July 4, 2003 Hello from friendly Wisdom, MT. We made the ride here today via two Rocky Mountain passes: Badger Pass at 6700 feet and Big Hole Pass at 7600 feet. So, it was a climbing day, but a wonderful one. The bike had no problems today, and the Team did very well. The ride was marvelous. The weather was near perfect, the climbing challenging and the scenery wonderful. We left Dillon, and immediately started climbing. It was about a 12 mile climb gaining 1500 feet to Badger Pass. Along the way, we saw more of Montana's "hay country" where alfalfa, cattle and horses are the name of the game. We were amazed with how heavily populated this area is. The farms appear to be large, yet the farm buildings are located fairly close together. However, there were no services. This is the first time we have had to make up water bottles on the road. We have carried emergency water before, but have not used it. If we had gotten into trouble, we could have stopped at one of the houses along the way. On the way up to Badger Pass, we saw some wildlife, that I am sure LaValle will comment about. We did the climb to Badger very smoothly, and without trashing ourselves. The climb to Big Hole Pass was more challenging. Thought the gain was less, it was steeper, and there was a pitch at the end that went right up to the sky - for a couple of miles! On our way up Big Hole, we saw a herd of antelope. Ron tried to get their attention by whisling, but they simply ignored him. Apparently, people are not a threat to these animals. As we began the descent of Big Hole, the Bitter Root Mountains came strongly into view. The sight was awesome - peak after peak, all dotted with snow and seeming to go on for ever. One can understand why the Bitter Roots put the fear of God into the Corps of Discovery - they had only seen Eastern mountains and a few short Western hills before this sight. They must have been momentarily totally intimidated! Ron and LaValle were mesmerized by the sight. After descending Big Hole, we rode for a bit, and came into a town called Jackson. It is tiny, out in the middle of no where and is made up of a motel, a store and a cafe. There are 138 people here, and there was some kind of a biker rally going on - there were Harleys all over the place. The music was blarring, the ladies were out in their bikini tops and the boys were out in their leather pants. It was quite a sight. We stopped at the store for water, and were delighted with the old fashion approach the merchants were taking. It was a store out of the 30's. We rode another 18 miles to get to Wisdom, a town about three times the size of Jackson. In addition to an 8-unit motel (Where we are staying), there are three restaurants, a couple of stores and some other services. It is still just wide spot in the road. The weather today was wonderful. It started out cool (50's), and stayed that way. The hight temperature we saw on the bike was 69 degrees. The sky was the typical Montana "slightly cloudy", and as blue as ever. The wind was not our friend, however. It was in our faces for both climbs - really beating us up, and became a hurting side wind as we rode from Jackson to Wisdom. However, it was a near perfect day, so there will be no complaining! Tomorrow we go to Sula in preparation for the ride into Missoula. The ride tomorrow will be a short one to let us recover from today's climbing. The restaurants don't open for breakfast until 7:00 AM, so it will have to be a leisurely day. Ron