Hans has the lake to himself but a bald eagle keeps it’s eye on him.
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We really do have to give a little plug for “Hammer Nutrition” here. We have been gobbling up their products daily (Perpetuem, Sustained Energy, Recoverite, and Tissue Rejuvenators). I am pretty sure that has something to do with the fact that we can climb up some of these hills and still get back on the bike in the morning. We visited their headquarters in Whitefish. Hans was hoping for some swag and dressed appropriately!
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Everyone seems to have a beautiful vegetable garden in Montana. They keep them fenced with 8-10′ high wire fences in an attempt to keep the deer and moose out. I thought I was smelling someones herb garden but it turned out to be an entire field of dill, acres and acres of it. I’d love to know how they harvest it.
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Just when we’re starting to feel pretty bad ass we meet this bunch. Here’s a couple from Germany who decided to tour around the US for six months-with two little kids in tow!! They stick to paved roads and stop every few hours to let the kids play. You can’t see it in this picture but she pulls a tiny bicycle behind her bike, guess they want him out of that carseat and pulling his own weight as soon as possible?! They camp every night, rain or shine and we’ve crossed paths with them at campgrounds as well as on a busy street in the middle of Helena. Wow.
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We gave our legs a rest and took a canoe trip down the river and into Seeley Lake on our day off.
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Ovando is the most bike friendly town of all. Population 50 but every one of them stayed up until midnight to watch the Divide racers ride through their town a few weeks ago. If you haven’t seen the movie “Ride the Divide” you might not know that every year a few amazing souls ride this same route as fast as they can go. The winner did it in 17 days,it will take us 12 weeks!
Ovando offers a few interesting alternatives to camping: Cyclists are welcomed to stay in the teepee, the old wagon, or the town jail.
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Luckily, most of the critters we encounter are harmless and sweet. Then there are those pesky bears…. We are careful to store all our food in our bear bag (a Kevlar bag that reportedly can survive a bear attack) and everything else gets hung high in a tree away from our tent every night. We were surprised to see this tennis/basketball court next to a campsite out in the middle of nowhere but it made for a great place to store our stuff for the night:)
Hans and Denise's Excellent Adventure 
Happy Birthday Hans! Where are you now???? Enjoy reading about your adventure and seeing the pics…keep it coming!! Hugs!
Craig and Carol
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