My first full days ride in Montana was a short one. I started this morning in Wolf Point and peddled to Glasgow (about 50 miles) by 950AM. The morning was cool with no wind. The reason for the short ride is that I'm meeting Liz's mother and brother here...Ginger and Aaron. The next town of any substance is Malta which is another 60-70 miles away. In hindsight...We could have met there. However, the weather (wind) in Montana concerns me. I wanted to have enough time to visit with them...So Glasgow it is. Besides, after yesterday I was 10.2 days ahead of schedule...I can afford to have a short day.
This portion of Montana is relatively flat. There are a few rolling hills here and there, but it's mostly flat grazing land with several herds of beef cattle roaming the prairies. This morning I saw a train from engine to the last car. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal, but the train had 87 cars! Like I said...The land is flat.
Yesterday I rode through 2 rough towns. Over the past week I've spoke to several cyclists traveling East. While on this trip I always ask a fellow cyclist traveling in the opposite direction what I can expect in the miles ahead. Over the past week most of the comments have been the same..."STAY AWAY FROM POPLAR AND BROCKTON". Poplar and Brockton are on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. The first town I encountered in Montana was Bainville. While eating at a cafe I was warned by several locals to be careful in the above 2 towns. The waitress said there is a murder a day in Poplar! I don't know if this is true, but between Bainville and Brockton I met up with a team of 4 cyclists traveling East. They had a support vehicle that hauled all of their stuff (cheaters!). The support vehicle had a broken back window and spray paint on the SUV's hood and doors. The damage occurred in Poplar. Once again I was warned by the team to ride quickly through this town...No problem! To make a long story short. The town was dirty and rough. While riding down main street a group of young kids in a car drove by and tossed 2 fire-crackers at me. They exploded well behind it me, but this experience served notice that I wasn't peddling fast enough. That was the only trouble I had in the town.
Current stats as of yesterday:
Route miles complete: 2999
Peddled miles: 2791.88
666.2 miles ahead of schedule
10.2 days ahead of schedule
Fire-crackers tossed at me: 2
All is well...Jamie
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3 comments:
I love reading this!! Keep up the good work.
Chad
I read about you in th waterloo paper. and am enjoying your blogsite. I live near Rowley IA and am not a cyclerer but a lot of my cousins ride on RAGBRAI every year. Lance Armstrong is going to ride one day this year!
kris
Jaime, ran across your blog while reading the Waterloo Courier on line after a friend had seen it. I remember you well from grade school and am not surprised that you would undertake this trip. Congratulations to you. I will keep reading your blog until you complete the trip. Mrs. Worsley
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