07.13.2023 - bozeman

morning departure, getting away before the mosquitoes wake up.  i don't know, but i didn't encounter any in the middle of the night pee break.  fear, i think, kept that to only one pee break last night.  and the morning must have been too chilly for them.

anyway, down the road to bozeman.  which of these mountains hides yellowstone?

the little town of manhattan comes first.  one variation of a montana town.  railroad on one side, strip of parkland kept neat and trim, the two lane main street, and a few blocks of older buildings.  what was so startling, is that all of the downtown buildings have been recently modernized and are occupied.  i got half a mile down the road before i realized i had to go back to a coffee house and just sit and enjoy this for awhile.  i was in no hurry, anyway.

bozeman is in an immense valley surrounded by mountains.  flat, flat.  but in every direction mountains.  i'm still trying to figure out which one i'll be heading towards in the morning and then again later in the afternoon.  first east for 25 mi with a 1,000 foot climb, then south to yellowstone and another 1,500 feet of climb.

a free beer to anyone who spotted the two hawks in the picture above.

my host in bozeman is dan and amy bole's son, bruce.  he's working on his phd here at montana state, studying a glacier's demise up in glacier national.  and, as fate would have it, he's up on the glacier and not home for my visit, but he cleared my presence with his housemates.  so like in butte, i'm being hosted by a remote host.

i left my gear at bruce's and road downtown for food and drink

in bozeman, a mandatory stop for tea at the steep mountain teahouse.  and they bring a pot of chai on a heater along with a small cup.  that way you can drink small amounts of tea and the rest stays hot.  outstanding, i like it.

coming out, i discovered that there's a street fair starting up.  music stage, food trucks, vendors, people.  so i grabbed some barbeque and wolfed it down while sitting on the curb.  i was hungry.  i listened to the sound check, but didn't stay for the real thing.  i went outside the block psrty to the beer sanctuary brewery, which i very much liked, and then to the the last best place brewery, which i didn't care much for.  then, before i lost the light, back to bruce's to do laundry and rest up forcmore mountains.