More Montana.

2300 miles into the trip. David's lost 15 pounds... I haven't lost more than 5. I'm trying to figure out what in the WORLD is going on with that... but...it's really no small mystery. He's a dude, he weighs more, he pulls more weight...and to be honest, he's in the front breaking wind a whole lot more than me. I just want to be able to eat like him and still be constantly losing weight... ... ... not going to happen, but I'll take what I can get. We're also probably not winning a lot of points for our diet. Today at our final destination, we could buy ice cream at a local shop for $6, or a 1.5 qt tub at the grocery for $3. The tub won out.

It also probably doesn't help that we've eaten giant breakfasts the last four days... but the LAST thing I'm going to say 'no' to is someone making us a delicious home-cooked meal. Nothing beats starting the day with a full tummy.

Someone told us Montana would be flat with a nice, steady tailwind... up until today, this was not our experience in Montana. In fact, it seemed Montana was trying desperately to keep us there with all the headwinds we were facing. Headwinds, crosswinds, rainstorms--Today, that all changed. We didn't have far to go, but we cruised through the day around 20 mph. Very. nice.

It seems to me the blogs per state ratio is slightly askew. We've been many hundred miles in Montana, and have 1 (one) blog besides this one. In all fairness, discounting Glacier (and the little bit of Montana that comes before)... there just ain't much to see in Montana. A lot of flat, a little rolling hills, hundreds of train cars, very few trees... some towns... and a porcupine on the side of the road. Really, that's all.

So, we've been pretty thankful for the people we've been meeting along the way. Because, after a whole lotta nothin' all day long (which, in it's own way is beautiful), it's nice to talk with someone from the area who, really, seems just as excited as we are about the bikers-in-the-yard situation.

After Cut Bank, we planned on staying in Joplin, MT. Not far from Joplin, we ran into the now infamous Lonnie Cook. Why infamous? Because Lonnie is a grandpa, and is toasting our cookies in this bicycle-touring business. Lonnie informed us he was riding to Hingham that evening (about 16 more miles down the road from Joplin)... so... we did what was natural, and rode to Rudyard...just 6 miles short of Hingham. We haven't seen hide-nor-hair of Lonnie since, and don't anticipate seeing him again in the future. The man is an animal.

The sign coming into Rudyard, MT says, "Rip-roarin' and ready to do business!". The only businesses I saw were a bowling alley/bar, an auto museum (this boggles my mind...almost every town up here has a museum), a single-screen theatre, and...well, that's all I remember. It's a tiny town. Another sign coming into town says "275 nice people, and 1 old sore head!" The new sore head was recently elected, and it was a big enough deal that people 70 miles away knew about it. Neither Dave nor Karen Watson were the 'sore head', however. Karen let us pitch our tent in the front yard, and offered us showers and tater tot casserole. Their two daughters, Sammy and Topanga kept us company as we set up our tent, and by the time Dave got home, he was ready to tell stories until the sun set. We got up early the next morning, packed up our gear, and sat down for pancakes, eggs, and cajun bacon from the Watson's. Definitely a good start to the day.

Six miles down the road in Hingham, Mandy and Kyle Rich met up with us; they were driving back to Minnesota. Mandy called later to tell us they'd found two places for us to stay along the way...with friends of relatives. Mandy was a sleuth for us! Don'tcha love making friends on this trip? One family is in the middle of one of the Indian Reservations known as "stab center" of the US. Thankfully, there will be no stabbing involved.

That...breakfast and meeting up with the Rich's... was about as good as that day got. The mosquito epicenter of the world is apparently located east of Hingham, MT. They must love dumb visitors who don't have bomber mosquito spray, because they were all-freaking-over. and the gnats! Can't forget the chomping, swarming gnats that seem to thrive off of landing on people's faces. We recently have conquered these bugs with DEET spray and gnat-b-gone stuff for the face, but I'm not sure we're any the healthier for it.

David's butt had been bothering him for a few days, but he annouced twenty miles out of Havre that he'd be buying a Brook's saddle first chance he got. Unfortunately, that chance was NOT in Havre (apparently the largest town on rt. 2)...the only bike shop in town had about 3 mountain bikes and seats that looked scarier than David's. Outside, we discovered that I had broken yet another spoke...likely more than 40 miles before. Fortunately, my husband is now a pro at spoke fixering. Unfortunately, HE got a flat just outside of our destination for that night. Fortunately, he's fast...unfortunately, not faster than the mosquitoes. The mosquitoes have been eating him alive; his legs look like he's recently recovered from the chicken pox.

Our tires are bald. I mean B.A.L.D. baaaaaaaaaald. The rubber is peeling off all over, and you can see the kevlar underneath. Just days ago, my tires were as doughy as play-doh from being worn...but now their torn to shreds. Thankfully, David had planned for this moment, so he busted out the two new ones we have, and we're crossing our fingers that we'll make it to a good bike shop before the others give out.

It was my job to find a yard in Chinook, MT to stay in while David fixed his flat. At the first house, an older lady tried to decide if she was ok with us staying in her yard. A little girl, 7, walked by and asked "Whatcha doin'" before offering her house. So far, little kids have been good bait with parents, and we've met some pretty outstanding people (Mandy and Kyle) because of their curious kids. So, I told the older woman, "Thanks anyway", and followed the little girl home. ... ... ... ... Really scary (I mean it) house, with a really scary strung out mom. Thankfully, the mom was not cool with us staying in the yard, so I didn't have to figure out some way to say, "Thanks anyway" to her too. I walked down the street, knocked on another door... they suggested the park, but also noted that the sprinklers come on every hour at night.

Finally, I spotted a house with nice looking flowers and a well-kept yard. Mike Johnson opened the door, and was surprised to see me. I was surprised to see someone who looked so much like my uncle Duane! Thankfully, Mike was delighted to offer his back yard for our tent.

I fetched David from the gas station (our meetup spot, since there was no reception), and we headed over to the Johnson's. Mike, a gunsmith, was just leaving to test a gun he'd tuned. He told us he'd called his wife, Judy, to give her a heads-up that we were camping out in the yard. As we were setting up, Judy came home, getting out with a ready smile, but a question on her face.
"Mike said he'd called to warn you we were in the yard, but it looks like maybe you haven't gotten the message yet."

"Well, no...but it doesn't matter to me either way."

Five minutes later, Judy was bringing out fresh berries she'd picked up at a farmer's market in town. Really? Fresh berries? For people you had no idea were coming over? Wow.

Mike came home from testing his rifle, and had bought a 6 pack of beer to talk over. I'd cooked dinner on our little camping stove, and David was frantically switching out tires on our bikes, but we were all able to lean (Bob and Judy), stand (David), and squat (me) around and talk for a good part of the evening. Mike works an office job from early early in the morning until mid-afternoon, when he comes home to his 'hobby job'. Judy said he originally had planned on just taking in gun work until he'd paid off the shop, but has been going twenty years since then. Judy was pretty involved in things around town, and loved to garden.

That night, it rained...and rained and rained. Our tent kept us phenomanally dry. We decided to sleep in a little to give the rain a chance to pass, and when we got up, Mike was in his shop, and Judy was making us blueberry pancakes, homemade sausage, eggs and bacon. Hoooooooly smokes!! There was cinnamon syrup!! Yum yum yum. I was really thankful for the rain because 1. We were able to stick around and eat breakfast with Judy and Mike, and 2. we got more time with them. Judy and Mike are some of the kindest, most welcoming people we've had on our trip. They took such great care of us, and if we hadn't just taken some time off in Glacier, it would've been great to stay with them and get to know them better.

As we left town, it started raining again. I also started hearing a weird knocking noise, and then we had our first absolute tire blowout...with the new tires. David fixed it in no time, but there was no stopping the wind...or the headwinds. After 10 miles, we were soaked through our rain-gear.

Not much happened the rest of the day...we saw some places the buffalo used to graze. We got rained on on-and-off. David's butt hurt, so we played stupid memory games (tonight for dinner, we're going to have asparagus, broccoli, cookies...). Finally, we made it to Malta, MT. We camped in the park because after our first 'no', we were too tired to keep knocking. The mosquitoes were having a hey-day down there. The DEET truck came and sprayed in the middle of the night. A light right outside our tent flickered on and off all night. At 4 am, it started raining again, but this time we didn't have our rain cover on. David quick threw a tarp over the tent that mostly did the job, but still left things wet in the morning. At 6 am, a park person started mowing...directly across from our tent. Our matches were wet from the surprise rain, so we weren't able to make breakfast. David looked at me after we packed everything up, and said, "We're getting breakfast." I whole-heartedly agreed.

We ate a giant breakfast at "The Hitchin' Post" in Malta, MT right next to their Dinosaur Museum. That pretty much made our time in Malta. The pancakes were huge, the coffee kept coming, and we got to chat with a lady who's riding to Seattle from Vermont to raise money for the MS Foundation. It's nice to run into bikers who have been where you're going so you can give each other tips...which is what we did.

This brings us up through yesterday, but we have another 100 mile day tomorrow, and it's 11 now, so I'm gonna call it quits for the night.