Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes....

It never ceases to amaze me how quick(LY) things in life, terrain, and weather can change.  Riding on a bicycle seems to enhance the senses and make the changing conditions even more distinct.  The first big transformation was just after Washington Pass in the north Cascades.  As the rain shadow kicked in, moist rain forest gave way to more open forests with dry grasses and lots of evidence of fire in just a few miles.

Pedaling across northern Washington, it seemed like each day's ride was the same as the previous one's: Get up, grind up a long hill through relatively open forest, get to the pass, eat lunch, then go screaming down the hill to the overnight town.  But then, BLAM, we hit Glacier Park.  In no time at all we were in ice-carved valleys, surrounded by steep seracs and towering pyramids of rock.

 

Almost as quickly, the mountains faded into the distance and we began the long trek across central and eastern Montana.  For a week we pushed relentless headwinds through rolling dry grasslands with each day seeming like the one before.  But just before the North Dakota border, the Badlands suddenly appeared with starkly carved gullies through soft sedimentary formations.

 

Within less than twenty miles, the Badlands were replaced by dry rangeland with only an occasional wheat field or parcel of giant rolled hay bales.  Today hit us with two major changes.  The most noticeable was the presence of moisture.  Not only has it become more humid, but the evidence of abundant water is everywhere.  Instead of occasional farmland, crops run from the edge of the road for as far into the distance as you can see. 

 

And lastly the weather is changing.  Instead of daily highs hitting the mid-90's, we're now only getting up to the mid 60's.  So, as David Bowie says,

"Strange fascination, fascinating me
Changes are taking the pace
I'm going through
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes"