Day 26 Great Falls MT to Stanford MT

July 13, 2023

You need to blow this up to actually see how the climb looks and we still had more of the climb to go

This was where the accident was. So glad he is ok

Thought they were girls but they are handsome boys

Funky bar and grill we had lunch in Geyser MT

A statue that Hubs saw on the way back from dinner

When we got up this morning it was 59°. I guess it is starting to warm up in the mornings now. We knew we had a real long day as we were going to be doing over 60 miles, had 7 climbs and who knows how many hills. We actually got on the road earlier today too. We were out a bit after 6:30 am. As per usual, there was a hill to go up right from the start. You know you are going to get warm during the day but don’t want to heat up right from the start. We were lucky with the shoulders in the road as they were nice and wide except for one little section. That is always a good sign. Saw this old train and had to get a picture. We did pretty good with the climbs and hills but didn’t seem to get any down time or flat areas so we could just roll along. We did come to where the traffic was stopped that we assumed they were doing road work as they did have a lead car. When it was our sides turn to go, people started following the lead car and so did we. I did notice the camper behind us did not follow and I think it was becuz they had a red light, even though the lead car went through it. Oh well, that made it easier for us as we didn’t have anyone following us. We went for quite a while and Hubs mentioned how it was a long way back to be holding up cars as we hadn’t seen any road work yet. As we went around the curve we noticed cars stopped both ways. When we were getting closer a road worker told us there was a bad accident ahead. We pedaled passed all the waiting cars and got to the front and was told it will be some time before the traffic could go. We waited like everyone else but Hubs decided to ask if we could walk our bikes around. The gentleman said no. We heard the ambulance coming so we knew someone was hurt. Then another worker pulled his truck to the side and Hubs asked him if we could go and he offered to walk us around. He said he actually saw us leaving Great Falls this morning on his way to work. As we got closer we could see the car had gone right under a tanker truck. Luckily it was more the passenger side under the truck than the drivers side. They said he was alive and would have to be flown out by helicopter. They still needed to get him out of the car with the jaws of life. So glad to hear that he will live. Once we were on our way we had no traffic at all for an hour and then all that backed up traffic came zooming passed us. That was not fun at all. A couple of times we stopped to let them go by. We came by what I thought would be my girlfriends but actually are boys. Took their picture as they deserve recognition also. After 45 miles we came to a town named Geyser. Hubs gps said there was food there but we weren’t sure. I looked down the side road and thought I saw something that might be where we can eat and sure enough it was. A funky bar and grill. Leeann was our server. She just works when her friend the owner needs to be some where. She was very friendly and we had a nice conversation with her. She is not a native of MT. She comes from outside Seattle, ended up in Missoula and then met a cowboy. So now she lives on a ranch. She was trying to help us with how far things were from one town to the next but I guess when we head to Jordan it will be an over 70 mile day. She says it is mostly flat but I will believe it when I see it. After lunch we still had 15 miles to go with two more climbs. On both of them, there was pushing involved. We finally made it to Stanford and our motel. We went into town to get some stuff at the grocery store and when we got back realized w had to go back into town for dinner. We ate at a hopping saloon, then came back for much needed showers and relax time. Tomorrow we head to Lewis Town. Should only be 48 miles. 🤞🤞🤞

Today's ride: 64 miles (103 km)
Total: 2,650 miles (4,265 km)

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