Ovanda Montana to Agusta Montana. 83 miles. 904 miles from the Pacific. the word for todays travel was survival. I feel like I survived. the day started out cool in the low 50’s. it’s a beautiful 45 mile climb up to Rogers Pass, so I decided early start. again this morning was beautiful scenery and lots of animals. a huge eagle near the Blackfoot River made the Wisconsin Eagles look like a song bird. this thing looked more like a pterodactyl. I passed several beaver lodges and beaver dams hoping to see a moose or elk but no Bullwinkle today. several deer were surprised to see me.
A couple from California (Trudy & Frank) and I rode together most of the day. they are a little older than I am but in excellent shape. we climbed to 4500 feet and then down to four thousand and then back up to 4,500 all morning. The road was like a giant roller coaster. the weather was fair as we approach the summit of Rogers Pass around noon. but there was a looming black clouds in the distance. just as we reach the summit the sky opened up. we quickly put on a rain gear but it was too late. we were wet. the rain came in sheets and then it started to hail as a temperature dropped. I was thinking – well at least it’s not thundering and lightning. A few seconds later a big lightning bolt followed by thunder hit on the nearby summit. I almost crapped my pants. coming down the other side of the mountain in the rain was hair a raising experience. bike brakes to not work well in the rain. I stopped to put on more rain gear and a warm jacket over my wet body. Frank and Trudy went flying by. The sun starting to come out as we reached the base of the mountain. it was like a sauna inside my rain suit so I stopped and took it off. we had good weather for the next couple hours. then that looming black cloud reappeared. this time we put on our rain gear early enough. first a few sprinkles then some thunder and lightning and then the sky opened up. the wind was howling from my left rear quarter. road signs were twisting in the wind . I was thinking – are we in Kansas already. the wind picked up as sheets of rain pelted us. out in the front range prairie there’s nowhere to take shelter. the good news is the wind pushed us faster and faster. this is no s***. I was doing 28 miles per hour without pedaling. it was almost impossible to see Frank and Trudy just a few feet behind me. later they told me they were following my flashing blinkie. Frank yelled at me as he passed “are we having fun yet”.
we rolled into Augusta looking like three cold drowned rats. got a hotel room and a hot shower and then went to dinner across the street. my room is filled with hanging wet clothes. I will sleep well tonight.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Smartphone