068: Day 81: June 28, 2021. Ovando to Missoula MT. The day we decided to take a break. 52 miles today (of which 8 are by car and ambulance) and 3286 miles in total.

Today we woke up to a beautiful day. We slept well behind Trixi's and were on the road at 06:00 am. 

This was the view of the Blackfoot Valley that we would follow the entire day. It was not yet hot and there was morning fog in the lower valleys- absolutely beautiful. 

Christine has such a professional eye to bring out nature's beauty.

The road was beautiful with a substantial shoulder, allowing us to stop and enjoy.

The Blackfoot River in the foreground

and next to us. These scenes and the next reminded us again and again, the people of Montana are privileged to live is such beauty.

An abandoned homestead in a beautiful meadow.

Since we started early, the roads were not too busy yet. We decided to stop at the Clearwater Sinclair where we purchased coffee to have with our breakfast - bagels with peanut butter and raspberry jelly.

Even the Sinclair Dino did not like our breakfast choice. 🤣🤣

We then climbed into the Lubrecht Experimental Forest. We saw so many different trees in this area.

At the summit we turned off to enjoy the shade and quiet under the trees for a while.

Peaceful and quiet.

From the Lubrecht Forest Summit we were on one of the longest downhills of the trip. I estimate it to be more than ten miles long. The shoulder is also much wider and we could take time to enjoy the countryside, even with a noticable increase in traffic.

The Blackfoot River Valley is really beautiful and 

we decided that we should come back to this area to explore some more.

We stopped at these rapids and 

this little Ground Squirrel was watching us closely for a long time. He is also in the previous picture.

There were a lot shrubs with white flowers.

Soon thereafter Christine ran over something and fell into and over the crash barriers. While I was helping her off her bicycle, a real angel stopped - her name is Angel as well - to block off the accident spot with her car and call 911. I am so sorry that I did not get her particulars, but at that time I was also totally flustered.

The first responders were there in less than five minutes with the ambulance arriving in less than ten minutes.

Christine had eight stitches to close the wound on her shin and the doctor, Emilie Fowlkes of the St Patrick Hospital's Emergency Center, said that we should not think of cycling for some time. 

People are so helpful and I want to thank the first responders who took Christine's bike in their truck to the hotel. I also want to thank John, his home was the closest to the crash, who immediately emptied his SUV to take my bicycle, trailer and me to the hotel. He wanted nothing, as he was planning to go to Missoula to have a flat tyre fixed. I am also grateful to the Comfort Inn University for waiving their cancellation fees. We booked a room here a couple of days ago with the intention to rest a bit after all the road cycling.

We are also very grateful (and happy) that Lizl decided to drive 2,5 hours to come and pick us up so that we could rest at their home. 

Thank you to everybody.

We shall not be cycling for the next three weeks at least and have some other commitments thereafter. We shall over the next few days look at the calendar and see how and when we shall complete our trip. So, please watch this space for an update in a week or so. 

Thanks to you also who have been reading this blog over the last 12 weeks and sent so many encouraging comments.