Mileage: 33.2; 1,532 total
This was quite an easy day. But towns/motels/campgrounds are few and far between in this part of Montana, both Mike (see prior posting) and I thought our options were fairly limited. We had each concluded that it would be good to have an easy day today, with what will probably be a much harder day to follow.
As I have said before, the terrain out here consists of rolling hills. Today, everytime I would reach the crest of one hill there would be another hill looming not too far in front of me. None of the hills were particularly steep, but there never seemed to be any long stretches that were flat or downhill.
When I got into town I found both Phil and Mike in the town park, talking to a local newspaper reporter, Carla. In this little town of about 300, having a couple of bicyclists show up is news, I guess, and when I arrived she was happy to be able to talk with me, also. Her editor, Janice, showed up also, to take some photos. It turns out that Carla had done some serious bicycling herself: she went to the University of Maine, and after graduation she and a friend, another woman, bicycled from Maine to Montana. Carla stayed out here, and for many years taught in one-room school houses in the area; she said she never had more than 13 students, covering grades 1 through 8.
Phil pressed ahead in the early afternoon.
Mike and I went to the local museum (dinosaurs are the big thing out here) and are splitting the cost of a motel room tonight.
Note in regard to Montana traffic fatalities: In an e-mail, Jeff Y. informed me that over the past few years Montana has had a death rate, per miles driven, that is about 60% higher than the national average.
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