Day 10 - July 23

Today was the start of the second third of our trip. The first third (9 days) has seen us cover 7 states, 4725 kms (2935 miles), with temperatures ranging from the mid 50's to around 105. We have managed to only get about a half hour of inclement weather so far, but have had some extremely strong winds to deal with at times. But so far, everyone still has smiles on their faces!

Today was a ride all within Montana - except for a very brief trip into Idaho for a photo-op - and we had a whole set of varying landscapes along the way - from flat, dry valleys, to flat, fertile valleys, to

mountains ranging in the 7500 ft of elevation range and so on.

We wound up travelling Hwy 93 south out of Missoula, and the part from Darby to the Idaho border was a lot of fun with long sweepers and some tighter turns mixed in.

After a bit of a history lesson at the Big Hole National Battlefield, we stopped for lunch at 4B's Restaurant in Dillon, and then continued on southward, via Hwys 41 and 287. The ghost town of Nevada City was a neat stop and then it was a quick drive-by of Virginia City and onto the Madison River Earthquake Area, and a very nice ride along the Madison River into West Yellowstone.

The Traveller's Lodge is our home for the next two nights, and dinner was at the 3 Bear Lodge Restaurant next door. After a quick tour of the main drag, we're now getting set for tomorrow's ride - this was

the day that was added at the last part of the planning and involved riding both the Beartooth and Chief Joseph Highways