Easy living in Montana

Hello Everyone,

It's been an easy couple of days for Arthur and I here in Missoula. With his leg still bothering him, unless he sees a deer nearby, in which case the limp magically disappears, I've kept things low key until he heals up.

In the meantime, I've been getting a bunch of work done on my computer, now that I have access to a power outlet and reliable internet. I've uploaded a video from California to my YouTube channel and will soon upload the video from our turn on the Seven Summits trail. It's great having a GoPro, but those videos are data hogs, and I basically can't do anything with them unless I have access to power and free internet, so it's nice to get a couple of clips posted. I haven't bothered to edit them much, as that would take even more time, so they are pretty raw.

Speaking of raw, I am going to soon send out another batch of photos. I've had the time to organize my pictures from BC, and as usual, it's just a huge dump of pictures, unedited or curated, so it's full of terrible selfies and different angles of the same shot. A few gems in there though, so worth digging around.

I did go biking last night, which I think is the first time on this entire trip that I did so entirely solo. Arthur stayed back with Rob and Manon, so I was by myself on the trails. Can't say I had any big revelations while out there, other than that I shouldn't wait until the evening to go. It was scorching hot, even in the shade. I got a couple of nice pictures of the meadow through which the trails traverses, which is shown below.

Tomorrow, Arthur and I head out to the next stop on our adventure, Helena. As much as it's been great to stay with Rob and Manon, I'm looking forward to getting back to sleeping out in the bush away from town. That's probably the part of the trip that has grown on me the most. I've always loved mountain biking, so that hasn't changed. And I've always liked sleeping in places that are cool and quiet, where you can hear the sounds of the natural environment around you. But now that element has become a central feature for me on this trip. It's going to be hard to go back to sleeping in a city, running water and flush toilets notwithstanding.

wes

Photos

The first is a view of the backyard, with Arthur in the shade of the deck, but laying on the comfortable grass beside it. Not a fool, that one.

The second is from the high point I reached on my climb yesterday. The haze that you see is from wildfires in California, I'm told.

Lastly is a picture of the meadow I mentioned above.