Photo Dump 16 Passes and Valleys

Twin Bridges, which only had one bridge that I could see, did have lots of smoke and a bike camp.

Two men (quite nicely dressed in Western Blazers) were herding around 500 head of cattle down the side of the highway.  In the Big Hole Valley.

Ash on my saddle from the fires.

Visibility: 50 feet or so.  You could feel flexible KS on your face.

All the mead.  Hidden Legends from Montana.  Quite good.

Photo Dump 15 Hey Mon! (tonna )

Earthquake lake, formed by a magnitude 7 earthquake in the 50s.  Note all the dead trees.

So one of our best decisions on this trip was to stop early at this rv resort that had a break room.  We set up on the couches to avoid sleeping outside.  Which was smoky and freezing.  Not pleasant. 

But the next day, while still cold, had a small tail wind. Sour the first 30 miles flew by to Ennis, MT.

Which had a great distillery. 

But yes, Montana. Where camp fuel is so dangerous you have to lock it up. 

But there were at least three tables of guns just lying around. 

And dozens of rifle racks, similarly unlocked.

Montana, where houses are built already sunk into the ground (I saw several built like this.)

And yes, that is a cattle guard on the entrance ramp to the freeway.

Photo Dump 14. The show must go on.

So we've reached Seattle but I am, once again, a few states behind. So more pictures. Maybe I'll catch up by the time we fly back East.

The "Grand Canyon of Yellowstone ".  Aside from you the cheesy name ( Come on Yellowstone, you are awesome enough that you don't need to compare yourself to other places), it's impressive.  It drops many hundreds of feet rather quickly, so it almost seems to start out of no where. 

So leaving Yellowstone was weird.   You bike this guy...

And this river (in 34 degree weather,  too)

And suddenly you find yourself...

On the "Jersey Turnpike of Yellowstone".  On to Montana.

Day 70 Snoqualmie to SEATTLE

Day total 70
FINA TRIP TOTAL 3,689

Descending from the Pacific Crest down into the relentless hills of Seattle we completed our cost to coast bike tour.

Because on this final day of biking as I try to sum up what has been one of the most intense, rewarding and by far greatest adventures of my life words are failing me (and because I am more tired of blogging than I am biking, fixing flats and eating peanut butter and jelly put together) I will close this blog post with the words I have so frequently utter at the close of each school day when my students bolt out of my classroom with a chaotic energy unique to a room full of teenagers with emotional behavioral disabilities...."and scene."