Day 480 – US – Montana [Drummond to Garrison]

28/07/21

33.7km

  From Drummond (Montana) to Garrison (Montana)

North America

A happy day on the road and some data about the region I am crossing

How many kms of empty road ahead of me?

I had a great sleep yesterday, plenty of food and I was happy as larry as I hit the road this morning. Temperatures were not too hot, the sky was covered by a light trail of smoke but the air was not too hard to breath. It was good enough for me. I am amazed at the spectacular low density of the area I am crossing, for the past few weeks and the foreseeable weeks. And I thought I wanted to see the numbers. I have lived in many countries, but these were limited to Europe and Asia, two densely populated continents. What I am seeing now is really new to me.

(I thought I knew a bit about the US as I spent a fair amount of time in NY for work and went to California and Florida for tourism and sports events… well it’s fair to say I was thoroughly mistaken!).

Still runnning by the Clark Fork river

The density of the countries I ran through in Europe averages 123 inhabitants per/km2 (the lowest being Bulgaria at 64 and the highest Belgium at 383). Now my crossing of the US involves 4 of the 10 most unpopulated states of the US. Montana at 4.7 p/km2, Wisconsin at 3.7 p/km2, North Dakota at 7 p/km2 and Idaho at 13.7 p/km2. The contrast is so striking. Right now, the stretch of 200km between Missoula and Helena involves no town to speak of. Just a few houses centered around the odd gas station or motel. Tonight there’s only a RV camp and a convenience store.

A lunch of champion: 2 microwave rice pots and a can of beer… 🙁

It makes the running a very different affair. The day in Europe would be as much about the run as it would be about the “after-run”: walking the streets of the city, tasting local foods, seeing the local vistas, sitting at a cafe and observing life around. Right now, there is simply nothing going on after the run. I was expecting this to be the case in my Australian crossing, through the Nullarbor desert in particular. But I guess I have been a bit naive about the US crossing! Well, it doesn’t matter, I adapt anyway – and again, I take this as good preparation for the Australian crossing.

Check out today’s flyover video: https://www.relive.cc/view/vevYxV8BrJq

Check my daily run GPS data on or

Here is the map of today’s run: