Day 22 – Highway 2

eseidman1
Aug 10, 2016
4 min read

Date: Thursday, 4 August 2016

Time on Bike: 6:10:15

Total Travel Time: 9:21:44

Miles Covered Today: 73.93

Total Trip Miles: 1,411.3

Average Speed: 11.9, Maximum Speed: 26.1

From: Chinook, MT

To: Joplin, MT

(Uploaded from Eureka, MT on 10 Aug 2016, a rain day)

Out the hotel door and on HW 2 in 30 seconds. Doesn’t get any easier than that!! The silos you see in the picture below (above the hotel office) are actually on HW 2.

Winds are better than yesterday.

Not a great shoulder here either. But also not a lot of traffic!

We must have crossed the Milk River a dozen times in the last 24-hours. It meanders along the same path as HW 2. Apparently, the Milk River follows the same course that the Missouri River followed eons ago.

I was taking my first break of the morning by the side of the road when I got a text from Bunny (who had been tracking me on her Find Friends app) and she said they were at a campground less than a mile away waiting for me. Sweeeeeeeet!

My breaks are 100 times better when I can share them with Bunny & Woz!

Continued my journey west on HW 2. Next was the big town of Havre.

It is a big town when they have a McDonald's! I have become fond of the 2 for $3 deal. And the Wi-Fi! We were without cell coverage… again.

Woz has become very comfortable hanging out in McDonald's.

We couldn’t find a place to stay overnight in Havre as the Great Northern Fair was going on. A big week-long festival featuring a rodeo, music, entertainment, and exhibits. And… wait for it… Buffalo Jumping! Don't ask.

Maybe the nicest thing about all these towns (sorry local residents!) is the nice shoulders I have for a few miles to cycle on.

Bunny & Woz hung back at McDonald's while I tried to put more miles in up ahead. Really no good places to break. No shade. However, Bunny eventually crosses my route either riding or on a break.

If she can, she will pull over or at least stop. I might exchange water bottles. Put on sunscreen, or have my personal nurse apply medicine to my butt. Yup, still doing my best to make sure my saddle sores don’t interrupt my trip.

Still following those train tracks and all those trains. It has paralleled HW 2 for literally hundreds of miles.

It is wheat harvest time.

And the big trucks taking the harvested grain to the silos are all over the roads. Most drivers are very professional and give me tons of space. Some are less giving…

Now I know why they call it Big Sky Country!

I told Bunny to wait for me in Kremlin if they have services, or go on to Gilford if they don’t. I arrive at Kremlin. Apparently they don’t want you to confuse this Kremlin with that other Kremlin!

I can’t see Bunny, or the Prius. And don’t see any stores, gas stations, etc. that I would call services. Since we have no cell phone service, I decide to roll on to Gilford and hope to find her there. This is maddening for both of us!

So I look for those clumps of trees to try and get psyched to ride to the next town. If I can see it, it is an easier ride. The water towers are really the giveaway. Every town has one. As I get closer, I can see them and I know that is my next destination.

Somewhere between Kremlin and Joplin, I spot a cyclist coming my way going east. I cross the road to talk. Katie is riding from Bellingham, WA to Bar Harbor ME. It is her 15th day out and she is on a roll. With the tailwind, she has already done 100+ miles today and has only ~20 more to get to Havre! You go girl!!

I finally arrive at Gilford. GO KOUGARS!!! These small towns take great pride in their High School teams!

And mysteriously Bunny arrives at the entrance to town from the west the same time as I do. Huh?????

Apparently, Bunny had waited in Gilford by a grain silo for a long time but the flies and lack of shade & toilets eventually forced her to find shelter. She took refuge at Spencer's Hi-Way Bar & Grill in the next town up - Hingham, MT. After a quick rest in Gilford, I head out for the bar!

The owner, Mike Spencer was very kind to Bunny & Woz during their wait. He gave her much needed ice, wi-fi and a clean bathroom to use...aaaah, the simple things in life! He told stories of all the cyclists that come through. Nice to see a smiling face!

He explained that the towns are ~5 miles apart as back in the day, the steam engines needed to fill up with water every five miles or so as they lost water from the steam used to power the engines.

Thanks Mike for taking care of Bunny & Woz and all the cyclists that pass through on the Northern Tier Route!

The wind is being kind.

It is getting late in the day. We decided to push on two more towns to Joplin, MT. That will put us only about 8 miles away from our hotel in Chester, MT.

I finally arrived in Joplin… The Biggest Little Town on Earth. Who makes this shit up??