Day 13: West Yellowstone, Montana

Today felt strange. It was really just a transit to bring us close to Yellowstone. The first hour was nice riding through what I imagine is classic Montana ranch land nestled in the hills East of Lincoln. We even saw horseback cowboys herding sheep of all things. I now regret not taking a photo but it was only 5 minutes into the day and my mind was not right. The image was quite beautiful with dust rising into the morning sky.
Speaking of cowboys. The picture below is of Kelton who is travelling with his family, all farmers and rodeo riders. Grandad Graeme is a Kiwi living in Queensland. They are everywhere but I wouldn't have expected to meet one on Lincoln, Montana. Graeme is visiting his daughter living here in Montana.
As the day wore on the heat built up and the strangest haze crept into the air. Very foreboding. Not long after lunch we felt the first drops of rain and gusts of wind. The rest of the afternoon spent in rain gear, hence no photos as my camera was buried too deep and my mind was still not in the right place.
Turns out the strange haze is the smoke from the Yosemite Rim fire. Now over 200 000 acres on fire. We are a very long way from there so the scale of that is a little frightening.
Tomorrow we intend to spend a full day in Yellowstone and probably return to the same base. After that we pick up the Great Divide route around the souther corner of Yellowstone and across the top end of the Grand Tetons National Park and South East towards the Colorado Rockies.
I'm looking forward to a day of pottering. Today's extended stretches at 80 miles an hour plus went quickly from exhilarating to draining. Too fast to connect with anything.