Another morning of the making porridge and packing up routine, which has become pretty second nature by now. One thing I certainly won’t miss is cleaning my cooking pot with cold water and my hand and then pouring the dirty water into a pit toilet. Glamorous.

 

Said goodbye to Greg, although I’d see him later down the road as he first came past me and then retraced his steps saying the road was too tricky for his motorbike. 

 

This part of Montana is pretty desolate, with lots of sagebrush and cattle ranches. So not the most scenic day of the trip but also pretty flat which made for good steady progress. Saw lots of southbounders and the ones coming through now are noticeably more willing to stop and chat than the speedy Tour Divide racers I’d seen in Colorado. One particularly unlucky group had passed through a section of road immediately after a rain shower and a cattle drive which left their bikes churned up with a rather grim gloopy combination of mud and cow poo. Thankfully this had dried up by the time I went through. 

 

Rolled into Lima and straight to the cafe for a burger and slice of apple pie with ice cream. It had only been two days since I left Colter Bay but it’s amazing how I feel like I need to take every advantage to eat any food that isn’t porridge, packets of rice and tortillas. 

 

As it was only just after lunchtime I’d planned to ride a bit further as there looked to be some nice camping spots on the other side of town. But as I left the waitress warned me to look at the sky. Sure enough, a thick black cloud was now obscuring the nearby mountains and a stiff wind was cracking the Stars and Stripes on a nearby flagpole. I waited around a few minutes to see which way it was moving but as it closed in I opted to call it quits for the day and head to the motel across the road. I’d just got into my room when the heavens opened for half an hour or so of torrential rain - was pretty happy to not be pressing on through that. It gave me the opportunity to shower and charge everything and I should be able to make up the time to get to the bike shop in Butte as planned. 

 

Got my fill of the British summer by watching highlights on YouTube from Glastonbury and the Test Match.