Thank you so much to the entire Dziaba family.

A truly awesome family

I had the greatest time with you in the hotel and on our trek to Virginia City. Your hospitality in taking me in will always be appreciated. It's been over two weeks since I've seen my own loved ones. To be able to spend time in a family atmosphere with caring parents and kids as wacky as my own siblings was great. Thanks again!

For those that missed the comments on a post from a couple of days ago, my friend Jaba from the Ohio State Mountaineers was on vacation with his family in West Yellowstone. He left a comment inviting me to stay with his family on my way through the town. It was awesome because I got to spend a stress-free day in the park, not having to worry, as always, about where I'd be sleeping that night. 



Woohoo, friendship!!!

My shower that night was grand. Few times have I been so dirty that a pool of dirt collected at my feet in the tub. Appreciate the fact that you didn't have to smell me yesterday.                                      

The next morning, the Dziabas were headed to Virginia City, MT which was very conveniently on my route. They offered to drive me and my bike there, saving me a 2000-foot climb and putting me a full day ahead of schedule. The quintissential old western town, Virginia City had lots of fun tourist activities. After an awesome lunch (the chicken alfredo pizza was definitely the right choice!), I left the Dziabas and headed on my way.

I rode 30 miles (I know, I'm embarrassed to even write it) to Twin Bridges, MT, where I set up my tent in the city park. Twin Bridges was the single most bike-friendly town I've seen since Denver. They even had a bike lane in their town of 400 people!

I had a bit of a mishap with planning my route to Missoula. I need to be in Missoula between 8 AM and 5 PM on a weekday so I can purchase maps for the rest of my route from the Adventure Cycling Association headquarters. However, being a day ahead of plan, I'd arrive midday on Saturday which means I'm going to have to lollygag for two days in the city and wait for the office to open on Monday morning.

Since I've been going at a pretty mild pace lately, I'm considering doing an insane day tomorrow. Their office is open from 9 AM to 1 PM on Saturday so I might just bike the 120-130 miles from Dillon, MT, where I am now, to Darby, MT. That'll put me just far enough to get to Missoula on Saturday morning. But cycling 120 miles in a day means that I'd have to start around 4 AM. I don't know about that.

Anyway, I'm off to find somewhere to sleep. Cross your fingers that somebody adopts me for the night. Dillon is a disappointingly shady town so hopefully I can find something good. I'll let you know if I'm still alive after my ride tomorrow. 

Here are some pictures from earlier on in Wyoming that just never got posted: 



This used to be a river and a campground. A 7.5 magnitude eathquake in 1959 sent 88 million tons of rock from the mountain in the background into the water. It blockaded the river and created Earthquake Lake.



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On the right, Matt and Jessie who I rode with on day one through Yellowstone. On the left, Curt and Erin, who are equally awesome and from Ohio too!