July 2, 2021
Day 58: Jordan, MT to Winnett, MT
Somewhere In The Middle of Montana It's Getting Hot
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Climbing Today; 3,148 ft Climbing to Date; 88,165 ft
How do I begin to tell you about today? BLUF; it was hard. Not as hard as others I have had, probably not the hardest we will have on this tour, but the combination of the distance, continuous rolling hills, and extreme heat all added up to a hard day. And - oh yeah - our "issues" with small town hotels continued last night and interrupted my sleep such that I was really dragging all day today. We were in bed at 19:30 last night and asleep before 20:00 in anticipation of another 03:00 wake-up. At 21:00 we were awakened by noise at the door - someone was trying to get in! I got up and opened the door and a lady was standing there and said that they had sent her to this cabin - she quickly said that apparently there had been a mistake and I agreed and she left. I wasn't sure if there had really been a mistake or if she thought the cabin was empty and was trying to break in. We went back to sleep only to be awakened by a knock at the door 15 minutes later - now I was boiling mad! I opened the door and some guy was standing there with a book or something in his hand (I wasn't wearing my glasses) - I used some bad language and asked him "what the #@&%^ do you want?!" He asked me who I was and that just made me angrier - but he was being polite, I suspect he could tell I was not in a mood to be messed with - I thought that he and the lady beforehand were now trying to pull some scam. Turns out he was the night clerk at the hotel - and that Doc and the lady both have the same last name, and that somehow they had rented the cabin to both of them because of that. I gave the guy a bit more stern language and told him to check with the girl that had rented the cabin to us that morning, and explained that we were getting up at 03:00 and that we were done talking now. Later we heard noise at the cabin adjacent to us as they apparently rented that one to the lady. After all that I had trouble getting back to sleep last night, and 03:00 seemed to come rather early this morning. Still, I was rolling at 03:50 once again.
I love cycling before sunrise. I have a dynohub that generates electricity as long as the front wheel is rolling, so I run lights 24/7 anyway. In the pre-dawn light it was hard to focus on this doe and fawn, so the pic is a bit blurry. The fawn is pretty new to this world.
The doe jumped over the fence, and the fawn couldn't follow but tried to find a way to get through the fence. Doc planned on a shorter trip than me today, so he started after I left and came upon the fawn after the sun was out.
Fortunately, the wind was once again our friend today - not so much as a direct tailwind, but it was usually a rear quartering wind and I'll certainly take that. It's a common myth that the wind is predominantly from the west in the High Plains. Since we entered Montana, all 4 days the wind has been friendly, with some sidewind and mostly a rear quartering direction that gives us a tailwind component. For the time we were in North Dakota, we had 5 days of unfavorable winds, 2 days of favorable winds, and 1 day that was neutral. So you just can't say that eastbound is better that westbound or vice versa; sometimes the wind is your friend and sometimes it's not.
I continue to see antelope and deer in the early morning, and suspect I will see even more as we roll further west. I haven't heard my spirit animal the coyote yet, but I know I will as we move westward.
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Old buildings represent history - a history that time may forget unless it is captured by local historians. Many of the small towns have photos in cafes and stores that show old pictures of the town and offer some clue to the local history. I enjoy looking at the old photos - a photo is a slice of time preserved for the future.
We have now cycled more than 3,000 miles on this tour. We have about 1,000 more to reach Anacortes. That's still a long way. We have a lot more of the High Plains, and we have some significant mountain passes to crest, so it's still very much a challenge.
We were fortunate today that there was a store located at about 32 miles into the ride, so we could have "second breakfast." I had a breakfast sandwich and chocolate milk, then bought some ice tea and gatorade and a cliff bar and hit the road again quickly - I still had 45 miles to go and it was going to get hot. What you can't tell from the photo below is how hot it was.
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I noticed pine trees on the ridge ahead, and it seems that many ridges and high points now have pine trees. We are at about 3,000 feet elevation now, so perhaps that's part of the explanation. Notice the very dry grass at the base of the trees - it wouldn't take much to ignite this tinderbox.
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The distance today, combined with the hills and heat, made for a risky cycling day. Doc planned to cut the distance short by stopping at a B&B around the 50-mile point. Then he will catch up to me in Winnett tomorrow while I take a rest day.
About 52 miles into today's ride there is a rest stop with cold water. I stopped and topped off my bottles, and took a little break at a picnic table where I nibbled a Cliff bar and finished off my gatorade. The heat had caused a pickup truck to overheat and the driver had his family carrying bottles to the water fountain to pour the water into the radiator to get enough coolant to make it home. When I walked my bicycle past I told him if he had a tow rope I might be able to haul him to Winnett - that brought a laugh.
I couldn't have towed him anywhere - leaving the rest area I encountered a 6-mile climb. Good thing I had just stopped for a break. The 23 miles from the rest area to Winnett was a calculated exercise - I rationed my water to be sure I had enough, even though I should have had more than enough. I rolled into town just as the temperature was approaching 100 degrees.
I located the hotel, but it took a bit to locate the owner. This hotel is a bit different - the rooms are like duplex housing units located near the hotel office. I have a nice room, but it only has 1 bed - Doc will sleep on the floor tomorrow night. I got the last room available in this tiny town of about 100, and I'm grateful for it.
I'm sad to be missing a wedding tonight, but I'm very grateful to be inside out of the heat. I hope you are grateful for the simple things we usually take for granted. Good night all, usual amateur video follows.
NOTE; errors in the video below include; 1.) the title was mistakenly selected from a software list of previous titles and says "Day 8 North Conway, NH to Lincoln, NH" - it should have read "Day 58 Jordan, MT to Winnett, MT," and 2.) at about the 11:40 point I mentioned "central Wyoming" when I should have said "central Montana." Let's blame it on heat delirium, shall we?
Today's ride: 77 miles (124 km)
Total: 3,077 miles (4,952 km)
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