We finally made it to Alzada. It is a spot on the map, a town with only 50 people but it is significant because it lies a mere 3 miles from the Wyoming border. This represents a significant achievement for us, having reached this point. Montana had truly been a highlight of the trip, so far. Despite a few questionable people, we had overwhelmingly great interpersonal interactions while enjoying tremendous scenery and tough but great riding.  

To recap the day, by morning, Paul seemed to have completely recovered. We got started by 6:00 AM, making it to Broadus by 9:30 AM. An unexpected breeze was keeping us cooler than anticipated.  We took a short break at the Broadus Cafe but afterwards, the cool breeze was gone and the temperatures heated up quickly. The thermometer on the bank clock reached 100 degrees Fahrenheit as we headed out of town.

The 24 miles to Boyes gradually got tougher as we proceeded on. Our water was at ambient temperature and there was no relief from the intense sun. About 4 miles from town, we came upon some construction workers who shared some of their cold water with us. We thanked them as we left. We could have made it to Boyes without their kindness but the cold drink  certainly made those last few miles much more pleasant.

At Boyes, we took 5 hours off to escape the hottest part of the day. Along with the heat was a hot wind that felt like a blast of air coming out of an  oven. It was pretty brutal. We estimated that it was well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit that afternoon. 

At 6:00 PM, we soaked our t-shirts and our bodies with cold water and started off down the road. The trajectory of the first half of the distance to Alzada was a gradual uphill with very few descents. Then things changed in our favor. We began heading on a downhill grade with the wind at our backs. The temperature had also dropped significantly. All of this made for an extremely pleasant ride into town, 34 miles in all.

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We had dinner at the Alzada Cafe, a friendly little place with good home cooking. I noticed they had showers in the men's room and asked about availability. We were permitted to shower and did so gratefully. The place was kind of a mom and pop truck stop in the middle of nowhere. A diamond in the rough. The prices were right too. This place actually topped the Sportsman's Cafe, in Rio Dell, California, with the showers giving it the edge. My meal consisted of a deluxe hamburger, french fried mushrooms, homemade beef vegetable soup, homemade strawberry pie, a-la-mode... with that extra feature being 3 scoops of ice cream, and a beer. All of this cost $5.50 and the shower was free! 

The downside of the day was that Paul's fever returned this evening. I'm not sure if the heat is getting to him or whether a microorganism of some sort is to blame. I am feeling fine. He s going to need a good rest soon, perhaps in Spearfish (South Dakota). If that doesn't help, we're going to have to find him a doctor.

Alzada is an interesting town. It's small population is augmented by a group of Uranium Miners who come during the Summer. These men work long hours (5:00 AM to 8:30 PM) then come to the cafe to eat and drink. The nice lady who runs the cafe keeps it open for them. She is their mother when they are away from home and they know it. 

We camped in the huge area in front of the cafe. It was very windy that night, necessitating that I get up several time to adjust the guy lines on the tent to keep it from blowing away. Despite all of that, I did get some good sleep. Our last night in Montana was a good one.