Instead of taking a complete rest day in Sydney, I decided to meander up to this park on the west side of the Yellowstone River. So I got off to a late start and had a relatively short ride.
When I reached Fairview,MT I found a very nice little restaurant in which to have a late lunch and wait out the heat of the day. A group of local men occupied a couple of tables, using the restaurant as their meeting place for playing cards. They were playing cribbage, with which I was not at all familiar. They were a friendly bunch and explained most of it to me-- it seems like a pretty good, fast game, but I don't think it is played much any more.
I got to the park, which turned out to be only some picnic tables in some woods by the river, in a light rain with lots of mosquitos and no other people. I quickly set up my tent and then walked over the no-longer-used RR bridge over the river and thru the 300 foot tunnel on the other side. The bridge and tunnel were constructed in 1912. The bridge is a lift bridge, but the lift was only operated once, as a test. Right after completion, steamboats stopped coming up the river and so the lift wasn't needed! Interesting bridge--google "fairview bridge" for more info.
When I came out of the tunnel to walk back across the bridgeI found out that the light rain had turned into a thunderstorm, with high winds and cold rain. I was glad to find my tent was still standing, crawled in, dried off, and passed the next 12 hours in the tent, resting, sleeping, and eating peanut butter on a bagel for dinner.
Note: On this day I left Montana, after a full month and almost 1,000 miles. It is a beautiful state, with lots of friendly people, but now that I am in North Dakota I feel one step closer to home.
Sent from my iPhone
Walt Wright
917 783 6540
Walterwright@brooklynny.us
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