The ride from Harrison goes through the pleasant touristy town of Ennis, where I watered up around 11. Next stop on Rt. 287 is West Yellowstone, 71 miles. I knew that was longer than I could ride on top of what I had already done and I hoped that I would find water and a campground on the way. I came in mid-afternoon on a Bureau of Land Management campground on the Madison River. It was a three mile gravel ride to the campground and at first I found no drinking water. But I took a swim/bath/laundry event in the freezingly delightful Madison (totally "River Runs Through It") and then a nap. A flyfisherman nearby confirmed that people "don't typically" drink the river water and he had none to offer. He did tell me that there was a more developed campground another mile down the road. So I repacked my gear and headed there. The happiest sight of my trip so far was the white water hose snaking over the the "Host Camper's" RV. Jim was incredibly helpful. (I forgot to get his picture). He saw me ride up and put together a welcome-bag filled with icecubes and a Peter-Paul Mounds. I rehydrated at the spigot and set up camp in a shady copse by the little tributary Ruby Creek. There I met Rachelle who was there with her little kids and husband, and a bunch of friends and their kids. She and I had a long chat by the creek. She's totally into local food and includes it in her work as a director of an after-school/vacation program for grade-schoolers in Boulder, MT. Her husband, Mike, a total Montana outdoorsman, is also an English/creative arts high school teacher. Great family, with kids, dogs, and general revelry. Rachelle and I did serious damage to a bottle of this year's vintage of their cherry wine. I said goodbye in the evening and set out around 8 am. Full water bottles, but hydrational anxiety, as I still had 55 mile to go to West Yellowstone and only about 2 quarts of water. I really need about a quart an hour in these conditions: hot, windy, lots of climbing. The ride this morning was brutal--unrelieved, though not all that steep, climbing, with a 20 to 25 knot headwind. I made 25 miles in 5 hours! Yikes. There was a rest stop with water, but also with a sign: Water unsafe for drinking, high fluoride levels. Well that didn't stop me since I was definitely getting dehydrated-first symptom, generalized weakness, which I was experiencing, adding to the slow pace, or subtracting.

Anyway, within an hour I reached a nice commercial campground ($5 a nite for a single tenter. I may move in permanently). Wifi, A/C'd clubhouse (from where this is composed) nice honky-tonk on premises (next stop). I worked out some routes on mapmyride.com. I'll ride through West Yellowstone tomorrow to get my mail, then head a little west to start what seems to be the best route for me to take (basically southeast) to Colorado, my next intermediate goal.