Day 21: Return of the mountains for some reason

Brian here again with our trip from Great Falls to Stanford today! 

Great Falls was definitely one of the biggest towns we had come across since Seattle (60,000 people vs. the 100 person towns we usually pass through) and while it was nice having a Walmart with all of Distins favorite snacks just a few miles away we had to keep moving onward. Turns out instead of the 70 or so miles we thought we would be doing today it was just a nice “easy” 57 miles. There’s heavy sarcasm in that statement because I was struggling today for sure. I gotta start eating more food in the morning and packing more snacks because my energy level was low and I was lagging pretty far behind the group for most of the day. Even worse, instead of the nice flat roads we were expecting, we got plunged into some remnants of the Rocky Mountains and were trekking through valleys and climbing hills most of the day.

One thing that was interesting today was a military convoy that passed us by. After a few Military Humvees and helicopters passed us an entire convoy started rolling up and we were very kindly informed to stop biking and pull off to the side while they passed. No idea what they were transporting but they were definitely from the base we stayed at the night before!

When we finally finished our ride for the day around 1:30 (just as some dark clouds were threatening to spill on us) we found the office and tried to get some tent camping going but there was no one around. That continued for another 2.5 hours while we just waited and waited (Julia and Dustin stayed in the car with Julia’s parents while Leo, Pat, and I hung out in the laundry room, where the cool kids stay) until finally the owner showed up and told us we could have a nice little cabin for pretty cheap on site!! This proved to be a great decision because it got COLD tonight and we are all snuggled up warm and cozy instead of shivering in our tents. 

(I also accidentally hit Julia in the face tossing her the playing cards and they took away my stairs so I was imprisoned in the loft) 

Today on Brian’s Flat Tire Watch, we had NO FLATS!! This was even more impressive because  we went through a pretty bad construction site for a few miles that was just littered with loose gravel and nails, not to mention multiple areas on our route that had broken glass on the shoulder. Maybe my tires have toughened up a bit or maybe my luck has turned? Either way I have fully restocked on tubes and and prepared for when it inevitably happens again but fingers crossed it won’t happen for a long time! 

We had a great dinner at a bar across the street with a wonderful waitress who had never met anyone from the East Coast! We ordered some solid bar food as well as a bucket of beer which Pat thought was going to be an actual steel bucket full of beer and was confused when it was just an ice bucket with some bottles (shout-out to my Dad because we drank Budweiser which is his favorite beer)

Tomorrow we are headed towards Lewistown (44 miles) and are potentially diverging from Leo and Pat who are going further but might join them for a longer day (77 miles) so we can go a bit farther before our rest day!

Photo Dump:

“I shouldn’t have eaten that steak, I fed my body and now it wants more” - Dustin