Bozeman, MT - 8035 Miles

We arrived in Bozeman after driving from Spokane through areas that changed from high desert to fir trees and mountains to scattered trees and mountains to treeless rolling hills to fir trees and mountains (again) to high desert (again). Bozeman bills itself as the gateway to Yellowstone. I guess that's true if you are used to your gate being 90 miles from the house.

Bozeman surprised me in two ways. First, I would have bet - and lost - that Bozeman culture was dominated by ranchers and cowboys. In fact driving through the downtown area most establishments were either art galleries, antique shops, pubs, or outdoor cafes. I never thought the terms trendy or chic would apply here.

The second surprise was the bicyclists. I'm used to cyclists ignoring lanes, stop signs, and any other guidelines applying to users of the roadways. Here they stayed in lanes, abided by lights and stop signs, and even used hand signals to communicate turns and stops. I didn't get a close look but I'm guessing this can only be accomplished by requiring shock collars like those used in dog training to be worn at all times. It may be embedded in their helmets, but that's just conjecture on my part.

Tomorrow we head to Yellowstone.