Wonderful Mid West hospitality

I'm now in Hamilton, Montana, home to Chad DeVall and Red Barn Cycles.  Here are a couple of photo's ... one from the front of the 'Barn

 ...and one from the rear of the 'Barn, albeit looking at the same mountain range, that stands at 2500-3000m.  The valley in which Hamilton sits is at 1500m elevation, the height of Mt Buller!  You may notice some snow-capped peaks in the background.

I arrived mid arvo yesterday, and spent the rest of day hanging out at the 'Barn, then very kindly Chad invited me to dinner with his lovely family, to eat fish caught by his father-in-law.  Nice.  I met his twin daughters and one of their friends, who had a great time pranking me and making me say different words so they could hear my accent.  It went down well when I pulled out the "g'day mate".  I enjoyed the company of his extended family, smelling some delightful fragrances that no-one could identify, and watching the sun set over the beautiful mountains - though it wasn't fully set to 10:30pm!!  Thanks Chad!

I've struggled to get to sleep at night at night (early morning actually), so I bought some 'erbal sleeping aids, which worked really well last night, I didn't have to fight to get to sleep.

Today I felt the most settled that I have for the 5 days I've been here.  I headed down to the 'Barn early arvo, and Mike, one of Chad's men had started building my bike - nice!  By the end of the day it was starting to look like a bike - we're still waiting on some parts, but some progress pics are below - I'm very happy with the black and silver colour scheme.  Here's Chad

Note that the crank arms are parallel in these photo's...it's all in the detail.  Speaking of detail, Mike spent a good amount of time making sure that the cable housings were cut to the correct length, and that these and the brake hoses were routed cleanly and wouldn't rub or cause issues.

I'm amazed that I've adjusted so well to the heat - every day I've been in the US it's been over 30 degrees, and the past 2 days have been over 35 degrees.

Tomorrow I'm heading to a nearby town, Darby, to see a logging festival.  Competition events include:
:: Pole climb
:: Log roll (in water)
:: Chocker race
:: Axe throw
Should be good. I'll see if I can get some good pics for you.