7/6- Heavy headwind, rain, no particular place to go...actually turned around two miles in and headed back for Missoula...rode about forty yards and wheeled back around again and pushed on. First 40 miles were slow and painful. Luck changed, wind changed, rain stopped, went another 36 miles for a total of 76 miles, my longest run to date...and on a day I almost quit!

7/7- Cold morning, cattle ranches everywhere--the cows spot me coming about a thousand yards out. By the time I pass, every cow in sight has stopped mid-rumination to stare at me as I pedal by. Sometimes, the little ones dash off to their mamas with their little tagged ears turned back toward me. Sometimes the mamas dash off, too. I stopped for a bite and the whole herd dashed off.

Climbed MacDonald Pass to the Continental Divide. Some kind of view. Then, nearby, a guy and his two sons started loosing off rounds from their rifles sort of randomly out into the valley. Not sure what that was about. So the third beast in my Dantean tale has been literally overcome. Now for the Badlands.

MacDonald's Pass at the Continental Divide

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