We flew to Malta on a tailwind, a 90 mile day without too much effort. It was fun to put in a long day for once. The terrain tends to be the same with long rolling hills and big views. The temps get hot in the afternoon so even when there is not a lot of effort on the pedals, you're still out there for a long time. I try to put my head in a 'happy place" and let my brain float to wherever it wants to.
We ended up at the same campground as Nick and David again, we found out that they were planning to Amtrak across North Dakota. They had arranged a ride back to Havre (the nearest place they let you put bikes on) with an RV and then will take the train to Fargo -- 10 hours vs. a week(?) of riding for us. We gave them a bad time since they are young lads (both of their ages added together is less than one of us), but they are convinced they won't be able to handle the boredom of North Dakota. We'll probably regret not going with them.
On to Glasgow, 70 miles. We hoped to get an early start, but my bike foiled those plans. On the way to Malta I heard a pinky, plink sound coming from my bike, but couldn't figure out the cause until this morning -- broken spoke. Well Crap! I was told I could probably ride on it and make it, but that didn't sit well with me -- "probably?" out in the middle of nowhere?
The guys I have been riding with said they had a temporary spoke they could try to install -- try, because they had never done it before. I said ok to that and in an hour I was ready to roll. I also decided to get rid of a bunch of stuff and move as much as I could to the bags over the front wheels, to lighten the load on the back. So I gave all the food I had to Nick and David and left the little stove, pan and fuel bottle on the picnic table at camp -- Merry Christmas to whoever finds it.
On the way to Glasgow we came upon a supported bike tour going our way. I talked to the leader and made arrangements with him to fix my wheel that night, since our next bike shop was 4 days away. Problem solved -- yea!
Today we slowly made it to Wolf Point, 50 miles. The lovely tailwind we had for the
last 2 days was now a 35 mph headwind. It didn't start out so bad when we left at 6:45, but it gradually increased all day until we were going 7 mph. There also were no services along the way, so we just trudged along coming into Wolf Point on fumes collapsing at the McDonalds. It's hard to even look around on days like this, your total focus is on moving forward.
Yes, dinosaurs still roam the earth in Montana.
Oh boy, It sounds so taxing! I hope for you less wind so you can hold your head up ... hold your head high. I can imagine the frustration too over the spoke and leaving the cute camp stove all alone on the picnic table. Something so poetic about that...and your Merry Christmas comment..ahh a bit tragic but so wonderful. Keep up the great work. See you soon!
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