We are in West Yellowstone - just outside of Yellowstone National Park. We have travelled about 1000 miles since leaving Banff on 28th July. The journey south from Helena has taken us through some quite remote areas, and has resulted in us meeting some interesting characters along the way.
First mention has to go to Ian who we met at a campsite in Basin several nights back. Ian was a man in his 60s who was in town in order to take part in a shooting competition the next day. He was kind enough to not only show us his small armory of weapons, but also allowed us to play with them too - even Hywel. Kate has some photos kicking around somewhere - I will see if I can get some up at some point.
Second mention goes to Mike Williams from the bike shop in Helena. Mike's customer care knew no bounds. Having had enough of her trailer, Harriet wished to switch to racks and panniers. Unfortunately, the required racks were not available in town. As a result, Mike offered to take delivery of the panniers and drive them to our camp in Butte the next evening. Not only did he do that, but he also agreed to take responsibility for shipping the discarded trailer back to the UK. Mike was a top bloke.
On our way to Beaver Dam campground a day or so later we met a solitary walker - Jim . Jim was a retired chemical engineer who was walking the great divide route from the Mexican border to Canada. He had been on the road since May and was expecting to finish his stroll in September. It was somewhat reassuring to meet someone even more mental than ourselves in terms of the physical task being undertaken - at least we get to roll down the mountains.
Last but not least there was Pat and Nancy. We met them while we were sheltering/cowering from the heat of the midday sun outside a small mercantile store in Wise River. They were camping some 10 miles south of Wise River along the same route that we were to travel that afternoon, and invited us to drop in on their camp on our way past. This completely by chance meeting resulted in us being provided with shower facilities and being entertained all evening with food, wine and endless stories about their own travels and (formerly) delinquent children. In the end we stayed all night and were treated to breakfast too. They were great. I particularly liked them because they relentlessly took the mickey out of Hywel for all sorts of things...
The current plan is to remain in West Yellowstone for a few days before heading on south, so the SPOT signal is not going to change location until about Tuesday. Harriet and Kate have sorted out a hire car which will allow us to see more of Yellowstone National Park than we will be able to get to by bike alone. At the moment nobody actually wants to drive the thing, mainly because none of us actually understand how American intersections work! Any pointers will be gratefully appreciated.
3 comments:
All you have to do is chant "left turn difficult turn, left turn difficult turn" as you approach a junction. That's what my Bulgarian mate does in reverse in the UK. It is only a little bit creepy, not least for being something akin to what you suspect the September 11th hijackers were chanting just before the big bang...
by the way, I stayed at yours last weekend. No only was there no milk, eggs or bread in the house - which, if I'm honest, I probably should've expected - :-) - but you also forgot to put the dishwasher on before you left. Upah!
Having recently hired a car in Florida, there is honestly nothing to fear but the locals. Its 15 degrees in Melbourne and Julieanna is cutting her first tooth. We are some years off before she writes about it in her blog.
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