Montana

Going up: the tent crew putting up our dining room: the view from the second day's climb: going up! The second days climb (on a tandom recumbent trike no less!) Lilacs everywhere.The bike camp at Twin Bridges. GOATS! I got to feed goats.

Jack and I left the tribe in Cedar City on Friday morning and headed North to Montana.  We drove to Idaho Falls the first day, then on to Bozeman.  What a gorgeous drive through West yellowstone, down the Gallatain River into Bozeman.  Sadly, we saw no wildlife.  I wanted moose and elk and wolves, oh my.  

The Montana staff arrived on Saturday and we spent a lovely evening bbq'ing brats and chicken and reliving past trips.  The Montana tribe arrived on Sunday to an overcast day with random rain showers.  We had a great time watching Joe and Cory put up the carnival tent for our outdoor dining room! And we all lost our wagers the Mo would not arrive with the van from Utah before 4:00.  Good job MO!!! After the initial map meeting for the week the tribe dined on coleslaw with apples and craisins, bbq'd pulled pork, opa's sausages w/ sauerkraut, steamed potatoes and carrots and cookies for dessert.  Those sausages have made quite a hit, and FYI you can order them on line for home delivery!  

After a rainy night the tribe was up early for a completely fabulous ride through green, rolling hills; wandering along the Madison River, into the little town of Norris and then into Ennis, population 840. If you're driving through Norris you have to stop at the Adirondack chair store on the corner.  It's one of 4 buildings in Norris so you can't miss it.  If I could fit the greenhouse that they build into my truck, I would be hauling it home. ( I was able to bring home a chicken coupe from Missoula 2 years ago, Jack said it wouldn't fit but it did!) I think the green house wouldn't fit.  Instead, I bought a really cute bird house to put in my mom's garden. 

In Ennis we stayed at the high school just a block from town.  Really great shopping, antiques and bars.  

Dinner in Ennis was a spinach salad with strawberries & honey mustard dressing, Greek lemon chicken, steamed asparagus, basmati rice, and brownies for dessert.  The vegetarians, quite an easy bunch on this trip, feasted on Quinuo stuffed portabello mushrooms.  YUMMM!  They are so good and so easy.  I will post the recipe.

On Tuesday the tribe was up uber early: a little nervous about the hill that they at been staring at all afternoon.  Kind of a hill.  Maybe more like a pass.  Ok, almost 2000 feet of climb early on.  But there was a great downhill on the other side!  And, you ended the downhill in historic Virginia City, population140.  I'm sensing not many people live out here.  After passing through Nevada City, and for the lucky few; stopping at the town bakery for amazing cinnamon rolls. After passing through the town of Alder, population 125, the tribe meandered along another 47 miles into camp in Dillon.  (population 3500, whoohoo!) Lunch was served at the rest stop in Twin Bridges, population 375, (ok: I'll try and get off of the population thing).  There is a really cool bike camp at the rest stop, providing touring cyclists with restrooms, showers, an enclosed dining area, dish wash station, and message board to pass on info to other riders.  What a great resource.  Point of interest: the bike camp is situated next to the old state orphanage.  It's for sale if you're in the market.

The dinner tonight was a new menu: I was sweating this one: Texas tossed green salad, steamed rice, 2 bean chili with pork, from scratch no less, shrimp jambalaya, grilled tortillas, and Nana's rum cakes for dessert.  The chili, as well as the jambalaya, turned out great!  The recipe for the chili and Jambalaya can be found in the cook book, Texas On The Plate, written by Terry-Thompson- Anderson.  I picked this up in Fredericksburg, Texas, and would highly recommend it as an addition to your cook book collection.  You can find it on Amazon for about $10.00 less than what I paid for it.  The only problem that I have with it is that I don't think I have any local rattlesnakes to make the rattlesnake chili.  I'll have to source that one.  

Tomorrow we are of to the town of Wise River, population about 70, (I can't help it).  We will double the population of the town!  Lot's of climbing tomorrow, so off for a massage and early to bed.  Life is tuff.