Day 24– June 27 – Saco, MT to Wolf Point, MT – 90 Miles

Yesterday was a long day, so we decided to sleep in a bit this morning.  We knew we now had a tailwind to ease our progress across the Big Sky state.  Our destination today worked out to be Wolf Point.  From Wolf Point we will head south.  This is a new route to detour around Williston, ND and the oil boom taking place in that area.  The boom has increased traffic to dangerous levels and made finding lodging or campsites next to impossible.

Today’s ride was a welcome relief from the headwinds and heat of the past few days. We started around 9:30 and made it thru Hindsdale and on to Glasgow, MT before noon.  By early afternoon we were crossing into the Fort Peck Reservation and had 70 miles behind us.  Even taking a long lunch at Subway, making a stop for a DQ shake and a trip to the grocery for fresh fruit did not seem to delay us.

About 20 miles shy of our destination, we stopped at a tavern on the Fort Peck Reservation to replenish our water and get a cold soda.  Just a few minutes before we were getting ready to leave, two men walked into the bar each ordering a beer.  They mentioned that they had seen us earlier in the day when they were headed in the opposite direction and that they were “drinking their way home” to Wolf Point.  This worried me.  Nevertheless they were very friendly and interested in our trip, so we stopped to talk a while.  About 20 minutes later as we were riding down Route 2 we saw a vehicle coming up behind us.  As is drew closer, it moved to the passing lane to go around and started honking, sure enough, our new friends from the Reservation tavern, waving as they went by.  A few miles down the road as we passed another tavern, there was their car.  They were not joking about drinking their way home.  Another 20 minutes later, they passed us again honking and waving.  We laughed, relatively sure there were no more taverns between us and our destination.

It seems most motorists we encounter share the road graciously.  We always keep to the shoulder when available and near the edge when there is none.  Joe and I have a system for watching and calling out cars approaching from the rear.  (Yes we both have one of those nerdy rearview mirrors attached to our helmets).  We call out their approach, whether “they’re over” meaning, giving us a full lane as they pass, or “it’s close” ie. in the lane but not making it comfortable for us, or “ditch”  to bail onto the road side.  Probably 99% of the drivers give us a wide berth, for that we are thankful.  The other 1% are hard to figure out.  I am confident that they see us, and I am confident that their actions are purely aggressive meant to intimidate.   This is why every morning we pray for our safety, our attention, and the attention of all the drivers. We are very thankful for those drivers who give us a lot of room.

We arrived safely again at our destination for the day.  Joe and I had acquired a variety of food over the last three weeks and felt we need to cut down on what we had accumulated.  So tonight it was PBJs, beef stick on Wheat Thins, string cheese, and fruit.  That will cut down quite a bit on the weight we are carrying.  Tomorrow we have committed to getting into some trail mix we purchased over a week ago.  I think it is still good.