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Bikecentennial - Summer 1976

Montana to Yellowstone

July 4
Missoula		 Here we are on the Fourth of July and what of it? It's been very low key since we got here. Not that I mind. I've learned to expect things to go in directions I don't expect....We asked everybody "What's happening?" "Oh, nothing," came the reply. Besides a little more incendiary activity, tonight seems like an average night in this town. My friends at school were going to leave the country for fear of the fourth and here it is, the day itself and nothing more. (quote, quote) [after Dickens, A Christmas Carol] I was thinking the 200th birthday might give people pause, might make people aware of how young and old this country is, and try and get in touch with what the day has to teach. Some pretty far out people started this country and some pretty far out people live here now. It's terrible how the beauty of the people and lands of this country can be hidden so easily at times. It used to be that I abhorred people for what they did to the natural world. Now I think I can see man's place a little bit better and I don't recoil from his use of the world as much as his abuse of himself. The most important thing the founding fathers saw was that people should be given an environment which would lead them not into abuse and futility, but on to growth and happiness.

July 11
West
Yellow-stone

We got here...only to find that all the campgrounds were full. We backtracked about a mile and are camped 150 feet off the road in the woods. After we got here we dumped our stuff and rode bare bikes up into the park....
July 12
Old Faithful		 A lot of tourists! A lot of Winnebagos!...I've got a theory about Winnebago camping. So many people in this country live in cells surrounded by other cells...they feel they have to have a cell that they can move around...After the vacation they're back in the cell block....
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Copyright 1976 & 2002 by Richard Rathe

Part 3


Montana Sunset


Earthquake Lake

 


West Yellowstone


Geyser Basin