Today is July 4th, but unfortunately we will be missing the big parade and fireworks in Seeley Lake, an event that apparently people book motel rooms for a year ahead. Oh well, we just plain lucked out getting the rooms that we did. We leave the Seeley Lake Motor Lodge today which turned out to be an excellent place to stay for the past two nights. It was clean and very close to the GD route. The support team especially likes that the motel offers free bags of ice to guests so they could fill the support crew cooler before leaving. They try their best to ensure that we have cold beers waiting for us at the end of our rides each day...very nice!
Another breakfast at the Chicken Coop at 7.15am to set us up for the day, then it’s back on the road to join up where we left off. About 14 miles into the ride, we come across a motor cyclist who is doing the motor cyclist’s version of the Great Divide. He is so excited to see us, and insists on taking our photograph and having us record our names and where we’re from into a Dictaphone. Sorry, we forgot to take his photo for the blog :-( Not long after that, the terrain changes dramatically, from dense forest to open farmlands and we see our first herd of cows.
We can see from the map that we are going to be going through the tiny town of Ovando, Population: 50 which is also supposed to have a café. Being hungry cyclists, we are dreaming that this café is not only going to be open, but is going to serve the most amazing pie imaginable. This thought keeps us going until we see the sign for Ovando – the town is obviously up for July 4th celebrations judging by its sign! And we were not disappointed. Cycling into town, we immediately received a welcome cheer by the locals who were standing in line at the volunteer fire department's BBQ. They were all so friendly! They invited us to join them, which Jiggless and Dirtbaby eagerly accepted. (Numb Stuff doesn’t do red meat, so he declined). An amazing spread of home cooked prime rib, potato salad, beans, pasta salad, jello and cool whip salad, plus brownies, cookies was all yours for just $6. People of Ovando, we love you! Apparently, people come from all over Montana to Ovando for the firemen’s July 4th lunch; That’s how famous it is. There is a line way down the street. Standing in line, Dirtbaby was a little confused on being asked where in New York she came from. "Slightly further east than that" was the reply. The little town of Ovando has such great character, a café, an inn/general store, a fishing store and a museum of local history. Not bad for a population of 50 people (and over 100 dogs).
Reluctantly we left, and had the joy of almost 4 miles of paved road before hitting gravel roads that had the texture of oatmeal and just sucked up energy. Luckily it was fairly flat and we had a tailwind. Just before the turn off to Big Nelson campground, we came across a field of horses, mares with their foals which were a joy to watch.
Although we were warned by the guidebook that there is a 2 mile steep climb up to Big Nelson Campground, somehow knowing this makes it any easier. We were very glad to reach the campsite, even happier to see Deb and Judy (chilled beers waiting), and also to see what a fantastic location it was being right on Coopers Lake. Being the holiday weekend, the campground was pretty full, only having 6 or 7 spots. But the gods smiled on us and Deb and Judy just happened to be in the right place when someone vacated their spot at 1pm, meaning we had just enough room for us all to camp.
The weather has turned much cooler now, which is better for cycling but means camping can get a bit chilly. Jiggleless is great at setting up a campfire and soon a roaring fire is blazing. While waiting for Chef Judy to cook dinner, we played with the snake fireworks and sparklers that we brought along to celebrate the holiday.
On a side note, for the past few days, in every town we have visited, we have heard an often frequent display of firework explosions. Either the people of Montana really love showing their 4th of July patriotism, or they really like blowing things up. It's hard to say which...probably a lot of both. The support crew picked up some earplugs to help some of us sleep tonight. One other thing we can say about the people of Montana is that they are very, very nice. Everyone here has been friendly and helpful to us! Below are the grocery clerks at the Wold Market showing their 4th of July Spirit!
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