Dillion, MT is not on the bike route, but for the support vehicle is a good detour. The services are spread out along Business Rt. 15. There is a big Safeway grocery store with a bakery & deli, gas, a hardware store, auto repair, restaurants, motels and even a KOA. The Safeway is on Montana Street - behind a McDonald's. The town also has cell coverage, so we could catch up with our families left at home.
The Canvas Cafe is in Grant, Mt. - on the bike route. Not to be missed!! Its a very interesting place with good food and dynamite scenery. We ate lunch with a spectacular view of the Jeff Davis peaks of the Bitterroot Mts. They even have flush toilets in mini-tents!!
We found out about the Hildreth Cattle Ranch from the woman at the visitor's center of Bannack State Park. It was an excellent choice. There we also looked out on the snow capped Bitterroot Mountains. They have their own website and have a couple of small houses where they put up visitors - its a unique B&B, as its a working cattle ranch & you have your own cooking facilities.
BETH writes - I finally got to see the stars - no clouds! We woke at 2am to see the most magnificant view of the sky I had ever seen. There where NO human lights and the sky was endless with huge stars and the Milkyway was bright and bigger than one could imagine. I think I could have stood there all night had it not been in the low 40s. We awoke late to the sun beaming into the tent and not a cloud in the sky - YIPPI!!! The first stop was the Canvas Cafe in Grant - an 11 person town with a cafe, tepees you can sleep in, and a school K-8 with 15 students. The cafe sat on a hill in the high prairie with a view of the Jeff Davis Peaks - stunning and spectacular. I waited for Mom and Ann to arrive and we had a great lunch and coconut cream pie - yum! Then it was off to pedal the rest of the 39 miles to go for the day. The rest of the day was spent on BLM lands Backcountry Byway through rolling hills of high prairie with the occasional ranch, cows, horses and sheep. I saw a stunning male elk! I also saw my fist Pronghorns today and wow can they run. Gophers ran across the road in front of me and squaked at me. And who knew but I have a new profession - a cow herder on my bike :o) I still can't get over the miles and miles and miles you can see out here. I would stop to rest and eat today and look in front and behind me and could see where I had come from and where I was going. Tonight we stay in luxury at the Hildreth Livestock and Guest Ranch with showers, electricity and our own beds!
JAN writes of today - Beth set out one direction today and Ann and I drove the other, to Dillon, MT to try to get phone coverage, gas and supplies. We have spent days in the wilds, and have several more totally wilderness days to go before we hit Jackson Hole, WY. We met up with Beth in Grant, MT - population 11 - for quite a lunch experience. We ate at the Canvas Cafe. An enterprising couple has a delightful spot under a huge canvas tent, with a view of the snowcapped Bitterroot Mountains. The weather was delightful - 60's and sunny. They even have two flush toilets, each in a little canvas tent. From there we traversed the Beaverdam Valley to the Hildreth Livestock Ranch for a night in a cabin. Gorgeous valley between the Bitterroot Mountains and the Beaverhead Mountains. We were treated to an elk herd, fabulous wildflowers, a huge flock of sheep being driven by a cowboy and his 7 or so dogs, beautiful scenery and cattle in the road. We are now typing this on the 7,500 acre 4th generation Hildreth ranch. No cell service, but electricity, flush toilet, and as remote as can be with a view of the Continental Divide out the window!!! As civilized as we've been for days. Tomorrow the camping adventure continues!
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