Up at 7.
Bike ride with Jim out 287 towards route 90. It’s flat and the pavement is rough but there’s a nice big shoulder when we start out. Shortly after we cross 90 we start to climb a bit and to our left we notice an odd looking herd of horses on the hill across from us. They’re not moving but they look real. As we get closer we see it’s a herd of horse statues! We climb over the top of the hill and the road narrows. At the first road that comes in from the right, we turn around. It’s no fun riding on a flat, straight road with no shoulder and cars traveling by at 70-75 miles an hour. On the way back by the horses we stop to take some pics. We stop at Wheat Montana Farms on the way back and get some coffee and a few different types of cinnamon buns.
Back at the campsite we commence the gutbomb fest of cinnamon buns and coffee.
We all pack up and stop at Wheat Montana Farms to pickup some sandwiches for lunch. We’re all all headed to hyalite canyon. First stop is WalMart in Bozeman for supplies. The caravan starts out from the bakery but uncle Jim heads in the wrong direction on 90. Oh well, he’ll catch up. Deb texts the shopping list to us and we hitail it to wally world. It’s getting dang hot BTW.
The shopping spree is relatively painless as far as shopping in rediculously large, stupidly overstocked and unusually crowded stores goes. Once back in the lot, Uncle Jim decides to shop for a new hose when he finally arrive. Uncle Jimmy wants to head out and he also wants to make sure he knows where he’s going when he had to fly out of Bozeman so I give him directions and he takes off. Jim comes out of Wally World with an “as seen on TV” wind up hose…I don’t have a TV so I’ve never seen it but he’s pretty pumped!
The ride to Hyalite is cool except for my wrong turn out of WalMart. I didn’t do that to make my brother feel better by the way. I just fucked up. So we pull a U turn and get the campers rollin’ in the right direction. Taylor chows a bit of a sandwich while we roll to keep his energy happening. When we pull onto the Hylalite Canyon road, it looks a little rural but within a mile or two, we’re riding alongside Hyalite Creek and it’s looking really sweet. Taylor perks up because it looks like we’ll be next to moving water…his favorite subject as of late!
We pull in to the Langhor Campground and drive to the back corner. Pam, Deb and Beth reserved campsites in a row. The one that Deb reserved turns out to be huge and very close to the water. So we put the “Enterprise” – Jim and Deb’s Camper – and the “Pamdemonium” – Pammie & my camper – together awning to awning so we can have some shade.
Erin and Taylor pull out the tents and look for a spot up by the creek. After a little searching they find a great spot with their tents right next to each other. Taylor and Pam rig up a beer bag in the stream to keep the brews nice and chilly. Taylor and I take a dip in the stream and I just about have a heart attack! The water waaay colder than the Atlantic Ocean. Damn!!
Once we’re all setup and everyone is settled, Jamey starts working on my bike. We put it on the rack on the back of the Eurovan which is setup with it’s back to the entrance to campsite so it’s the most accessible. He does both derailleurs and it’s quite a treat to watch him work and work with him a bit ’cause he’s my bro AND he’s a PRO! My bike has never felt soooo good.
Jimmy starts a fire and everyone starts working on dinner. Veggies, potatoes, burgers from the coop with BACON and cheese in them! WHAT! All cooked on the campfire. Yeeeha. Jimmy and I man the fire and the food comes out damn good if we do say so ourselves.
Alex shows up just after dinner but there’s plenty of food left over. We all hang around the camp fire as the sun sets and it’s a cool, quiet night in the Canyon. Perfect for sleeping!!
