Keep the rubber side down

Monday 8/29 48 miles from Seeley Lake to Big Nelson FS Site
It was cold at Seeley Lake this morning, 35 degrees. Same routine. Up, pack stuff, have coffee and breakfast, finish packing the tent after it has dried as much as possible, pack the stove, separate out todays food and make it assessable, get on the bike. Full gloves, tights for me and jackets to start the day. The ride to Ovando was eventful. John was not feeling well after he and Louis had burgers and lots of milk last night. Tara and I both could have slept longer. Our days start with a climb which is sort of planned. Today I was happy to go up to warm up. We stop every 30-45 minutes for snacks, clothing adjustments- more on or off, pee breaks. Today we all came to a skidding stop as a black bear ran up a tree about 20 feet from us. He quickly decided his best option was to come down and run up the road. We stopped again a few minutes later as a small shallow pond had tracks coming across it. Bear? Deer? At this point I was fiddling with my phone for a picture and tipped over. It happens to everyone, or so it seems. We arrived in the famous town of Ovando that caters to cyclists. Tara and I had packages at the post office with food, a sleeping bag liner, butt butter, and Larry sent some maple candies. We stayed in town a couple of hours- eating, ice cream, post cards, texting. It got hot. By mid afternoon and we decided to continue on to Big Nelson. Fed a donkey a bite of apple, then he ran off. The last 15 miles Were flat and hot past endless hay fields, fencing and some cows. Keep the rubber side down!