Day 27: Columbus, MT to Bridger, MT

June 3 Blog

43 miles

1,199 miles so far

We were off any of the ACA map routes today trying to make our way down to the Parks, Peaks, and Prairies trail. We used Google maps and some of our earlier consultation with the ACA map guy to determine our route for today. The plan was to ride Southeast on Rt 421, connect with Rt 212 in Joliet and then take Rt 310 South all the way to Bridger.

For the first 20 miles or so to Joliet we enjoyed rolling hills and a stiff headwind. At Joliet we took the opportunity to stop for lunch at Jane Dough’s, a pizza/sandwich shop in town which took far longer than we had hoped, as the young girl and only employee was the hostess, server and cook!

For the second half of our ride, we stuck to Rt 310 despite Google map’s insistence on redirecting us to every gravel and dirt road along the way. We were blessed to have a tailwind and rolled into Bridger around dinner time. Speaking of dinner - it was either the Buckeye Casino and Bar across the street or the gas station grocery store tonight. The bar turned out to be great - I enjoyed a rib eye steak, baked potato, salad and a beer.

Sitting at the bar, we also got to hear some of the local news. Sitting next to me was a woman who had moved to Bridger from Utah a couple of years ago. Even she said she wasn’t sure why she shared this interesting fact with me. Since she has been a Bridger resident, there have been five homicides in this town with a population of 700. She said they involved locals and were drug or alcohol related, so we would be fine.

We will plan to roll out early in the morning!

Buckeye Casino and Bar for dinner