Maine to Washington -2005
North Dakota to Washington - 2007
(Originally Maine to Washington)
Montana
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May 31st, 2007 May 28th - 30th, 2007 (update to entry below) May 29th, 2007 Having pedaled in Montana for 4 days now I understand why they call this BIG SKY country! The vistas are amazing and the sky is huge! And I have to add that the people are incredibly friendly! I have gotten so many waves and honks of encouragement that I can hardly believe it! Before I left I kept a close eye on the weather and as forecast the weather hasn't been cooperative. This trip started out just like my 2005 trip in fact, cold and rainy! But on Saturday and Sunday the sun did come out much of the time and the temps improved. By Sunday night (Sleeping Buffalo Hot Springs West of Saco, MT) it was actually nice enough to camp out, however, just when you get comfortable Mother Nature likes to remind you that she is in charge. On my first night of camping she unleashed a furious thunderstorm followed by 5 hours of rain. But I was snug in my tent and no harm was done. A side note, my left hand ring finger has been numb since the first day of the trip, actually both hands are numb after riding for several hours but they usually feel better the next morning, but the ring finger has me worried. Unfortunately I have reached my time limit on the computer in the library and others are waiting so please check back soon for more stories from Montana! May 25th, 2007The great Indian reservation scare! What I didn't expect was the concern non-native locals had for my safety, I was continuously warned not to stop in Poplar and that I should also be wary of Wolf Point, I was also told that I should never ride alone through a reservation, if I did I would be robbed and beaten, "they are crazy on booze and drugs" was a common refrain. I took all of these suggestions and warnings with a grain of salt and low and behold nothing remotely similar to the warnings I received happened. In fact there was a sub shop in Poplar that served up great sandwichs and hot cocoa, the staff consisted of attractive young gals who were friendly and very nice. Is it possible that some drugged out drunk might have mugged me? Yes, if I were ignorant enough to cycle around at 2:00am shouting racial slurs I'm sure things could have got ugly, but that could happen just about anywhere. I will add that while stopped at the above sub shop in Poplar the staff invited us to move our bikes indoors, even opening up the back door to accommodate the 3rd bike in our troop, but it turned out that this probably wasn't necessary. What locals I did see in Poplar seemed friendly enough to me. We were also advised to not camp in this area (anywhere within the Fort Peck Indian Reservation,) it's my opinion that if you are traveling alone or in a small group you probably should stay in a motel, especially if you pass through these towns on a Friday or Saturday night as the locals like to party and get a little rambunctious on occasion, but if you are in a larger group you should be fine. My advice for touring cyclists riding across Montana on Route 2 is to not to worry about the nasty things some people claim may happen. Yes you should practice discretion, many people in the area are poor and some of the teenagers can be a little light fingered, but the area businesses are glad to help you secure your property. Also, if you have a problem with Indians (if you are a bigot) then you probably should avoid the area altogether, racism is a funny thing, people can sense such hatred and that alone can cause a lot of trouble. High School graduation night in Wolf Point (Or how not to get a good nights sleep) It's a Friday night and I had another hard rainy day of pedaling, it felt good to pull into Wolf Point and I was looking forward to a peaceful evening and a nice dinner. Jerry and Bridgette have been battling flat tires since starting their trip in Duluth (they average 3 flats a day!) and they came in behind me by about 40 minutes so I decided to scout for a hotel for the night while I was waiting, the Homestead Hotel was the ticket. (The hotel manager was very nice and she was very helpful, she let us check in early and had no problems with our bringing bicycles in the hotel.) A Side Note: When traveling through Wolf Point don't over look the Homestead Hotel, it is about 1/2 mile off route but seems to be the best place in town and the price was very reasonable (about $50.00) They also have a restaurant on site. After enjoying a nice meal with Jerry and Bridgette we decided to call it an early night, I was sound asleep by 10:30pm --11:30pm - WHAM - BAM - BAM, I was awakened by a loud series of thuds on the wall inches from my head, then I hear yelling and screaming... I heard a young girl sobbing and saying the words "Stop, you're raping me, stop" over and over again... I debated what to do... and decided that I had to call the front desk and let them know what was going on, minutes later a sheriff arrived and minutes after that he escorted the young lady into his squad car, obviously to take her home... It turns out that it was Prom night in Wolf Point and some unlucky young gal had the misfortune of choosing a complete scumball for her date. Needless to say, I didn't sleep very well this night, but maybe I prevented a rape so alls well that ends well. May 27th, 2007 This was the first beautiful cycling day of the trip, I rode from Glascow to Sleeping Buffalo Hot Springs in perfect temps and with a nice tailwind! And the scenery was wonderful! I felt better this day than any day before (though my ring finger is still numb!) My goal for the day was Sleeping Buffalo Hot Springs to camp and soak in the hot springs that I had heard so much about, I rode like the wind over gently rolling terrain and as I neared my destination I saw a monster hill in the distance... I was hoping that the camp ground was on this side of that hill, it would make for a perfect day if that should happen... Well, life has a funny way of evening out everything, I did have a perfect day of riding and the campground turnoff was half way up that hill (even better, in the morning I'll only have half of the hill to climb!) but I had forgotten that this was a holiday weekend... I rode the 2 miles to the lake side campground and was met by young kids on 4 wheel ATV's spitting rocks all over me as they ripped around the gravel road. I rode every inch of the lakeside camp ground looking for a camp site but the locals had beaten me to it, there were scores of kegs, RV's, boom boxes and ATV's everywhere, it was not the kind of place I wanted to camp! So I rode back up to the Sleeping Buffalo Resort, it is located about a mile from the lake and from a distance appears to be a water park... Up close it's another matter. I have to say right up front that the staff at the resort were very friendly and they try very hard to make your stay pleasant but I simply can't put lipstick on a pig, this resort is rundown and well past it's prime. You get the distinct impression that this was a great place to stay 30 or 40 years ago... Now the hot spring spa has been condemned, the beer garden is overgrown and the once charming alpine cabins are now in shambles. They have a pool that is rusty brown (because of the caustic properties of the water) with brownish green water (the pool was always full of locals) but I simply couldn't bring myself to get in, and the showers are actually two stubby pipes sticking out of a wall in an open bay that trickle luke warm water... The fixtures are corroded and covered in mineral scale. Oddly enough the store is well stocked and they even opened it after hours for us, and the food at the restaurant was quite good... I honestly don't want to sound ungrateful, the people at Sleeping Buffalo Resort were all wonderful and I was very grateful for having a place to camp ($5.00 per tent - camping in the beer garden court yard) but the place really could be very nice if only they would clean it up. It's sad that it is in such a bad state of disrepair. On the up side, I met Don and Marcia, a very nice couple who were doing a long distance bicycle tour from their home near Seattle to points East, their tent was already setup in the beer garden when I arrived, they are both retired educators and we had a grand time sharing dinner and later enjoyed good conversation over drinks at the resort bar. As with the last trip the new friends I make along the way truly are the greatest reward of the ride! May 15th, 2007 Montana - by Frank Zappa I might be riding through Montana soon By myself I wouldn't … …Well I might Ride along the border - with my groupo gleamin' N' then I might just - jump back on Moving to Montana soon - Yippe Ty Oh Ty Ay! I once had
a sparrow alight upon my shoulder for a moment, while I was hoeing in a
village garden, and I felt that I was more distinguished by that circumstance than I should have been by any epaulet I could have worn Henry
David Thoreau
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