Miles City, Mt

I hate when I get so far behind on my blog! I will try to get caught up. A lot has happened since Claire City, South Dakota. I broke another rear hub on a gravel road miles and miles from a bike shop.

87 miles to be exact. I straightened the rim as best as I could and disconnected my brakes to keep them from rubbing with every revolution of wheel. While I worked on my wheel Rose looked at maps and came up with a route that would take us to Aberdeen, S.D. where there was a bike shop. We were literally in one of the most remote areas I have ever been. We probably only saw one vehicle in 4 hours. It was a little unsettling to think how far we were from help if things got worse with the wheel. Knowing we had a few days of food and plenty of water was comforting. I hiked from Maine to Georgia on the Apalachian Trail so I figured I could walk the whole 87 miles to Aberdeen if I had to. But the my bike was still rideable and I hoped it would make it. With crossed fingers we continued on down the road. It was a relief when we finally were on pavement again. We made it to Britton and stopped for the night.

In the morning we still had 58 miles to go to get to the bike shop. We got an early start to try to get some miles in before the predicted head winds picked up. Since entering into South Dakota I have had to reevaluate what I previously thought was a bad headwind . We have been pretty fortunate that it’s been mostly crosswinds but today after about 15 miles the winds picked up and every time we headed south, it was a direct head wind. So strong we had to pedal down hill even. On level ground we were in our hill climbing gears with a top speed of 6mph. After fighting the wind for a couple more hours we decided to try hitch hiking. We would ride until we saw a truck in our mirrors then stop and stick out our thumbs. It was so flat we could see a vehicle several miles away. There was very little traffic on the road so I didn’t have much hope. I was in front of Rose and left the thumbing up to her mostly. After a while Rose hollered to me over the wind somebody is stopping. I turned around to look and sure enough a truck had stopped a good bit behind us. Rose was all smiles but gave me a look of bewilderedment at my lack of enthusiasm. Good job Rose, way to go, you just thumbed down the sherriff, was my sarcastic answer. Justin was the investigator for Marshall County. He was really nice and took us as far as he could, 13 miles to the county line. Thank you so much Justin! After that we got back on our bikes and continued to fight the wind. Around 20 miles from town we realized there was no way we could make it by 5pm when the bike shop closed. Taking shelter by some kind of electrical building we ate a snack and started exploring other options.

Rose called the bike shop to see if they had a shuttle. The owner said he was the only one there or he would pick us up. He did give us a number of a taxi service. Surprisingly they agreed to pick us up at a random crossroads we were close to. And even better they would be driving a van! We got into Aberdeen with a couple hours to spare. The taxi dropped us off at Dakota Outdoors. It was a really nice bike shop, but didn’t have the hub I needed. I had to buy a wheel that was already built. After purchasing the rim we headed to a nearby motel to get out of the wind and allow me a place to work while I switched the gears, tire and tube from the old wheel to the new one. Once that was done and my bike was back on the road and I was pretty happy. I had been so concerned the hub wouldn’t make it. In the motel room when I had everything off I could see several more cracks in the flange. I don’t know how I rode on it as long as I did, but I sure am thankfull!

In Aberdeen looking at maps we realized that our route would take us through the Standing Rock Reservation. It was a bit over 100 miles From Mobridge to Lemmon which is on the west edge of the Reservation. Not knowing the rules or regulations on stealth camping or dispersed camping in that area we decided to rent a car and drive it. But there were no cars available in Mobridge for one way rentals. So we tried U-haul. No trucks available either. There was a 15 foot uhaul available in Aberdeen but not untill Thursday. That was 2 days away. We decided to just keep riding toward Mobridge 50 miles away and see what happened. I was packed and ready to leave but Rose was still packing up. While I waited I checked the U-haul website one more time. Unbelievably it now said a small truck was available from Aberdeen. I immediately reserved it online and then called to confirm if this was actually true. It was true it had been returned 2 days ahead of schedule! The road provides. We couldn’t believe our good fortune. It was only a 4 mile ride to the rental yard and we made it there on time to claim our truck. Splashing a little coffee on the grill we christened it the MR Prarie Schooner and headed down route 12.

The UHaul had to be returned in Hettinger ND. 220 miles away from Aberdeen where we were at. I felt a little bad to be skipping that many miles, but mostly I was exited. I haven’t drove since July and to cover 220 miles in one day seemed like an amazing feat. In Mobridge we stopped to stretch our legs and walked along the Missouri River it was beautiful.

The picture below is of a metal sculpture that is made up of all kinds parts from farm machinery. A lot of the fishe’s scales are mowing machine teeth or blades. It even has some parts from draft horse harnesses. Hames and a few hooks off a double tree. I had a lot of fun pointing out all the parts I recognized. I hope you can zoom in on the picture to see what I mean about all the parts.

After crossing the river we settled in for a long ride. We had iced coffee and snacks with us and really enjoyed the empty roads despite all the road work. It was very windy which kept me a little tense with the way it would rock the truck. We saw a lot of wild life, mule deer, antelope and even 3 coyotes or wolves. If these where coyotes they were exceptionally large. I believe they were wolves but I guess I will never know for sure!

Some views from the Prarie Schooner.

We made it into Hettinger around 5pm. Hettinger has a population of 1047. It even had two resturants and a motel. We checked into the Mirror Lake Lodge and then walked to get dinner at Pastimes Steakhouse and Lounge. We had steak of course.

For some reason we were both tired when we woke up. We decided to take a zero day. It had been 21 days since our last rest day. Also if we waited one more day we would have some awesome tailwinds. So I got the room for another night and we went over our gear, got a few groceries and went to the post office. I had boxed up my old wheel to mail home. The rim itself and all the spokes were still good. I wanted to keep those parts. But at the Post office the cheapest way to mail it would still cost $91 dollars. That was not in the budget. That was quite a bit more than our motel room even! I hated to do it and it saddened me, but I tossed the box in the nearest dupster. I had been about 11000 miles on that rim,if you add all my rides together and it still had lots of miles left. I get a little attached to my gear! Later on we returned the truck and then just read and relaxed.

We planned to be on the road at first light to take advantage of every minute of our tailwinds. Our bikes were loaded and packed up. All we had to do was gulp a few cups of coffee and then wheel them out the door. The time change helped, we are now in mountain time and getting up at 5:00 didn’t feel much different than getting up at 6. Also we were excited. Winds were predicted to be 20 mph with gust up to 50 mph and we both thought we could set new personal records. My previous best day, nearly 20 years ago was 111 miles lightly loaded. Rose’s record was 106 also lightly loaded. We were on the road by 6:30, just in time to watch the sunrise.

It was glorious! It was mostly flat and the tail wind was helping us move right along. The sunrise was stunning. The day light was diffused from the blood red and orange clouds and illuminated everything with a soft pink and yellow glow. It was chilly, only 40 degrees but we were both dressed for it. Rain was moving towards us and we hoped to stay ahead of it untill we found a place to camp at the end of the day.

We got to the Montana state line around 1:00. I was super happy that it had a welcome sign. Montana is the first state on this trip that I have never been to.

We took a few pictures then got back to riding. The wind had been amazing but I don’t think it was ever as strong as predicted. There wasn’t any really strong gust. I’m definitely not complaining, by 2:30 we had rode 84 miles. We hadn’t really taken any breaks and whatever food we ate was done while pedaling. Rose had packed easy-to-eat one-handed food the night before. I had ate two granola bars sunflower seeds an egg sandwich and a ham and cheese wrap. In the town of Baker we stopped at Compass Coffee. We got our usual lattes and sat down for 15 minutes. The coffee was delicious and the big leather couch was super comfortable. At a convenience store I got a couple cans of coffee for later and we headed out once more. The sky was really getting dark but we still had hopes of making camp before the rains came.

At the coffee shop we were told about a rest area 40 miles away that other cyclist have camped at. We decided to make that our goal. If we wore out or it started raining we would just stealth camp along the road. Actually most of the land in this area is BLM land and is open to dispersed camping. So with plan A and a plan B, we headed out of town.

We had still had about 25 miles to go when the wind started to shift. It was moving to a side wind. It was also getting hilly. We continued on and figured we would reach our destination around 5 just about the time it would start raining. We were wrong. The wind continued to shift and with about 15 miles to go it became nearly a headwind. And it started spitting rain. We had ridden 105 miles. It didn’t break our personal records but it was definitely a good amount of distance so we started looking for a campsite. But on both sides of the road were big wide gullys and with the rain, I thought they would become flooded. Also there was fencing that was in really good shape. It was too high to lift the bikes over and stretched too tight to slide them under. We were not being picky about a campsite and would happily of shared the pastures with the cows if we could of crossed the fence. We kept riding but found nothing. With 10 miles to go it started raining and the wind was making it impossible to go more then 4 mph. The ice cold rain was being blown straight into our faces. Every drop stung and I often looked to see if it was hail. I kept thinking we would find a place to camp at any minute. But we didn’t and as dusk fell we turned on our headlights and continued to fight for every mile. A little before dark we found the roadside park. It was just a parking lot with two pit toilets. It didn’t even have a picnic table. It was beautiful sight to us! We worked together to quickly set up the tent and put our sleeping gear inside. Rose changed into dry, warm clothes and then inflated the air mattresses and made up the beds. While she did that, I took care of everything with the bikes and put the panniers in the tent vestibule. I changed into my thermal baselayer in the bathroom and then ran and climbed in the tent. It was so cozy. It was wonderful to be out of the wind and rain. Rose cooked a quick dinner in the vestibule that we ate in the tent, sleeping bags pulled up to our waists. She made Ramen noodles and added a few eggs for protein. It was delicious and hot. We had both got chilled from the wind and the rain. But with both our bodys heat in the tent we were warmed up in no time. Eating my egg drop Ramen noodles out of my coffee cup, warm and dry, listening to coyotes howl and the rain pitter-patter on the tent roof , I had to smile with contentment. I think I am about the luckiest, happiest and most content man alive. To be doing what I love with the woman that I love is something I don’t take for granted. The last ten miles of today were brutal and grueling. I know they were just as tough for Rose as they were for me. But she made it and I’m proud of her. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, we rode 126 miles!! A new PR (personal record) for both of us. Actually two for me because we also had 3182 feet of elevation gain. Thats the most I have climbed in one ride.