Day 11
Day By Day Notes From The Road
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This document updated July 11th, 2004
Avon to Townsend Montana - 61 Miles
By Lucija:
Another fun day, presented here in three highlights:
1. The temperature in Avon dropped to freezing last night - on July 7th! We bundled up in fleece layers - happy that we had not shipped them home!
2. We crossed the continental divide today. It happened at the MacDonald pass, at mile 700, and at 6325 feet of elevation. The climb up to the divide was scenic, and the 10 mile descent that followed exhilarating. Erwin hit 42.2 miles/hour on the descent.
3. Our computer charger cord broke. We learned that that there are 3 computer stores in Helena, a largish city that we passed through on the way. Finally Radio Shack pulled through for us and we are once again good to go.
By Erwin:
Ditto to all that Lucija said - particularly about the computer stores. I can recommend Bill Henderson's on Route 12 - very helpful :-).
Otherwise, one of things I will remember is how the vegetation and scenery changed dramatically once we came over the continental divide. Due to the largely westerly jet stream, the east side of the divide is in a rain shadow, so we substituted a dry, sandy canyon for the wet tree-covered plateau and rode on.
Tomorrow, we will ride 103 miles through central Montana including a 12 mile climb up to a plateau. After goofing off a little today, I am looking forward to tomorrow's century.
We made it to the top! 6325 feet!
Happy biker in Montana! Only 10 miles to Townsend