Day 49: Celebrating the 4th of July in Great Falls

This morning I walked down to the main street of town and watched the town parade. (See photo, below). Watching a parade is a pretty good way to get a sense of a small town, I think.

After the parade I phoned Max (see Day 47 and Day 48 posts, if you don't know who Max is), who was going to pick me up and take me to lunch. While I was waiting for Max, I flagged down Mike (see photo), a Mississippi River Pilot from Bayfield, a small resort town on Lake Superior in Wisconsin, who is bicycling from Seaside, Oregon to Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts. As we were talking Max arrived, and after he met Mike he called the Fairfield Inn motel and arranged for Mike to get a $35/night rate, also!

Max then drove me to a nice restaurant, where his wife Florence, daughter Kelly, and son-in-law Mark were waiting to have lunch with us. I was very happy to have a chance to meet Florence, Kelly, and Mark, and we had a good lunch and good conversation. (Seee their photo, below.) Kelly and Mark, incidentally, travel to NYC for a trade show once a year, and I hope they give Leslie and me a chance to show them around the next time they are there.

After lunch, Max got a ride home with his family and had me borrow his car again to go to the "First Peoples' Buffalo Jump State Park," about 15 miles out of town. Before horses were introduced to North America by the Spanish, Native Americans would drive buffalo herds off cliffs (buffalo jumps) in order to harvest what they needed to survive. The Plains Indians were dependent on the buffalo for food, clothing, tools, utensils, tipis, etc., etc., etc. The Park has an excellent Interpretive Center with a lot of explanation about how the buffalo herds were lured to the jump sites (picture a teenage boy disguised with the skin of a buffalo calf), and how the Indians used the buffalo for so many things. I also drove up to the top of the buffalo jump to get a sense of how the buffalo, which are near-sighted, were tricked into running off the cliff. I really enjoyed this Park, and it wouldn't have been possible without the use of Max's car.

After returning the car to Max, he drove me back to the motel. I met up with Mike, and we had dinner together. Mike and I are going in the same direction for awhile, and I hope to have a chance to ride with him for some of the way.