DAY 21 AND 22

DAY 21

Saturday, July 10, 2010

From Havre, MT to Malta, MT

91.8 miles

Today began seven days of biking without a day off, and it's a bit daunting to think of. The first 46 miles today were great, with a tailwind helping along. We'd completed that by 9:30 a.m., and I'd even taken a short detour to the town of Chinook for coffee and a perfectly baked sticky bun at 7:30 am. Since it was Saturday morning, I thought I'd catch some local conversation at the coffee shop. There were three pick-up trucks in front, but it was just three older guys: two involved in conversation, and the third who asked me, "What kind of miles per gallon you get with that bike?" He told me he's been studying alternative energy, but then it got a little weird. He said there's this power source that's about the size of a football that operates on "permanent magnets," and generates 300 horsepower of energy constantly, but that the car companies, oil companies, and the government don't want to let it be developed and marketed. Hmmm.... I drank my coffee fast.

On the wall of the restaurant, there were pictures of all the local young men who were on active duty in the military, and there must have been more than 30 of them, though the whole town probably has only a few hundred people in all.

Around 10:30, the nice cool air we'd had to start our biking warmed considerably, and my speed went down. Then around noon, the wind direction changed, so that we had a cross-wind, which slowed speed and energy even more. By the end of the 91 miles, I was physically pooped, and my legs felt like lead.

We stayed in Malta, which is a depressed non-descript town that seems not to have much pride in itself. Funny vibe, and we all felt it. The capstone of the day was the siren we'd been warned about. It went off at 9:30 pm and serves as a curfew reminder for all the kids in the town. Long and loud and puzzling.

Here are some photos of the day: looking north, then east, then west, then south -- all from the same position on my bike

And here's a historic marker on route 2:

DAY 22

Sunday, July 11, 2010

From Malta to Glasgow

72 miles

Trains continue to pass by about every hour or so, and I love their whistles. Sometimes I pull on that old imaginary cord like a little kid, and the engineer will give me a toot. Another constant is the piercingly beautiful warble of the meadowlarks. One rider, Peggy, says her late Mom loved birds, so she feels her Mom's presence in the song of the meadowlarks. The scenery is starting to seem all pretty similar and a little boring, especially since there aren't many towns to break it up. It was raining when we started biking today. I did detour to Saco at 11:00 am, just in time to stop at the Assembly of God Church service (the Methodists were just finishing up). I stayed for about 25 minutes so that I wouldn't get too far behind the group and the SAG car. Anyway, a man named Steve greeted me. He had on a Western shirt and a huge silver buckle on his belt. And Hazel introduced herself. She had buried two husbands and figures that "the Lord wants me to be alone now." She moved to join me in the pew.

The service was sort of interesting, different than I've experienced. There were 22 people there, and they all live together in this little town of about 130 people. They shared what they were worried about and grateful for. Today, in the midst of haying season, they were grateful for the last night's moisture, and for the fact that the grasshoppers remained small (do grasshoppers have anything to do with haying?). One woman whose son refuses to listen to her, told of his riding bulls and being injured this week, but she was glad he wasn't more badly hurt than he was. There was a vulnerable and sweetly real quality about these souls, and I was glad to have attended.

Later in the day, a few people decided they'd ridden bikes enough for the day, so they sagged in. I came in toward the rear, but I biked to the motel on my own steam. We cleaned and lubed the bikes. Mine was grungy, since I'd skipped this procedure during our layover in Havre. For dinner, we had curried chicken, broccoli salad, fruit salad, and homemade improvised tiramisu at the back of the trailer. After dinner I went for a walk in the downtown, which is the county seat. Since it's Sunday night, it was all pretty quiet except for a train whistling as it passed through town.