Day 23– June 26 – Chinook, MT to Saco, MT – 100 Miles

100 in 100

When we woke this morning the wind was still out of the east.  We tried for an early start but hit the road just about 8:00 AM.  We grabbed a quick breakfast at the Chinook, Town Pump, the local quick shop, gas station and casino.  We anticipated having lunch somewhere on the road so we picked up a couple prepared sandwiches, Gatorades, and chips.

The first 21 miles to Harlem, MT went rather quickly.  The road conditions changed little from what led into Chinook, with a rough surface, and no shoulder.  The roads today would have somewhat of a common characteristic, mostly flat, with long straight stretches of up to 10 miles.  Along the way to Harlem we met Zach a cyclist from Columbus, Ohio, heading west.  His final destination was Bellingham, WA.  Zach was trying to make it to Havre, MT before the predicted change in weather that would bring the westerly winds.

In Harlem, we stopped by the local Albertson’s grocery store to pick up some fresh fruit.  We had gotten some peaches the day before, and they were an ideal snack on the road.  Today it would be red plumbs and pears.  We also picked up a couple extra Gatorades as well as some salted sunflower kernels.  We took a short break in the Harlem town park before continuing on.  By the time we left Harlem, the temperatures were climbing.

A few miles east of Harlem, the designated bike route diverts from Route 2 and onto the Fort Belknap Reservation.  It rejoins Route 2 after following along the Milk River for about 13 miles.  I am not sure why the route takes this diversion.  While route 2 is somewhat busy, it is more direct and shorter.  There was little scenery, and even less traffic  The road surface was rough making riding difficult.  There were no Reservation facilities and only a few houses.  There was no shade and the temperatures continued rising.

While on the Fort Belknap route we started becoming concerned about the heat.  While we had plenty of water but there was no access to shade and the road was separated from the river by fencing. When we rejoined Route 2, we continued toward our target lunch stop of Dotson, MT.  Within 2 miles we came across a small reservoir with a spillway draining into a creek, an idea cooling off place. We walked to the base of the spillway, soaked one of our towels in turn soaking ourselves to get some relief from the heat.

Dotson still another 17 miles down the road, was a definite challenge given the conditions.  One motivating factor was that we could see a weather front approaching from the west.

We arrived in Dotson around 3:00. Everything except the local post office was closed. We went there for a respite from the heat.  The local Postmaster mentioned that the temps were in the upper 90s, and another women picking up her mail, said the thermometer in her car read 100. The Postmaster graciously filled our water bottles and welcomed us to sit in the air conditioning as long as we needed to recover.  We had not had our lunch so after spending some time at the post office, we went across the street to the town park.  We figured we would have lunch and sit out the heat of the day and hope for the front to push through.

It didn’t take long for the changes to start. The wind quickly picked up from the west.  It was still hot however and we wanted to wait until after 4:00 when the local convenience store would re-open.  We were both craving an ice cold drink.

We left Dotson sometime after 4:30.  Returning to Route 2 we quickly accelerated aided by the 20-30 mph tailwind.  The 17 miles to Malta, MT went extremely fast.  The only problem was where curves in the road put us into a crosswind situation.  There it seemed the gusts were going to push the wheels out from under the bikes.

Malta would have been a 75 mile day.  It was a good stopping point and had everything we would want, including a DQ.  Somehow we felt compelled to take advantage of the wind. so we decided to continue on to Saco, MT, (which we were warned, was the mosquito capitol of Montana).  Hampered somewhat by a long stretch of strong and gusty crosswinds, we arrived in Saco around 7:30.

On the way into town we were total impressed with their 25 mph mosquitoes.  In the last 10 mile stretch into Saco, we were making great time with a direct tailwind.  The mosquitoes took advantage of it as well.  They would ride the wind and light on us as we were rolling down the road at 20-25 mph.  If we had been standing still, they would not have been able land as the wind would have blown them away.

We finished our day just over 100 miles.  The day itself was somewhat like quarters of a football game. Each quarter having its own distinct way in which it was played out.  We had a half-time during which we rested, recovered and evaluated our strategy.  The conditions changed to our advantage and we capitalized on those changes.  Despite feeling almost fully exhausted at our break in Dotson, we finished the day in Saco, feeling energized.