39 miles, 3:50/4:40

Today we face headwinds almost the entire day. What should have been an easy day was pretty difficult again. Sometimes the winds come straight from the side so hard I swerve to the side several feet. It is actually kind of fun, I’ve never ridden in such winds. Sometimes I feel like I’m leaning 45 degrees to the side, though of course I’m not. It’s all very exciting, actually. We’re glad it isn’t a busy road so we have room to float around a bit. But Dave doesn’t float that much. He’s pretty solid when he’s riding. He’s got about a million pounds sitting low on his bike in his panniers, which he’s taken to calling the Pigs, and it looks like the wind hardly hits him.

We get to the state park, which is a campground at the edge of a pretty big ghost town. Bannack was a mining town through various phases of mining from the 1860s through the 1940s. Almost all the buildings–something like 4 dozen–are preserved and we are allowed to just walk inside and tour on our own, using a small booklet as our guide. We have spent the day riding through sage brush and rolling hills that have reminded me of the wild west, and here we get to see a real western ghost town too. It’s a fun evening and a beautiful camp spot by a river. Other campers are friendly and curious.

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