Day Nine: Bozeman, Montana to Montpelier, Idaho

Escape made!

Today began with dry roads and a mostly cloudy sky.  I set off down Highway 191 towards Highway 20 and the Targhee Pass.  About a half-hour south of Bozeman I hit road construction, which stopped progress for about an hour.  In my truck I would've taken a nap; with the bike, I just stood around and watched a crew work on the overhead power lines.  It was good to start moving again.

Blasting held up traffic on Montana Highway 191 for about an hour.

Highway 191 climbs gradually as it approaches the northwestern corner of Wyoming (and thus Yellowstone), and just before leaving Montana achieved an elevation high enough to maintain the dusting of snow it had received the night before.  Fortunately, the roads were mainly dry (with no ice!) and the traffic light. 

The landscape near Yellowstone was dusted with snow.

I turned left onto Highway 20 at West Yellowstone, a bit apprehensive about conditions on Targhee Pass (7,072').  I had expected more of a climb, but highways 191 and 20 had apparently made the rise gradually.  The pass came and went, and by crossing it I entered Idaho.  At Idaho Falls Highway 20 joined Interstate 15, which carried me to the Highway 30 junction a few miles south of Pocatello.  Here I turned east, happy to leave the interstate behind in favor of a secondary road.  While gassing up in Pocatello, a local had told me that Highway 30 is crawling with deer and elk, especially now that hunters are pushing them.  I kept a keen eye out for ungulate threats, but none appeared.  Reaching Montpelier, I turned left onto Highway 89, and a few miles later turned into the KOA campground.  It was a chilly day; I'm still warming up (and thankful for the heated handgrips) as I type this.

Parked for the night at the Montpelier, Idaho KOA.

Tomorrow I'll head south and east into Colorado.  The forecast, fortunately, is looking good.