So, the early bird gets the worm, and the early cyclist gets a cool morning ride. Silas and Amanda get baked in the sun because they can't get out of bed before, well today before 9:30. Today was Roger's Pass, 5610 feet, our exit from the Rocky Mountains. We ate it for breakfast as promised in the zine. At the top we climbed up the Continental Divide Trail to get a good view of where we came from and where we are going. I thought I saw North Dakota.
Full of bravado and jive talk we flew down from the pass only to discover the foothills of Eastern Montana, or as we've come to call them The Rockies Revenge. Obviously the karmic balance sheet, or as Amanda refers to it The Clipboard Man, was watching us up there on top of the pass with our chests puffed up.
The foothills were brutal. Rather than a slow steady climb through the mountains it was hundreds of feet up and down, up and down, up and down - but never enough down for the up. We stopped at a roadside bar called Bowman's Corner, which makes the short list of things to see in Eastern Montana, and drank iced tea til we felt brave enough to ride again. Then, we headed out and went up and down....
During the last eight miles into Great Falls as the sun was setting we saw a dog get hit by a car. It was incredibly sad, and we felt completely powerless. No one to call, no way to transport the little guy, and dusk threatening behind us. So, we stopped at the first house we could find and let them know. They said they would call and have someone come pick the dog up, but it was hard to leave him behind and move on.
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