Don’s enroute to California, his wife Jann came to help him.

Lots more climbing and big sky vistas now that the smoke has cleared. Finally catching up to other riders in Wise River. 2 Dutch, 2 from Florida and supposedly 6 more just ahead. [BREAK: lost wifi at the biker bar where I started this day’s blog.]

I caught up with a clot of riders at the big joe campground along the scenic byways between Wise River and the town at the end of my second map (6 maps total). There were seven riders in the campground plus myself, among them two more retired fellows from Fort Collins riding together, a solo retired man from Dallas (who has done Rawlins to Del Norte before) and a solo fellow in his forties who was the lightest of them and I forgot to ask his home town.

The ride out of Wise River is on one of Montana’s Scenic Byways and, if you discount the head winds in the earliest open valleys, is quiet spectacular. After the first 8 or 10 miles there was maybe one car every half hour on this late Sunday afternoon.

Of the eight riders there were five different camp stoves in use. One canister, one Jet Boil, one MSR white gas, another I couldn’t recognize, and my Caldera. The Dutch boys ate ramen, canned green beans and Tuna, the Forida guys Ramen and canned meat, and the rest all had their Mountain House foil backpacking meals. I wonder how many foil packages they travel with? I had a Knorr rice and chicken pack ($2 in Wise River, $1 in City Market at home).