Blah, Blah, Blah

[Coldest spot? It was 90 degrees today...]

[Ben, Guido, and the Steel Triceratops]

[Our wonderful view all day long]

[The approaching storm]

[The shelter and Randy]

Today was our first full day of riding through the non-mountainous part of Montana. It's awful! There is absolutely nothing to see. Nothing. No landscape, cool buildings, or wildlife. Just grass, sky, and the road. The most depressing thing is when you actually do see a town. The sight of town makes you so excited because you're almost somewhere, and then after about 10 or 15 more minutes of biking you realize the town you are looking at is still 5 or 6 miles away. In addition to the boredom it was HOT. Over 90 degrees hot with a 10 mph crosswing that was angled just enough to be in our faces and slow us down. On the positive side, we still covered 95 miles, despite a 1 hour break in the morning for some pancakes, and those 95 miles were straight east. No turning. We reached the town of Hingham, MT (population 150) where there is a beautiful city park where you can camp for free. No showers, but there was a water spigot. Just as we were finishing setting up we were informed by a friendly local that severe storms were approaching. So we stashed all of our stuff in the park shelter and it was off to the local bar for dinner and to wait out the storm. As I am writing this Ben and I are just finishing up a drink and planning on closing down the bar...it closes at 8:00. The people in this town have been absolutely wonderful. The owner of the bar is a former teacher who did his own bike tour with his buddy (a swimmer from Michigan State) back in 1988. He reminisced about his glory days while we ate our dinner and he even offered to see if any of his spare bike tires would fit Ben's bike. Ben is in desperate need of a new rear tire. We are hoping he makes it to Havre before it goes. If you ever make it out to Hingham, MT make sure you stop in at Spencer's Highway Bar and say hello. The people here are great! Time to go back to the shelter and make sure nothing blew away.