Another overcast, yet refreshing 55° after yesterday’s draining heat.  Unfortunately, the weatherman’s last minute wind direction change, was not in our favor; guess we were due.  We had to backtrack two miles to get back on course, which allowed us to read the historic marker and catch a few of the road signs; Arrowhead Rd, Horsethief Road and even Ponderosa Drive….this is Cowboy Country, still.  We crossed the Musselshell River and began our long slow Bull Mountain climb into the wind.  The morning was almost hypnotic, as if we’d travel back in time; wild open spaces and horses roaming free.  Inevitably, a car would break the trance and bring us back to the slow crawl up and into the wind.  

We were delighted to see a few of the Highland Cattle we had first fallen in love with in Scotland.  It took us well over two hours to climb the 17 miles to 4010 feet, we could not wait for the downhill.  Unfortunately, we were lucky to break 20 mph pedaling hard against the wind; a far cry from the 40 mph we enjoyed a couple of days ago on a downhill.

The other side of this mountain was barren of most treesand we could see forever.You could almost here the music from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly movie playing in the background.

As we crested one of our many climbs, a chirping sound was everywhere.  The sky was void of birds and there were no trees in sight for birds to hide.  We soon realized the prairie dogs were calling back and forth to each other from across the road.  This long road into the wind was as difficult as it was beautiful.The sky even screamed, “This is Montana!”

But the wind was working on us, hard.  Around every bend and atop every hill we searched for some glimpse of this city of 100,000, though we could see for ever, all we saw were the plainsand antelope (sorry MaryEllen).At mile 40, we finally saw a speckling of civilization that breathed necessary life into our tired legs.  It was another five miles before we found a place to eat lunch and rest.  It took us another hour for a couple necessary stops (camera) before we checked into the luxury of a Real hotel.  By design, dinner was across the street and delicious.

 The hard fought 50 miles and almost six hours in the saddle was going to feel good against the pillow tonight.