Bozeman to Three Forks, Montana

And, we’re off! Well, first, we ate a delicious breakfast provided by the catering truck. It is truly a delight that every morning there will be a hot breakfast waiting for us that we neither need to prepare or clean up afterward! Bacon, eggs, potatoes, fresh fruit, cereal, yogurt, tea and coffee. A delicious way to energize for the day ahead of cycling.

Our tour started off with a mostly flat 47.5 miles. I’ve been looking forward to this vacation for so long. My only goals are to eat as much food as possible and enjoy cycling in between eating and sleeping. I paid close attention last night to where the first snack stop would be, a “Town Pump”.

The “Town Pump” did not end up being some historic water pump as I envisioned. Instead, Town Pump is a Montana chain of gas station convenience stores. This one also had a casino. The Adventure Cycling van was parked in the back end of the parking lot, with a table of snacks and a large cooler of water for water bottle refills. We felt pretty good about being the first ones there, although this was due more to the fact that many people missed the stop.

Our lunch stop was in Manhattan. Now I can say that I’ve been to Manhattan, albeit in Montana. In a gazebo in the town park, a variety of wraps were waiting for us, along with mandarins, bananas, even Oreos, as well as a cooler of water. There were bicycles and cyclists everywhere — in the gazebo, on the steps, on the park benches. 45 of us have signed up on this cycling tour.

Everyday, there are a couple of points of interest mentioned, mostly food recommendations. The first recommendation was the Iron Horse in Three Forks, which serves delicious pie. The tour guides talked up the strawberry rhubarb pie; however, that wasn’t one of the options today. I enjoyed a triple berry pie, which was delicious.

We had made such good time today (14 miles per hour average!), that we were too early to check into our hotel. The cycling tour we signed up for is a camping tour; and, the majority of the cyclists camp. However, we splurged for hotels every night. Last year, we learned that those who stay in hotels are considered “princesses”, a moniker we’ve embraced during our second tour.

With all of our extra time, we decided to cycle onto the second food recommendation: Wheat, MT. I’m actually not sure if it’s a town or the name of the company that makes a lot of bread and sweets. It is a large complex that was busy with tourists lining up to purchase treats. The cinnamon roll was delicious; and, it was the size of a plate. It took me a couple days to finish it.