Day 11!

Avon, MT to Townsend, MT - 62.5 miles, 5:06

You know your perspective on things has changed when a 60 mile day is a short day. I think I'd like more of these . . .

This morning, after packing my wet, dew-covered tent, I headed out from the campground to tackle McDonald Pass. It was a not-too-steep (but steeper than Snoqualmie Pass) 4-mile ride to the top. Other riders were flying up compared to me, but I made it, too. I crossed the Continental Divide!

After that, there was a 12-mile descent. We were warned about keeping our speed down, not over-heating the rims with too much braking, and stopping if our hands cramped up, but this descent was much less scary than the one into Vantage or even the one into Missoula. There were also really beautiful views of the valley down below.
Rosie, Barb, and Chuck (from Maryland):
Barb and Chuck:
We rode through Helena on Hwy 12, and it was definitely not the scenic route through that city. The landscape is changing. It's drier, and there are fewer trees. It's not quite as scenic as what we saw in Idaho and Western Montana, as least to my biased NW eyes.
Tonight we're camping on the football field at Broadwater HS in Townsend. The next two days are 90+ days (both mileage and weather!).

Update:
Later that night after dinner, someone drove by in a truck and yelled, "Hey, you hippies! Why don't you get a job?" Welcome to rural Montana, I suppose.

At about 9:30, when we were all getting ready for bed (I was in bed trying to sleep), it started to thunder and lightning hard. All of a sudden, Daniel yelled at all of us to get into the school gym until the storm passed. It started to rain hard, the wind blew, and we watched from the safety of the school as many tents were blown down. A lot of unhappy riders had to drag their wet things into the school that night.

I learned two things:
1) My tent is very secure and waterproof in a rainstorm,
2) D'oh! I should've closed my tent "windows" before I went into the building! (Fortunately, only a little rain got in my tent.)