"Get that man a beer!" - Day 10

We awoke this morning at 6:30 to the smell of hash browns, eggs and biscuits cooking. We shared a lovely breakfast with Dick and Susan before Travis went outside to try to figure out his cleat and pedal issues. I remained inside talking to Dick and Susan, sitting rather uncomfortably as a result of our night in Cardwell. Apparently when I sprayed the bug spray on myself, I forgot to get my rear end. So while I had a few mosquito bites on the rest of my body, my hindquarters were covered worse than chicken pox. Travis said he'd never seen anything like it. Don't forget to wear bug spray!

After a half hour or so of troubleshooting his pedals, Travis threw in the towel and opted to buy new cleats. On the way back to the Spoke Shop, we went by Albertson's to pick up the beer we had promised to the bike techs. So Travis was riding down the streets of Billings at 9 am, full pannier packs and a case of Fat Tire.
The shop hooked us up with bagels and a sweet discount on the cleats before we hit the road 1.5 hours later than we had wanted to. We thought that it was 115 miles to Sheridan, WY but the first sign we saw 10 miles outside of town said 124. Crap. That meant we would need favorable winds since the route was hilly, as Susan had warned us. We were making slow progress to Hardin, and by the time we stopped for lunch it was clear we weren't going to make it to Sheridan. Once again we felt a few drops of rain, and even stopped to put on our rain garb, but the storm stayed ahead of us.
We slowly ground out the afternoon, with me getting two flats on a patched tube. Travis had warned me that patching tubes was unreliable, but I'd never had a problem with glue on patches before. So not wanting to spend $5 and waste a lot of rubber by buying a new tube for every flat, I decided to patch. The stick on patches that we brought turned out to be worthless and I made it less than 20 miles before the patched tube failed. We did, however, turn the odometer over to 1,000 miles, meaning that we're close to 1/3 of the way to the finish line!
The Wyoming state line was our big goal, but a few miles before where we expected it, there was the dreaded "Chain-up area ahead" sign. Bad news: hills. We'd spent 6 days and 5 nights in Montana and were eager for the mental boost of making it across our 3rd state line. The sun's quickening fall from the sky made us even more desperate to make it to Wyoming, but behind every curve and hill lie more curves and hills with the signage telling us we'd finally cleared Montana nowhere to be seen.
Then finally, just as the sun set, I spotted something glorious around the bend. There was a cluster of signs and a change in the pavement color, that could possibly be the state line. We livened up our pace anxiously hoping that we'd made it. And we had. Hasta la vista Montana!
Crossing the border gave us energy, but it was still 9 miles to the nearest town of Ranchester, and by now it was pretty dark. We hurriedly dug out our lights and rode our fastest miles of the day the remaining miles into Ranchester. My headlight is more of a "be seen" than "see" feature, so I had to stick close behind Travis to have a chance to spot potholes. As we trudged through the darkness we were looking forward to pulling into the first bar we saw and enjoying a much needed beer. Then disaster struck. I flatted for the third time today on the outskirts of town. I had half a mind to just ride the flat into town, but wisely opted to walk the rest of the way, laughing the whole time with Travis about my misfortune.

As promised, we parked our bikes at the first bar we saw. I walked in the door with a look of exasperation from the 10.5 hour day with three flats, the final hour of which was in the dark. I hadn't even had time to take off my helmet before a man at the pool table called out "get that man a beer!" The bartender, Helen, then asked if I had a tent and before I could think about asking her where we could pitch it, she was showing me to the yard around the side of the bar. She cooked Travis and me two delicious pizzas, refilled our water bottles without being asked, gave us free granola bars and fruit snacks for the road that she claimed to not want, and offered to let us crawl into her car if it started to rain during the night. To top it all off, when we got our checks, there was no place to add the tip. We tried in vain to persuade her to let us tip her, but she flat out refused. What a delightful end to our hardest day of the trip. If you're ever near Ranchester, WY, definitely stop by the Silver Spur Bar there and say hi to Helen. If you don't have time to stop, you can even grab a six-pack from the drive-thru!

Time	Trip	Odometer	Average	Max
10:22:58	123.3	1022	11.8	28.9

"You should take the trip of a lifetime, at least every couple of years." - Day 9

We woke up late this morning at around 7:30, made breakfast and headed to the convenience store to refill on water. There we called Dick and Susan, the couple we met yesterday, and informed them that our plans had changed and we would in fact be in Billings tonight. They said they would be overjoyed to host us in Billings tonight. And there was much rejoicing.

Our first 25 miles outside of Big Timber was slightly downhill with a tailwind, so we were averaging 17 mph! About 15 miles outside of Big Timber, Travis got a phone call from a friend who is moving across the country. It turns out she had just driven past us. She and her friend turned around and we chatted on the I-90 shoulder before making plans to meet in Columbus for lunch at what has become the staple of our trip, Subway.

We made good time to Columbus but after lunch slowed down because we told Dick and Susan that we'd be there between 5 and 6 and we only had 40 miles to go. About 15 miles in, we noticed a storm building behind us. Without saying a word to each other, we both poured on the steam for the next hour and a half. The storm was of course drawing all of the air into it, so we were facing a brutal headwind and only averaging 14 mph or so. Those were the most grueling miles of the trip so far.

We started to feel drops about 5 miles from our exit but it looked like the storm was going to stay northwest of us, and it did. We arrived at the convenience store at our exit exhausted and hungry for some ice cream. We were once again in need of a bike shop and were directed to the Spoke Shop, which was downtown and mostly on the way to Dick and Susan's.

The people at the Spoke Shop were very friendly, letting Travis but is bike on the stand and helping him clean his drive train. For the past few days he has been struggling to clip in to his pedals and tried cleaning and adjusting his cleats. We promised the bike techs a six pack, "the darker the better," for their help before scurrying off to Dick and Susan's house whom we were a little bit late to meet. When I talked to them on the phone from the bike shop, I asked where a good place to eat would be and Dick said they had food for us at their house. What a deal!

We pulled up to the house, tucked our bikes away in the greenhouse and were shown to our rooms. Separate rooms. Incredible! Before sitting down to dinner with them, I hopped into the shower, since my hygiene was questionable at best without having showered in the past 6 days.

Dinner was delicious lemon chicken, spaghetti, homemade potato salad, bread, beans and tomatoes and of course beer. Travis and I ate two platefuls each while hearing about Dick and Susan's adventures in New Zealand. Dick is a retired physics professor with a keen interest in environmentalism and traveling, so naturally we hit it off well. Susan worked as a teacher on the Indian Reservation but had also spent time in China a few years back. She used to ride her bike to work all through the Montana winter too!

Over dinner, Dick spoke some true words to live by. "You should take the trip of a lifetime, at least every couple of years." It sounds like he and Susan have successfully done that. We wrapped up dinner with some damn good Moose Tracks ice cream, before we were given a computer to catch up on e-mails with. I sent out some feelers on warmshowers.org for places to stay in Rapid City on the Fourth of July, so hopefully somebody will be able to put us up and we can join in on a real American barbecue.

Susan is going to fix breakfast for us at 7, so we are living quite large here. I hand washed my biking clothes in the sink with the dish washing detergent we brought along before crawling into the warm and comfortable bed these wonderful strangers had provided.

Time	Trip	Odometer	Average	Max
5:50:41	83.9	899	14.3	39.8

"So apparently you can't drink beer and walk up to buffalo in national parks. Who knew?" - Day 8

We woke up this morning with mosquitos swarming outside of our tent and insufficient water to make oatmeal or cream of wheat. Hence, we decided to get breakfast down the road in La Hood. I donned my rain gear for the first time all trip, cinching up my hood around my face, leaving only a small portion of my face and ankles exposed to the onslaught of mosquitos. We quickly tore down the tent after a Pop Tart breakfast.

Our map showed a road that followed a river to Three Forks, which we opted to take rather than the interstate with its known uphill. The back road was a nice way to wake up, with very little traffic and a quiet ride by the river.

La Hood is a small city of approximately two buildings, and really shouldn't even be on the map. The restaurant wasn't open so we were left with no choice but to charge on to Three Forks with dwindling water and growing hunger pains.

We reached Three Forks and rode straight to Wheat Montana Farms & Bakery, a local bakery that grows its own wheat. There we met a couple who took interest in our biking gear and offered us their place to stay in Billings. We told them that we didn't think we'd be stopping in Billings but that if our plans changed we would definitely give them a call.

We made good time along mostly flat terrain to just outside of Bozeman where Travis got a flat a mile before the exit and lunch. We had lunch at the Fresco Cafe in Bozeman, a town that's feel reminded me of Ft. Collins.

The pass out of Bozeman was our final big pass before the plains, it wasn't too bad except the downhill side was under construction so the interstate was down to two lanes of traffic with us riding on the left shoulder between the white line and the rumble strips. This left us inches away from the traffic, which for the most part was considerate but we had a few close calls. It was a decidedly unsafe and unenjoyable experience.

On the flat stretch beyond Bozeman Pass, I took a look at my max speed to see how I'd done down the hill and was surprised to see that it said 50.2 mph. The fastest I'd hit before was 41.3 and I didn't think I'd exceeded that on the two lanes of terror. I think maybe I was riding close to Travis, who is using the same wireless cycle computer that I am, and my computer was picking up both signals when we were going 25 mph.

After the pass we got some good downhill and a quartering tailwind that left us cruising to Big Timber. On the way, I spotted a dot in the distance and figured it was another cyclist, so we put it in high gear and poured on the steam to catch up to them. He had a decent hybrid bike with a ragtag assortment of panniers and other doodads hanging from it. His name was Billy and he had recently spent the night in jail because he was drinking and getting too close to the Buffalo in Yellowstone. He was probably certifiable from the way he talked and the stories he told Travis while I rode behind listening and feeling bad for Travis. Billy isn't going to go back to Yellowstone for his arraignment.

We rode passed Billy only for me to get a front tire flat a few miles later. I'd never gotten a front flat on a road bike and didn't like it one bit. Mostly it was unfortunate though because it gave batshit Billy a chance to catch up to us. We were a scant 5 miles outside of Big Timber but the flat stole all our momentum and the winds shifted as a storm brewed off to the west.

It took a while to make the last few miles into Big Timber and the effort left us feeling famished. We didn't wait for Travis' friend Kyle to meet up with us and went straight to the Big Timber Bar to fill up on grub. There, a friendly gentleman told us of two free and nice places where we could pitch our tent and even drew maps to them on his napkin. He even offered to come tuck us in at night, if we'd cover his gas cost. His wife recommended that in Montana we could just walk up to a house and in all likelihood be granted permission to pitch in the yard.

It rained on our bikes while we were in the bar, which was the first time our bikes had gotten wet. My plastic bagging of everything seemed to keep all of my belongings dry, and the storm was over after a few minutes. Hopefully we'll continue to have good luck with the weather!

We opted to take the woman's advice and knock on random doors in Big Timber to find a place to sleep. At the first house we knocked at we were directed to the pastor's house across the street. So we ended up spending another night in a church's yard. The mosquitos were out again, but after our experience in Cardwell this morning, we had decided to invest in some bug spray of our own, something that I would definitely recommend doing before starting a trip through Montana.

Kyle got into town after we'd set up the tent and hadn't eaten yet, so we went back to the bar. He treated Travis and me to drinks while we shared stories about college and women and fun. The people at the bar recommended that we not spend the night in Hardin, on account of it being on the Crow Indian Reservation, and not knowing any better decided to change our goal for tomorrow to Billings. We'll try to get in touch with the people from the bakery this morning and see about a place to stay, and maybe our second shower of the trip!

Time	Trip	Odometer	Average	Max
8:41:23	122.9	815	14.1	???

"Proof that there isn't a loving god: mosquitos" - Day 7

The alarm I had set for this morning was on vibrate only, so we didn't wake up until Travis' alarm went off at 7. We hurriedly packed the tent with few mosquitos pestering us and had Pop Tarts for breakfast. After refilling on water, we set off on the 70 miles towards Butte. Initially we were doing really well, averaging about 15 mph. With about 15 miles to go, we both tired considerably but still made it to Subway before our goal of 2 pm. We needed to restock on power bars and Gatorade powder, so we went to a Safeway in Butte. Butte was a depressing mining town and neither Travis or I were very impressed. I flatted again leaving Safeway, bringing my trip total to three flats.

We knew that we had the continental divide coming today, but it ended up being easier than expected, with only about 4 miles of climb out of Butte. We of course took a picture at the summit and rejoiced that it would be all downhill from here. Unfortunately, that is not the case, but it still feels good to have the divide behind us, even if 80% of the continent is still in front of us.

Crossing the continental divide

At mile marker 247, a peace loving, friendly and hospitable Montana driver opted to discard a full cup of Coke in my direction. Travis was a ways in front of me and I didn't get their license plate number, unfortunately. It as decidedly disheartening that somebody would do that and I was damn fortunate that it didn't hit me.

We stopped for ice cream at the A&W in Whitehall before pushing the 7 miles to Cardwell. On the approach, we saw the dreaded sign "Chain-up area ahead," meaning an arduous uphill in our future. Sure enough, as we rounded the curve there was a dauntingly large hill in front of us. But the sun was setting, so we stopped in Cardwell, leaving the hill for tomorrow.

We made a makeshift dinner at the bar/lounge/casino/convenience store/campground and were delighted to find that it was only $10 for camping, laundry, and showers for the both of us. We even got our first round of beers free, and had another before venturing outside to set up camp. There we were swarmed by mosquitos like I have never seen before. Travis bravely stayed outside attempting to set up the tent, while I ran back to the store to invest in some bug spray. Unfortunately, they were all out, but Dawn, the bartender/waitress/clerk/campground hostess let me use some of her own personal supply. With the mosquitos temporarily at bay, we got the tent up and inside of it with very few joining us. I opted not to take a shower in the hopes that the bug spray would last until morning when we would have to break camp, but Travis decided to do laundry and take a shower.

It wasn't very intelligent to come without bug spray and I am not looking forward to the mosquito feast tomorrow morning. Nonetheless, we got some solid miles in today and will hopefully stay with Travis' friend Kyle tomorrow in Big Timber.

Time	Trip	Odometer	Average	Max
7:40:56	103.7	692	13.4	36.7

"Drummond just wants to have fun!" - Day 6

We got up late this morning at 8:20 and cooked some delicious scrambled eggs on the camp stove which dirtied the skillet significantly. We headed to a gas station to fill up on water and grab some pastries for a second breakfast. 2.3 miles outside of town, I rode through some glass and got my first flat of the trip. About 4 miles later my left pedal stopped clipping in. Travis tried valiantly to do a roadside repair, but ended up destroying the pedal. We were faced with continuing with a dysfunctional pedal or returning 6 miles to a Missoula bike shop to buy a new one. We decided to backtrack.

Travis destroying my pedal

We limped back to Missoula to a bike shop where I picked up $20 "take-off" pedals and a wrench to adjust my maladjusted brakes. Travis also got some tubes at 20% off because Chad took sympathy on us and hooked us up with a discount. On our way out of Missoula, it was getting pretty late in the day so we stopped at Subway. Since it was already 1 o'clock and we hadn't made it out of town yet, we decided that today would be a rest day. Of course, I got another flat tire from an unknown source. However, the flat was a blessing in disguise because there were bald eagles soaring above the place it happened that we surely would've missed had the flat tire not happened. Unfortunately, Travis also got a nasty bee sting while I was repairing my tire, but as he's not allergic, it was okay. Travis' knee started giving him trouble so we slowed down for the rest of the day. My left achilles tendon had been hurting the past couple of days, so I didn't mind the slower pace.

We were a little early for the party

A few miles after the second flat tire, I saw a bunch of cars on the side of the road and some people on a nearby cliff. Turns out they were cliff jumping so we decided to cross the interstate and join them. We were done after one jump but it was a nicely refreshing and hopefully removed some of the salt stains that had accumulated on our jerseys.

We had set a goal of Drummond, only 50 miles outside of Missoula, but it was getting late and we were exhausted. We grabbed some delicious ice cream at Frosty Freeze before heading to the convenience store to get some trail mix and water. The trail mix was 1,200 calories for $2, which was about the best we've found. A local kid, or pest according to the clerk, was impressed with our helmet mirrors and after trying them out "helped" us fill our water bottles. The clerk, who is planning to get married to the son of the owner of Swede's bar recommended that we go there, so that's what we did.

Drummond - "World famous bullshippers"

At the bar, Roger and Arnold bought a round of drinks for the entire bar, which was much appreciated. We chatted it up with Roger, a rancher/oil field worker from Canada who was in Drummond to participate in the senior rodeo with his brother, Gordy.

Roger and his wife Lynn

Roger and his Canadian friends were adept at playing the spoons, which was a foreign concept to Travis and me. However, after Travis requested some spoons from the bartender, Roger was eager to teach the stranger the ways of spooning.

We got the business card from the bar, as we have started collecting addresses to that we can send a post card to all of the wonderful people whom we have met along the way once we reach New York. Tomorrow we'll try to hit La Hood, about 105 miles from Durmmond. Hopefully we won't have to pay for the $10.50 camping tonight at the park in Drummond, so we've got an alarm set for early in the morning to duck out before the ranger comes.

Time	Trip	Odometer	Average	Max
5:25:40	63.0	588	11.5	27.4

"You riding a Specialized tire? Oh, you're only going to get two flats the whole trip!" - Day 5

5 days in and still going strong. It was a tough 1,300 ft, 6 mile climb out of Mullan this morning, followed by downhill and flat all of the way to Missoula. We crossed into Montana at around 9, after leaving Mullan at 8. We also had our first time zone change into mountain time, losing an hour. We stopped for lunch at Subway in St. Regis, where they also don't give points on Subway cards. The information center there also had Montana maps as well as internet access, so I was able to get some things straightened out with my visa for China.

As usual, the afternoon was a struggle as the mile markers slowly creep up to whatever target we are looking for. It was made more of a struggle by Travis' tire going flat twice. The owner of his bike shop had said that he'd only get two flats the entire trip using the Armadillo tires, but his was defective and a loose wire was puncturing the tubes, causing three flats over as many days. So he switched to the spare tire.

While we were staying with Kate in Spokane, she had a friend who had ridden across the country e-mail us with suggestions. The subject of her e-mail was "ICE CREAM ICE CREAM ICE CREAM!!!" We hadn't really thought ice cream before, and set a goal of reaching Alberton to get some there. Drumsticks at the local market were only $0.65, so I got two plus a packet of lunch meat. The ice cream was exceedingly refreshing, and we weren't really concerned about what we were eating, figuring we'd burn whatever we stuffed our faces with. The market's bulletin board was a hot spot for local advertisers, including one entrepreneur who offered:

After our break in Alberton, we still had thirty miles to Missoula and it was getting a little late. We finally hit Missoula at around 7:30 after holding an average of about 16 mph through easy terrain. Our search for a place to camp took a while and through a number of false leads, which brought us to the boyhood home of the author of "A River Runs Through It," but sadly we couldn't stay there. Eventually we were directed to a Greek Orthodox church nearby. Just outside the church, I fell over twice within about 20 ft after being too tired to unclip from my pedals. It was decidedly embarrassing. The pastor of the church was playing chess with the next door neighbor and was fine with us pitching our tent in the church yard. Before setting up camp, we shared a delightfully satisfying pizza from Pizza Pipeline, and headed to the local market. I made Ramen with an egg, and saved a few eggs for scrambled eggs in the morning.

Travis has a friend in Big Timber, 263 miles from Missoula and we decided to try to get there in three days. So tomorrow will be short at 80-90 miles. The mosquitos here are annoying, but we probably won't be out of their territory for a while. It's also predicted to be a scorcher tomorrow, so I'll have to remember to ice my water bottles when we refill. America sure is a big country.

Time	Trip	Odometer	Average	Max
7:48:59	114.3	525	14.6	38.7

"That'll be $2.50 please." - Day 4

Day 4. Boom. We had a late start today on account of how comfortable Kate's futon was. We woke up at 8, made bacon and eggs for breakfast and packed our stuff. We finally got on the road around 10. Kate had found the Centennial Trail, an alternative to I-90 that would take us from Spokane to Coeur D'Alene, ID. Riding out of Spokane we were a little worried because the water was still high on the river and the road had been closed a few weeks earlier, but it all turned out fine.

We hopped on the trail and were on it for about 10 miles when my front shifter became maladjusted. We happened to stop in front of a nice elderly lady's house, who offered us her tools as soon as we stopped. She even had a grinder that I was able to use to shorten the screw I needed to attach my cable guide. It was a pleasant switch to be on the trail instead of the interstate, and we reached our first milestone of a state border early in the morning.

Travis in Idaho and me in Washington

The trail dropped us into the rather pleasant town of Coeur D'Alene, where we grabbed some Subway. Apparently in Idaho they don't give points on the Subway cards, which was a big disappointment. After lunch, we continued cycling along I-90 up 4th of July Pass, which brought us to our highest elevation yet of 3,069 ft.

The pass dropped us down into Kellogg, where we were able to catch another bike trail that took us up to Mullan. Since it was Travis' 23rd birthday, we decided to celebrate at a bar there. We ended up at the Smoke Shop Tavern where we ordered a draught beer. The bartender, Leann, gave us our drinks and told us it'd be $2.50. I handed her $5, expecting it to be $2.50 each and was quite surprised when we got $2.50 back. That's right, $1.25 draughts. The only food they had were bags of Doritios, so we gorged ourselves on those and beer. We also learned one of the tricks of the trip by asking at the bar where a good place to pitch our tent would be. The locals recommended that we throw it up on the far side of the local football field, which we did. Before leaving, we played Queen's "Bicycle Race" on the jukebox.

Tomorrow we've got 6 miles to the top of Lookout pass, after which it should be smooth sailing to Missoula. Overall, today had nice scenery and plenty of friendly people, especially in Mullan. Also, Mullan is now our highest elevation yet at about 3,400 ft.

Time	Trip	Odometer	Average	Max
7:45:45	96.8	411	12.4	40.5