PoWered by pastries. High on the LowS and low on the highs.

Tara using the sprinkler in this manicured yard.

Happy September 9/1. 50 miles today from hot as Helena to the Merry widow Health mine campground. They profess that radon is healthy for you. What?! The sun was a brilliant red orb both setting and rising. Red sky at night, sailors delight. Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning. Which one should it be today? We were up in the dark and left by 7 AM. We stopped at the Park Avenue coffee shop for coffee and pastries. Thinking of you Mimi! We rode up grizzly gulch and intersected with the alternate route, which all though 7 miles longer, had less climbing. We were worried with the heat that the climbing would be very difficult. However, we still climbed over 4000 feet today, partly because our navigation system, which we call Ben (Bike Navigator) steered us wrong! Don’t trust Ben on the alternate routes! He generally follows the magenta line, which we call Maggie. Today he was supposed to follow the blue line, but it was beyond his capacity. We got turned around a couple times. The first time the farmers herding the cows with the pick up truck and four wheeler gave us directions after asking if we wanted to buy a cow. Climbing an extra hill a few miles later led to a very interesting encounter, with what we assume to be a very kindly old man. We were under an overpass, enjoying the shade, trying to figure out the map when he drove up. He said he was the only one who lives on that road, he had two ponds and two dogs and we were welcome to come camp. If it had been two hours later, we may have taken him up on the offer but it was too early in the day to stop riding. He helped us with the map and asked if we were gay. we’ve actually been married, collectively 56, years to our male husbands. He told us the town of Basin nearby was very lesbian friendly. As we rode away Tara commented that we should have asked him if he was a serial killer, just to put it all out there! He offered water, which I took him up on and was grateful for. Off we went, went back down the hill to another route, NOT following Ben the Nav app. We passed through the towns of Clancy and Jefferson City, really hardly towns….. steady Freddy a.k.a. Tara, pulled us through as spaghetti here had some serious uphill challenges. Read the top of the hill I’m tired and crabby but after whizzing down, I’m rather happy. This was the first day we had a pretty steady quartering wind. After a stop for chips, Gatorade, a Klondike bar and a slurped and sparkling water, we finished fairly strong but I think I was whining most of the way. Now, should we visit the radon mine for its therapeutic effects? Not!