Bicycling Montana, Wyoming,
Colorado and New Mexico - 2006

Billings to Bridger, MT

June 11, 2006
Distance 41.3 Miles
Climbing Elevation: 1,300 feet

This was another interesting day. Our bicycle was not delivered last night like Delta said they would deliver it. Instead, when I called Delta this morning they could not find the bicycle. 10 minutes later then called back and said that they found the bicycle still on a cart in the back of the terminal and it would be delivered along with other lost luggage after 8:00 AM. The bike arrived at 9:00 AM and the box had a couple of holes in one side that looked as if someone had just ripped the box apart. One of the crank arms for the pedals was no longer in the box but was sticking out the side.

As I picked up the box one of my pedals fell out on the floor and we were not sure if the other pedal would be in the box. Two hours later, the bicycle was all assembled and nothing was missing and nothing was broken.

At 11:00 AM we moved the bicycle out of our motel room and began riding west. We rode 13 miles on a frontage road along side Interstate 90. This frontage road ran from Billings to Laurel MT. It felt like the flattest road we have been on since we bicycled in Louisiana, but we were going up hill all the time with a tail wind that made riding very easy. The tail wind gods were with us all day because if we were riding into a head wind it would have been a very bad day to start riding at 11:00 AM. Shortly after leaving Laurel we crossed the Yellowstone River.

From Laurel to Bridger we continued steadily climb but the road seemed flat except for a few very small hills. We arrived at the motel to find an envelope on the front door with our name and key. Good thing we had called ahead as there is only one motel in town. We unlocked our room, and we are to leave the money and key in the room when we leave tomorrow. It is 5:30 and we will walk across the street to eat supper. A long time since we ate breakfast in the Billings Motel.