V and I left the West Yellowstone Traveler’s Lodge around 7 am but Jesse wasn’t ready so he stayed behind and said he’d catch up later. V and I stopped for espressos and V videochatted with her parents on WhatsApp; Jesse caught us just as we were leaving the espresso joint. It was an easy but trafficky ride for 8 miles to the turnoff of the main highway toward Hebgen and Earthquake Lake and we were relieved to get there and have a quieter ride. Hebgen Lake was beautiful and there were nice houses built around it but not so many that it was crowded. Shortly after Hebgen Lake ends and the road begins to follow the Madison River, we stopped at a place special to us, the Campfire Lodge, for breakfast. It’s setting is idyllic, right on a world-class stretch of gorgeous Montana river and the food is great. I’d been treated to breakfast there in 2010 by a trail angel (Wayne, who saw me on the road and stopped me because he recognized my bike panniers and knew he’d sold them to me!!), and then V and I had breakfast there on our honeymoon in 2013. So we’d been looking forward to coming here for the last week or so as we got closer and closer. And, well, it was still beautiful, but otherwise we were disappointed. The host at the restaurant was rude because we didn’t have a reservation (for breakfast??), then rude because we have a service dog. They did get us seated in about 45 minutes but then once seated it took 20 minutes to get menus and water, it took nearly an hour to get our food, the server never returned to refill coffees or waters, the prices were ridiculous ($20 for a big blackberry pancake, 2 strips of bacon, and one egg), and we sat forever waiting for the check. This place only holds 30 people and they had 4 servers and 4 cooks, so I don’t get why it took so long for everything. The food was good, thankfully, but the blackberry pancake, which was a big part of our great memories of this place, was NOT the copious-chunks-of-real-berry-amazingness of 2010 and 2013; I think maybe they stirred in some blackberry jam to flavor it this time. I guess we paid for the view, which was worth a million dollars! Then at the register the lady wanted an extra 5% fee if I used my credit card (oh hell no…I paid cash). So we left disappointed, not quite full, way more broke, and nearly 2 hours later than we wanted, and I think that we most likely won’t be back. The ride continued to be beautiful along the river and then suddenly we were at Earthquake Lake (in 1959 a 7.5 magnitude quake caused an entire hillside to collapse and dammed the river, creating the lake; 12 people died), filled with ghost trees and rocky chaos. The descent from Earthquake Lake was a delicious one, several miles on lovely road, few cars, a rushing river nearby, and a view for miles. And then we had a long, gradual descent to Ennis over 40 miles coming up, with a few minor hills thrown in, and either not much wind or a light tailwind…and it sucked. What!?!? I guess I’d failed to take in enough water in the morning, and then the breakfast wasn’t enough food, because suddenly I bonked. In cycling terms, that means “I ran out of energy because I’m a dumbass and didn’t fuel myself properly for this long ride”. At first I just felt thirsty and stopped at a fly fishing shop to fill my water bottle. Then I felt dehydrated and no amount of water would quench the thirst. And I slowed down. I was totally holding up V and Jesse but I just couldn’t muster the physical or mental energy to ride at a normal pace. My neck started to hurt and my left shoulder started burning. I had adequate food and drink on the bike but had already drained one water bottle and when I saw a rest area, I yelled that I needed to pull in (this time I ENSURED that Vanesa knew) and we all entered. I went to the bathroom, filled my bottle twice and guzzled it down, and then found a picnic table bench and laid down and stretched my neck (PT geek friends: I did the McKenzie CT and upper thoracic extension/rotation technique). A couple from Long Island at the next table started talking to me and suddenly they were giving me honey roasted peanuts, a clif bar, and some jerky. I took it all with great appreciation even though I had food in my bag. And I ate. And then I drank more. I felt a little better when we left 30-odd minutes later and then noticeably better as the afternoon passed. Thank god it was a pretty easy ride day with mostly flat or a declining grade, and also with a little tailwind. And also thanks to Jesse…his energy to lead our little peloton and let me draft off of him also really helped. And we rolled into Ennis around 430 pm, knowing that Billy and Greg had gotten the last room at the Riverside Motel. We didn’t want to camp in heavy mosquito land like I’d done in 2010 here so we stopped in front of the totally cute Rainbow Valley Lodge just 1 mile before town; I walked in and got a quote for $140 from the lady. I asked if that was as low as she might be able to go and she said yes but gave me the key and told me to go look at the room if I liked. I did, and it was a great room, rustic, all wood, with a queen and a twin in 1 room and another queen in the other room. I went back to the office and the lady’s husband told her “no, it’s $130 for 2 people and $135 for three”. They had someone on the line wanting to rent a room and this was the last one available so I ran outside to ask V and Jesse if they wanted it. Jesse was going to go stay with Bill and Greg in their cheaper motel but V wanted this room so I ran back in and said we’d take it, for two people. She got my name and address and made the reservation and I then went to get Vanesa to come in with me during the actual booking and payment since she brings Maui with her. When the three of us walked in, that was the first time I had seen the “no pets” sign so I said to the gal “I just saw your no pets sign but my wife here is traveling with her service dog, which is not a pet”. Her entire demeanor changed, she gave us a disgusted look, and she turned and walked right past us, out the front door, saying loudly to her husband who was now seated on the front patio “Ed, we got a doggggggggg; they say it’s a service dog”. Ed replied kindly “we’ll we gotta let ‘em bring it”. The lady came back, totally rudely, giving us the silent treatment, filling out the paperwork and basically throwing the pen at me to sign. Then she said to Vanesa “you’re gonna pick up after it, you’re not going to let it go to the bathroom in front, you’re gonna take it around back, and I’m not going to find anything out there when you’re gone”. I was shocked at her rudeness. And I was extremely proud of Vanesa’s calm reaction as she answered that of course she would pick up after her dog and not let it toilet where the owners don’t want it toileting. She then tried to relate to the woman and said something like “you must’ve had some pretty bad dog experiences in the past here at the hotel, huh?”. The lady responded that she’s been doing this for 33 years and yes she’s seen a lot, and she didn’t say it kindly. Vanesa then said that she’s been in the service dog industry for almost 20 years and it really frustrates her when people bring dogs that are clearly not trained service dogs into public spaces and said she completely understands how the lady could be frustrated with that. But none of that interaction helps soften the woman’s demeanor and she just continued to be blatantly unfriendly. But Vanesa and I were extremely polite nevertheless, we smiled and thanked her when we left, and we did so with the husband outside as well, who had been nice to us throughout. Then we went to our lovely little room, did the normal body and bike shorts cleaning thing, and then rode into town looking for dinner. Ennis is a cute, rustic town and was really happening this Friday night on 4th of July weekend. We ended up at Gravel Bar having nachos and fish and chips. Both were good, understandably a bit overpriced in this cute touristy town during a period of inflation. But our server!! She never came and we had to ask the host to send her over to help us. She had a real don’t-give-a-shit attitude when she did arrive. She brought menus and basically threw them at us and walked away. She never brought water (we asked the host and he brought us some). When we ordered she just nodded and walked away without a smile. She brought the food and set it down and walked away without a word or a smile. Like I said, the food was good. When Vanesa decided to get a brownie for dessert, I got up and told her, since she’d never come back to the table after we finished eating. She nodded. But after 15-20 minutes we had no brownie so I got up and told her to cancel that and we’d just take the check. She brought the check in less than 1 minute. And I didn’t feel guilty for not leaving a tip - we got zero service, she got zero tip. So we ate out twice today, and had two shitty experiences. Man I hate bad customer service. And the hotel lady too! What a day. (Maybe it’s US????? Are we doing something to engender BAD will with people? Are we jerks? It it our karma? We like to think we’re actually pretty nice.) So we just rode our bikes back to the cute motel, smiled at the unfriendly owner lady, and went and enjoyed the hell out of our cute room. We didn’t see Billy and Greg but we did see Jesse at the restaurant and he had, as expected, joined the guys and split the cost of their motel room 3 ways. V and I are enjoying all the guys’ company, but we did cherish the night alone this night.