a huge breakfast.We had 48 miles with no services, so we wanted to make sure we were well fed. :-))We headed west and crossed under I-15, then headed towards Badger Pass at 6760 feet high...the first of two passes we had to climb today.It ended up being another hard day because we had 20mph headwinds for the first 48 miles.Mrs Gorp usually climbs faster than I do. She did today, so I watched her get up ahead of me and eventually out of sight.The weather was 33 degrees when we left, but warmed up to about 50 degrees today. That would have felt great because the sun was out, but the winds kept it feeling cool.I saw a lot of antelope again and one large herd of mule deer.When I finally got to the summit, Mrs Gorp was already gone. I headed downhill, but got buffeted with the winds. It's amazing how much a headwind can slow you down going downhill.I got near the bottom of that hill and could see Mrs Gorp way ahead. I checked my odometer when I saw her pass by a large truck parked on the side of the road.I figured she was about a mile ahead, but when I got to that truck, it was 1.6 miles.She was either full of energy today, or I had a serious lack of energy...or both. :-))She pulled over in about another mile and waited on me. We had a snack to give us some energy to climb the next pass...Big Hole Pass at 7360 feet high.We just pedaled and kept pedaling until we reached that summit, then rode down to Jackson, Mt.I was happy to see a cafe open. We went in and ordered some burgers.That food stop gave me my energy back and when we started pedaling the last 18 miles to Wisdom, our destination for the night, the winds calmed down!! It was great to ride and travel at about 16mph without pedaling very hard.We ran into Tony, an eastbounder about 3 miles from Wisdom.He's doing quite a ride this year on a number of different Trails.We headed into town and stopped to get a room, but no one was in the office. A note said they'd be back soon. We got a room after about an hour, then went across the street to eat dinner.I had liver and onions and it was very good.We are without communication in this small town of 114 people. My cell phone has no signal and my pocketmail doesn't work on the land line. :-((Our route today followed the Lewis and Clark Trail and the Nez Perce Trail.There were the snow covered Beaverhead Mountains and then the Bitteroot Mountains at our left all day.I also got to see another bald eagle fly over my head. I got a picture of it, but he looked very small in the photo.I saw thousands and thousands of cattle in the valleys too.We now have less than a thousand miles to the Pacific. :-))This is the first day we didn't get snowed on in about 5 days.Another great day on the Trans Am Bicycle Trail. :-))