Stitches, Stingers, and a Sag Wagon

Wednesday morning we woke up to a cold and rainy day in West Yellowstone. The fog was thick and our rain fly was soaked. So naturally we stayed in bed a while waiting for it to warm up, which it never really did, but we enjoyed sleeping in. Once we went a few miles the fog cleared and we enjoyed a great ride along the Madison River. Late in the morning we went by Earthquake Lake, formed in 1951 by an earthquake (surprise) that caused a landslide into the river. On the day of the earthquake there were lots of vacationers camping along the river, and 28 of them died from drowning or simply being crushed by falling rocks. Suffice it to say, none of us are willing to camp along the side of the Madison River anytime soon.
At the Earthquake Lake visitor center, we met Davida, a guy who had biked cross-country a few years ago and was now riding from Yellowstone up to Glacier. We rode with him the rest of the way that day, letting him get on the drafting train we had going.

Happy in the hospital.

On the road later in the day the shoulder turned into only a rumble strip. Our options were to ride on the busy road or to squeeze onto the shoulder opposite the rumble strip onto about a foot of pavement. It was a real challenge to stay straight on the smooth pavement, and all of us hit the rumble strip a few times during the day.
About 11 miles from our stopping point for the day, we were cruising right along, all of us feeling great and ready to go further once we reached Ennis at 73 miles. Moving along, I heard a pop and felt my pannier go flying off my bag and land in the road. We heard both Davida and my mother swear, then a scrape and Mom hit the ground, unable to avoid the the bag in the middle of the tiny shoulder. Right away we could tell her arm was cut enough to need stitches. Dad sent me to the side of the road to stick my thumb out for the next truck. The first one we saw hit the brakes immediately and stopped to ask if we needed to go to the hospital.

Mom on ice.

So we sent Mom and her bike with the two construction guys in their truck, planning to pick her up at the local clinic in Ennis. Dad really pushed the pace into Ennis, clearly a little panicked. Davida trailed with us all the way to the clinic on the far side of town. When we arrived, Mom was being well taken care of by the doctor and happy with some morphine in her system. Dad took us to a hotel across the street, where we booked a room while we waited for mom to be sewn back together.

With Davida at Bike Camp.

We weren't sure how Mom would feel the next morning, so we slept in again to try to get extra healing time. She said she would just follow her motto, "Suck it Up", so off we went to climb a little pass right away in the morning. Her arm didn't hurt terribly bad on the way up, but the descent into Virginia City was bumpy and apparently really painful. Mom is typically pretty tough and has a high tolerance for pain, so when we met her in town and she was in tears, we knew it must have been pretty bad. We spent some time in Virginia City, an old preserved mining town with a high tourist population. Our plans for 65 miles were cut to only 43, stopping in Twin Bridges to give Mom some more time to rest.
Twin Bridges was a nice stop. The town has invested in "Bike Camp". They have a shelter built there for cycle tourists only, complete with a toilet and shower, all free of charge.
Davida was spending the night there too, so we got to talk to him some more. It was also Mom and Dad's 21st wedding anniversary, so we had anniversary dinner out at "The Shack". They at least had good ice cream. We bought Mom a big bag of ice for her arm.

Friday we got up and kept pushing on. Mom's arm was really killing her, and the road to Dillon, MT, was bumpy to say the least. When we arrived at the Safeway in town for our traditional 10am coffee and donuts, Mom was in tears again and unable to ride any further. In a bit of a panic, we ran through the options: taking a day off, hitching a ride, putting Mom on the tandem where she could ride one handed, or calling a friend from Boise to drive her around. I do apologize to all of those that we called hoping they could drive up here with our car the 5 and a half hours from Boise. Eventually Dad got the brilliant idea of calling the local car rental, however small it was, and inquiring about one-way rentals. Turns out one-ways were allowed, but there was a two-dollar-per-mile charge to go pick it up.

Car love.

The rental was decided on, and although expensive, it saved some poor friend the inconvenience of having to rescue us in Montana. We figure it was just a test of friendship by asking for a bailout from Boise.

So, Mom drove our official sag wagon over a bunch of mountains for the next two days. With her in the car, we did 76 miles to Jackson, climbing both Beaverhead Pass and Big Hole Pass. In Jackson, we camped outside the only lodge in town. Turns out that lodge was full for a wedding taking place the following day. The lodge is home to a hot spring-fed pool, a boiling 103 degrees. The pool felt nice later in the evening, when it cooled off and started raining a bit. That night, the wedding party enjoyed live and loud music in the lodge, which was heard all the night long until 2am.



Sunday we still had the sag with us as we rode past Big Hole Battlefield, where the Nez Perce and Chief Joseph were attacked by the US army. Later in the day we climbed up Chief Joseph Pass, then had the joy of descending a few thousand feet. At the top of Chief Joseph we crossed the continental divide, but the route had us come down on the east side of the divide. So basically, we get to cross it twice. We stayed the night in Darby at a nice RV park after 76 miles. There I drove the car to the store to get ice cream. It was a great feeling to be moving without effort for once. That night, we left "the car" there. Sniff.

Right on the lip!

This morning we rode to Lolo, right at the bottom of Lolo Pass which we will get to climb tomorrow. Early on our way this morning Dad was talking up a storm. As usual. This time, however, his mouth got the better of him. A bee flew into his mouth and stung him right on the lip. We were remembering the VeggieTales song "I Love My Lips!" with "That kid named Oscar who got stung by a bee, right on the lip!". His top lip is a little swollen now.
Later we saw our friends the Johnsons out on the road driving back to Boise from their big summer trip. They stopped on the side of the road and talked to us for a while. Mom's arm still hurts a bit, so we stopped early at only 57 miles today.

With Harrison of many jobs.

We also met a guy today who is biking from Alaska to Florida. He's a filmmaker/tourguide/audience commander for The Price is Right. Interesting fella.
Now we are at an RV park that doubles as a square dance hall. We're currently sitting right next to the hall, enjoying the free snacks, and watching a bunch of elderly couples square dance. They are all really good and in really awesome costumes and having a lot of fun. It's an entertaining atmosphere.