"Journeys, like artists, are born and not made. A thousand differing circumstances contribute to them, few of them willed or determined by the will --whatever we may think."
Lawrence Durrell

Monday, May 24, 2010

Deer Lodge to Three Forks

My day from Deer Lodge was a fairly normal ride for the most part. I got up and headed to Butte and was making pretty good time. At Butte I got rained on for a couple miles. As I headed into town I could see the rain falling over town and eventually got it hit me. I headed into town and stopped at the bank and got some cash. They had a fountain pop machine so I got a glass of Mountain Dew and headed on. I had a climb out of Butte, but it wasn't as challenging as I was expecting, which made it even better. I crossed the continental divide and headed on. Clouds all around were looking ominous and I was nervous of an encroaching storm. When I got to Three Forks I found the exit I needed was closed and I had to add 6+ miles to get the next exit and backtrack to the campground. I camped at the headwaters of the Missouri River. I was the only one there other than the campground hosts. As I did my detour, rain began to fall again and I ended up getting wet, when I wouldn't have had the exit been open. This made my day 104 miles long, which was a bit much since it was beyond what I was planning, though I recovered quickly. The campground host informed me they had a couple of moose wandering the grounds and that I just needed to be aware of that. I went to bed fairly early and had a great night's sleep.

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