July 11 - Day 16

Day 16, Day 14 cycling - Butte, MT to Beaver Dam Campground - Miles - 40.5,  Avg Speed - 7.9 mph

We are leaving Butte today and cycling through some fairly remote areas of Montana now as we make our way to the Idaho border over the next 4 days. We probably won't get internet access or much cell coverage again until we get to Lima, MT in 5 days.

Party time over, the girls decided that since Numb Stuff had lost the most weight, he should pull them along in his BOB trailer! And it was a mile and a half great downhill down Butte’s Main street. But, alas, although Numb Stuff was happy to pose for a photo, he turfed us off. So off we flew down Main Street, with a quick latte & Bagel stop, then a quick lunch sandwich stop, then finally a quick poo stop and we are out of Butte. At the last stop, we find wine in a waxed carton – a whole litre! We debate how bad wine in a carton could be, but after our experience with wine in a can, decide we will give it a go, since Dirtbaby seems to have a lot of room in her panniers.

We have paved road for a good 13 miles, albeit the last few miles is climbing. We reach the Butte watershed which gives a great view back over Butte and the Berkeley Pit. Another few miles and we cross the Continental Divide for the 5th time.  Later on, we have a great view of Mount Fleecer, which we are going to tackle tomorrow. After admiring it from afar, we have a lovely descent down to the I15, cross under this and then we have a quick stop for a Starbucks coffee (from instant packets) and a Hostess Ding dong. Numb Stuff has been having a craving for these for some strange reason. However, the reality does not match the childhood memory – they taste disgusting with a chemical aftertaste!

After the coffee stop, there is a 6 mile climb up a gravel road to Beaver Dam campground. We arrive here, tired but overjoyed to find a pit toilet, a picnic table, a fire ring and….. our first water pump. However, the water pump gives out yellowy brown water. We think it is safe to drink, but purify it just to make sure.

Our support crew is spending an extra night in Butte, so the three of us are left to fend for ourselves, Therefore, dinner for the night consists of dehydrated Mountain House Chilli Mac for Jiggleless and Dirtbaby and Chicken Teriyaki for Numb Stuff. These meals might not be top of everybody’s favourite menu, but trust us, after a hard day’s cycling, these dehydrated meals taste great! Not only that, you can eat them straight out of the packet, so no washing up. And washed down with the Bandit carton of wine – we are in heaven!

Beaver Dam campground is around 6,400 ft so turns chilly once the sun goes down. Therefore it is an early night for us all. However, at 11.30pm we have an unexpected visitor in a car…… its headlights shine through Dirtbaby’s tent and wakes her up but she is too scared to stick her head out of her tent to see what’s going on. Luckily, Numb Stuff gets out of his tent to check the car out – the car has reversed into the spot next to ours. When the occupants of the car see Numb Stuff they rapidly depart. We are left wondering whether they are checking out our bikes for stealing. Before we went to bed, we considered locking our bikes but dismissed it thinking we are in the middle of nowhere, who on earth would steal bikes here? However, when you think of it, together, our bikes cost $15,000 and Montana is a pretty impoverished area, so we resolve to lock up our bikes in future!