Day 75: Shelby, MT to Cut Bank, MT

July 26, 2008

26.04 Miles, 1:44:41 Ride Time, 14.93 Average Speed, 26.4 Maximum Speed

After the long day of riding, then the long walk around Shelby in the almost fruitless quest for food last night, I was tired, and slept well - once the bass rumbling of "music" from a nearby room ceased. That motel should definitely lose its AAA seal of approval.

I wasn't sorry to leave Shelby, which hadn't impressed me much, and, with a tailwind, was soon several miles down the road. Then the sky turned dark, there were flashes of lightning, and it became a race to get to Etheridge (nothing there but a post office) before the storm caught me.

I arrived at the Etheridge post office to find Jordan, who had learned from the postmistress that the severe, hail-producing storm was just leaving Cut Bank, and had been bad enough to postpone Cut Bank's Lewis & Clark parade.

I needed to get to the Cut Bank post office, where I had mail waiting, before they closed at 11:30, so I watched the sky, had the lady at the post office make a few calls to check on the weather, and then rode off. I could see the storm move around me, but I never actually got rained or hailed on.

I rode the ten miles to Cut Bank quickly, and arrived to find the Lewis & Clark parade getting ready to start, and Main Street officially blocked. I got permission from some local official (I think his uniform said he was an Animal Control officer - good enough) to ride through the floats, fire trucks, Shriners in their tiny cars, etc.

The townspeople lined the street, waiting for the parade to start, and as I rode toward the post office, many of them clapped and cheered me on - It felt like I was the Grand Marshall of the parade, or something.

I got to the post office with several minutes to spare, retrieved the document which would hopefully allow me to get into Canada and then back into the USA in a few days, and rode back to Main Street to watch the parade, which still hadn't started. Jordan arrived, having also ridden ahead of the parade. He told me that he heard one little boy say "Another biker?", in a disappointed tone. Heh.

I stood on the sidewalk with Jordan and watched as Cut Bank's Lewis & Clark parade finally got underway. It's been a while since I've seen a small-town parade, and I had forgotten that one element of these events is the throwing of candy to children watching the parade. Jordan and I were nimbler than many of these children, however, and much of the candy found its way into our pockets. Best of all: We even cought a couple of frozen popsicles. Awesome.

By now it was hot, and we somehow convinced ourselves that we should stop in Cut Bank for the day, after only 26 miles - After all, we had done the 113 mile mega-day yesterday. During this decision-making process, I conveniently overlooked my 25 mile day a couple of days ago. Hey - I needed to be well-rested for the upcoming Rockies.

I felt bad after squandering the money on the motel last night, so I decided it was time to give camping a try again, and followed Jordan to an RV campground in town. I thought it looked a little crummy - there was no shade of any kind - but I assumed that Jordan, the camping guru, knew what he was doing, and had spotted a diamond-in-the-rough. Imagine my surprise when he later described it as "the bleakest campground I've stayed in on this trip."

It was so hot that we spent most of the day in the campground recreation hall (only marginally cooler than outside), with an interlude at a nearby Pizza Hut, where I easily consumed a lasagna-style dish that purported to "feed a family of four!" Not if I'm a member of the family.

Eventually the campground owner came into the recreation hall - "Are you guys moving in here or what? Have you decided where you're putting your tents?" He might have suspected my secret plan to sleep on the floor of the recreation hall. Suitably chastised, I went outside, picked the least objectionable spot, set up, and went to bed.

Jordan, an engineer, closely examined the clown's odd bike. I think he was contemplating building one like it when he got home... The little boy with the mohawk was one of our rivals for the tossed candy.

The Shriners doing their thing with the tiny cars

The arrival of the street sweeper, from which no candy was tossed, signified the end of the parade.

Today's ride: 26 miles (42 km)
Total: 5,475 miles (8,811 km)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	2
Comment on this entry	Comment	0