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Saturday 7th August 2004

Big Hole BattlefieldFrom Jackson Hot Springs Lodge Camping Area to Darby, Wilderness Motel Camping Ground - 72 miles. A significant headwind greeted us as we took to the road! We headed straight into Rose's cantina for a breakfast to fortify us. The cantina has excellent food and comes complete with cycling magazines. This seems like heaven. Eventually headed off to Wisdom - Steve led us into Wisdom, Guy led us away from it - how appropriate! Then to Big Hole National Historic Battlefield - a sobering bit of history in which the Nez Perce Indians were hounded out of their homeland, and effectively interned on a small piece of land after centuries of roaming the plains. The battle doesn't figure high in body count compared with, say, Verdun (cycled there last year) but it is a touching piece of history - especially today when lots of descendants had turned up for the annual commemoration. Some people were in tears as the events of the 1870s were retold. Some dumb biker (motorbiker) was complaining that the Canadian flag was flying with the American flag - there were Canadian guests there I think. What kind of nationalism is so brittle? Then on over the pass to get into the Bitterroot Valley - downhill to Darby, where we ate and were directed to the Wilderness Motel Campsite. 16 dollars - not too bad for a tourist area. Also had a percolator in a common area that we could use, so gallons of tea were drunk.

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