June 19 Driftwater Resort to W. Yellowstone, MT & June 20th (Rest Day W. Yellowstone)

Michael w/helpful comments from Anne-Renee and Gloria

We are only posting now because we have once again been without internet.  Pictures will be added at a later date.

Today was another perfect day for bicycle riding. We started out with a 4 mile uphill climb, but these experienced riders barely noticed the incline despite the hours we were riding it.  We took a rest break at the Quake Lake Visitor Center. Even though it wasn't officially opening time yet, the nice lady opened the restrooms and visitor center for our use.  Quake Lake was created by a 1959 earthquake and landslide that totally stopped up the the Madison River and completely buried the road we were on.   We learned all about the history of this earthquake and couldn't help but think of how Deb and Max would have enjoyed seeing the area.

Shortly after we left the visitors center somebody in an RV honked wildly at all of us and waved. We couldn't quite figure out why this person was honking at us as we were already on the far right side of the shoulder. However as soon as we saw the back of the RV we quickly realized that it was Denise. She stopped ahead and we were delighted to see her. Denise's mom (Tootie - sp?) was with her and introductions were made all around. Tootie is also an experienced bicyclist, and we tried to get her to ride with us.  Denise had even been kind enough to pre-make our lunches even though they wouldn't be staying to join us. It was great to see Denise and we much appreciated the lunch. We were reminded of just how lucky we were to have her sagging for us for so long.

During our visit, I (Michael) was explaining to Tootie, about a neat velcro strap I had that kept my front wheel straight when my bicycle was parked. Regretfully right after they left, the strap was loose and got stuck in my disc brake. Needless to say my bike did not go very fast.  Gloria was in the lead on a downhill stretch and Eric was kind enough to race after her to let her know that I would be awhile.  Then they called Denise to ask her to check to see if my bike was ok.  So Denise did a quick u-turn.   Thanks,  Denise! You are the always so kind!  Upon reaching West Yellowstone, I had a bike shop adjust my brakes to ensure my the velcro strap out hadn't messed up the brakes.

After my brake issue, we continued on to West Yellowstone.  The roads were busy, but the shoulders were pretty wide and usually had rumble strips to alert drivers when they got out of their lane.  The rumble strips were a foot wide and the shoulders were usually at least 3 feet wide.

The winds that had slowed us yesterday were not nearly so bad today.  

West Yellowstone strikes me as a tourist town with mostly three types of businesses:  hotels, restaurants, and gift shops. There are also two small supermarkets and two bike shops.

Rest Day

Today we had several best parts of the day.

1.  We slept in for a change

2.  Anne-Renee and Lesa arrived.  Woman power!

3.  Fortunately Eric found a bulge in his tire on a rest day instead of when he was flying downhill

4.  After dinner, we went for ice cream at Eagle's General Store, which opened in 1908.  They had several classic Hamilton Beach milkshake mixers.  We also met Mathieu from Paris and George from London suburbs.  They are on student-worker visas, which allows them to work and travel in the USA for 3 months.

5.  After the ice cream, Anne-Renee, Gloria & I decided to take a quick trip to Yellowstone Park to check out the various and numerous wildlife.  It appears however that the elk, moose and other deer-like creatures did not get the memo.  After seeing several bison crossing signs, we began to think the bison weren't very good readers - they were not crossing. Just as we were about to give up,  we got a glimpse of a herd of bison before being shooed away by a park ranger on a bicycle.  We were able to stop at a beautiful waterfall at Gibbon Canyon.  Our penance was a 2 hour bison traffic-jam.

We got back to our hotel around 11:30.