Yellowstone Adventure. Bozeman to Ennis

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Yellowstone. Day 15 The Road to Ennis
Good continental breakfast at hotel before nice sunny start at 8.30am along the south of Bozeman to join the main highway to Four Corners. A wide road with fast traffic but thankfully a wide shoulder to ride on. We set off like the 'lead out' train for Team Sky but slackened off when we started to climb up past the golf course and seeing people spoiling a good walk. Once onto Norris Road life became more civilised and I could take photos of yet more tractors and farm machinery alongside the occasional buzzard and other animals such as a herd of deer and alpacas, a hare and a badger, which unfortunately were now road kill. There was a definite Dutch feeling to this area with many Dutch Barns and a signpost with Amsterdam on it. We dropped into the hamlet of Norris for a coffee and lunch at the fuel station only to get in conversation with two old timers who had never left the area in all of their 70 odd years. Thus was followed by a stiff five mile climb to a point where the original Bozeman Trail headed west off this road through what was Indian country to the gold fields in the 1860's. A 7% descent to the plain followed by an eight mile ride along a straight road to town. The Fan Mountain Motel was manned by Mr Grump, who is a rarity in the US service industry. In fact everyone we come across is more than helpful in every way. In the office we met a lady guest, who was brought up in Ennis and told us the best place for an evening meal was at the Bowling Club Bistro. An excellent choice. First class food and reasonably priced. Breakfast at the Ennis Cafe is planned for 6.15 tomorrow, so an early night. The fuel stations at most road junctions are an excellent place for picking up sandwiches and cake for lunch and the one in Ennis fits the bill nicely for tomorrow. Whilst in town in the afternoon we met a Japanese cyclist who was 3 months into a 3 year cycle ride. He set of in Canada and was initially going to Argentina with a bike so heavily laden it was a joke. The tyres were about 50 mm wide to cope with the weight. Whilst we talked to him another cyclist called Luke from London turned up who was cycling from New York across America to Seattle in Oregon. He found some free camping for the Japanese rider, which was very kind of him. Showing the great camaraderie amongst cyclists. The forecast is good for tomorrow, but we have been told about the head winds later in the mornings, hence the early start.

Stats. 52.7 m. Ave. 13.3 mph. Elev. 1470. Max Elev. 1580. Ascent. 706 m. Temp. 12 - 27 deg.

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