Ennis to West Yellowstone, MT

Via Hwy 289. 73.4 miles.
We knew this would be a long day for us, just based on the mileage.
What we didn't expect was how hilly the route would become in the middle, which nearly spent us. Today was only the second day in our entire trip, nearly 4,000 miles at this point, where I was seriously considering going to "Plan B" (flag down a pickup truck for a lift).* Happily however we rallied and pedaled to our West Yellowstone destination, very tired but not completely worn out.

It was another unseasonably cool day, even for Montana. The temperature was 35 degrees when we awoke this morning and never got above the mid-50s. Add the normal stiff wind (a tail wind today, thankfully) and the wind chill is down in the low 40s. It's more than a little ironic that a couple of weeks ago we were trying to cope with temperatures over 100 degrees every day. Now we are all bundled up to the point that we look like the astronauts pedaling across the moon. And it threatened to rain on us most of the day, which would have certainly pushed us over the Plan B edge.

On the plus side, our last full day in Montana was a visual treat as we rode along the Madison River valley to the outskirts of Yellowstone National Park. The area has had an unusual amount of rain so the mountains and valley grasses are unusually green for this time of year, leading to one stunning view after another. The mountains, the water, the wildlife (even the bugs were pretty tame today) - Montana really has it all. We decided to dethrone Oregon as our favorite state and crown Montana top dog.** (Note to Bruce C - don't worry, we are not going to ding Montana due to the actions of one jerk driver yesterday.)

*The other time was back in April on Day #3 when we staggered into Sheridan Lake, CO on a very cold and windy day with still over 30 miles ahead of us to our destination (Tribune, KS). I am still surprised that we didn't do that, or bag the whole trip when we'd barely begun.

**How's that for mixing metaphors?
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