Day 101: September 11: Twin Bridges to Bannack

Matt and Elizabeth are in a hurry to get to the coast, so they left on a more direct route to the north.

I talked with Chuck Hemingway, the owner of the motel and RV park we'd camped at. He is from the Washington area, and has been a frame builder. Now he runs the motel and arranges fishing trips and sells fishing flies and lures. He pulled out a titanium bike he'd made, which weighed a mere 14 pounds. Even the spokes were titanium. The rear dropouts (where the rear wheel attaches) were a copy of a design the Wright Brothers had used on their bicycles.

Chuck Hemingway and his Ti bike

I got another spare tube at the hardware store, hoping I'd not have to use it. But I'd had several flats because of the bad tire, so I figured that I'd better be well prepared.

It was lunch time by the time I was ready to get started. As I was waiting for lunch, Pete and Barry (the Australians that I'd been riding with in Yellowstone) joined me. They'd spent an extra day in Yellowstone, exploring. From their description, I was glad that I'd not bothered to spend any more time in the park.

We rode down along the Beaverhead River , through Wisdom and Dillon (where the bike shop was closed because of a bike show), over Badger Pass, and down to the Bannack State Park around nightfall.