Day 17: Seeley Lake to Lincoln

Ride time: 4:42
Average: 12 mph
Distance: 56.59 mi

I made the mistake of going back to bed at 5:30 AM this morning, even though I promised Nate that I would get up and stay up.  Oops.  It started raining, so then we just stayed in our sleeping bags and slept until 9:30 when the rain stopped and the sun came out.  We packed up "fast, like pancakes," and biked into town for another latte (I have a headache now from all the caffeine the past two days).  We ran into some other bikers that we admiring our beautiful bikes...

Typical.

We set up Morrell Creek Road through some gorgeous high country.  We climbed a good hill without taking a break--we were pretty proud of ourselves.  Our bodies are getting stronger!  We felt pretty good a mile 20, so we held off on lunch until mile 26 at Ovando.  The owner of the general store was Howie, and he had a hound dog named Maggie.  Here she is sitting guard on the front step:

Ovando, Montana. Pop: ~50; Dogs: ~100

Maggie had a dog friend Jippie, a Blue Healer, which are really common dogs in Montana.

We took a shortcut to Lincoln--we avoided the Big Nelson Campground in some vain effort to get to Helena on Sunday for the fireworks.  We took Hwy 200, which had a decent shoulder until the turn off for Avon, and then it was pretty scary.

Here's where our 4th of July weekend turns unforgettable...  We got into Lincoln and biked to the Cenex gas station to look for a magazine for Nate and to chug some chocolate milk (great post ride recovery drink).  I went inside to go to the bathroom, and when I came out, Nate was talking to Kris, a woman whose parents lived in Lincoln.  She was arranging for us to stay at her parent's house, who apparently take in  mushers (dog sled people) and bikers all the time.  We got directions to Jane and Jerry's house, and biked over rather quickly.  We walked in, and there was the crew: Jane and Jerry, Kris, the woman who we met at the gas station, her boyfriend, Chris (or C- Chris, or Seacrest, or Ryan Seacreast), and Dennis and Patty, a lovely couple from Helena.  Everyone was up for the holiday weekend, which as it turns out, is Lincoln's biggest weekend all year long.  They generously fed us steak for dinner, let us shower, and then somehow, we were talked into staying for the parade and rodeo tomorrow.  They meant that getting to Helena on Sunday for fireworks would be out of the question.  So, we decided to make a weekend out of it here in Lincoln...

Here's Jerry rocking on the fiddle:

Jerry, Jerry, Jerry

Future GDR Riders: Ovando has an outhouse, a picnic table, and hose for riders to use.  You can camp at the post office for free or rent the teepee for $5.  It's a good place to stop.