Billings to Miles City (or, Gettin’ that D)

Like most of our stops, Billings was a chance to rest, get a tune up for the bikes, and catch up on some work. We took our bikes to Spoke Shop and they treated us wonderfully; if you are ever in Billings and need some work done, we absolutely recommend them. Our Warm Showers hosts, Wanda and Lenny, were absolutely amazing. They are a retired couple with several bike tours under their belts. They let us stay in their gorgeous sun room and joined us on a mini brewery tour and to get some Thai food. They also treated us to a delicious homemade dinner, rhubarb crumble with ice cream, and espresso in the mornings. We ended up chatting with them about a lot of things, from politics to religion to things to see and do around eastern Montana. We learned a few things and really enjoyed our conversations. Unfortunately, Higgs acted like a dickhole for pretty much the entire time we stayed at their house. I don’t know what his deal is sometimes, he just gets it in his head to be obnoxious and protective and anxious about everything. Oh well, he is a dog and we do our best. Overall, Billings was a treat and we had a great time. It is also a gorgeous area with high sandstone cliffs (the Rimrocks) overseeing the city, and of course, the Yellowstone River winding its way through the region.

We hit the road a little late on Sunday (5/31) but only had a short day planned. Before leaving town we stopped at the local IGA for groceries, met a couple of people outside it (people are really really friendly in Montana), and handed out a couple of our business cards with our contact information. Printing those was one of the best decisions we made. It is so crazy awesome that people are interested in our journey and following along with us.

The day ended up being a pretty hot one as we rode our way along a mostly flat highway. The shoulder was minimal but traffic wasn’t too bad so we made good time. It is always nice to arrive at a free camping spot along the Yellowstone River pretty early. We were able to set up the tent, eat some food, lounge and read in the hammock, and explore the area for a bit. We even had a cat adopt us and hang out for a bit… though Higgs was not entirely pleased about this. He always wants to play with cats but they will likely claw the tits off his face (especially this particular cat). As the temperature dropped we got some work done, wrote some postcards, and banged. It is nice that the initial exhaustion from the bike ride is wearing off and our sex is picking up again. So often we mentally want to bang but are just too tired from the physical and psychological toll the ride takes on us. Riding all day and not knowing where you are going to sleep at night can be very exhausting.

As is often the case in Montana, we drifted off to sleep to the sound of teenagers shooting guns in the distance. In the middle of the night a storm blew by us, causing a little bit of panic as we scrambled to make sure everything was secured and all our valuable stuff was inside the tent. It never ended up really raining but how quickly and unpredictably the storm came near us was a lesson to be learned.

The original plan for the following day was to wake up and knock out about 50 miles. We also wanted to stop by Pompey’s Pillar, a national monument where Captain Clark carved his name and date into a rock. Apparently even renowned explorers like to tag things. We got to the monument at around 11 AM and took our time exploring, hiking to the top of the pillar, and picnicking. We met a handful of cool people who inquired about our trip and our set-up. I also almost stepped on a giant damn snake that decided to slither into the shade under Higgs’ trailer when we weren’t looking. It looked like a rattlesnake but turned out to be a bull snake, which is less dangerous but still made me pee my pants a little when I first saw it. By the time we hit the road again it was well past 1 PM and getting close to 90 degrees out thanks to the glaring sun. Oh well, vitamin D is important.

There was almost no shade along our route east towards Myers. The sun beat down on us and hills that were normally just an annoyance became a real struggle. We pressed on though until we got to Custer, a 150-person town with a gas station and a saloon (and not much else). We desperately needed water so we stopped at the gas station to buy a gallon. While I was shopping a man approached Anna and informed her that Custer has a park that we could camp at for free. We were still 20 miles short of our planned stopping point, but we were exhausted from the heat and also there was a huge storm coming in super quickly from the southwest, so we decided to take the man up on his offer. He was a portly gentleman with a cowboy hat on, and he was riding around in a golf cart that we never actually witnessed him get in or out of. As such, I decided he was The Sheriff. Apparently, The Sheriff had a key to the park buildings, and he unlocked things for us (by handing us the key – like I said, we never saw him leave the golf cart) so that we could use the bathroom. Towns like this are very interesting to me – they are so tiny that people literally know everyone else in town. The 2010 high school graduating class was only 9 people, and on the park building is a sign that says something like “If you need to use the bathroom call Cindy”. No last name…because obviously everyone in the town knows who Cindy is.

There is something about these small towns that I find fascinating, and a little sad. Clearly these towns used to provide services and have a purpose. Custer, for example, was a stop on the railroad in the past, but now it is nothing but 150 people who either can’t leave or won’t leave. They have no grocery store besides a gas station filled with junk food. There is a saloon/restaurant/bar/casino as well but that doesn’t seem to be bringing a particularly large amount of economic prosperity. I can’t imagine growing up in a place like that, where you literally know everyone’s name and there are no chances for summer jobs or escape. I would want to hitch my way west to Billings or something. What really surprises me is people like The Sheriff who went to college in Missoula and then returned to Custer by choice. I have a feeling that these rail cities are going to continue to decline and disappear. Any location that has so much economic reliance on one industry is basically doomed to fail, particularly in this day and age when automation can do almost anything. It makes me wonder which cities thriving today are just a technological advancement, base closure, or cultural shift away from becoming a ghost town.

Stopping in Custer ended up being the right choice. The storm did indeed hit us hard. Lightning was flashing all around and sheets of rain came down accompanied by 50 MPH winds. I really have no idea what we would have done if we hadn’t had a building to bunker down in. Best case scenario, we would have been soaking wet and miserable; worst case, our tent would have broken from the extreme wind or we could have gotten hurt. We knew just how lucky we were to have found a place to sleep indoors, safe and dry. After a night of great sleep we got up around 7:30 AM and hit the road a couple hours later. We knew daytime temps could get pretty hot so we wanted to hit the road before the sun could drain us too much. The morning was overcast and cool, pretty perfect for biking. The mountains gave way to rolling hills for the most part as we headed east, which was a nice change. There were still some hills ahead of us but it looked like the worst was behind us.

The geography changed slowly as we headed east. The mountains gave way to sandstone cliffs and rock formations and desert plants. This is one of our favorite things about cycling: you get to see the world evolving around you in beautiful ways. Thanks to our slow pace and lack of glass or metal panels blocking us from nature, we get to really feel the world directly – the tastes, smells, sights, sounds, and sensations working together to create a memorable experience.

This day ended up being our longest to date at 53 miles total (6 hours in the saddle). The latter part of the day always ends up being a blur as we search for a place to camp. We got lucky today though – we stumbled upon an abandoned rest area right outside of Forsyth with lots of trees and fresh water trickling out of a pipe. We set up our tent and crashed quickly.

Throughout the night we heard a lot of people stopping at the rest area to fill up jugs from the water point. The next morning, a friendly guy stopped by and informed us that the water is from a spring and is completely safe to drink (they even test it monthly for contaminants). No wonder so many people were stopping by! Guess we didn’t need to use those iodine tablets after all…

As comfortable as we were in our tent (and sore from the day before), we knew that Miles City was still over 50 miles away – we still had a lot of ground to cover. We got on the road fairly early, although we did make a stop at a grocery store in Forsyth to get some groceries first…because when you are eating 5,000 calories a day, you need to restock regularly.

Our final leg into Miles City was a little hillier than the last couple days. We’d learned that our planned route had washed out from the recent rain and was likely impossible to navigate on bike. One of our other options, the frontage road, was gravel, and gravel slows us down considerably. So, we ended up veering away from the Yellowstone River and spending some time on the reliable interstate, with its wide shoulders and smooth pavement, even though this did add more hills to our day. Despite the hills and the heat, we didn’t stop too many times during the day. It is clear we are becoming stronger and more durable pretty quickly. We did stop to eat lunch at a small town called Rosebud, though. We ate some amazing hummus wraps (hummus, fresh peppers, onions, mushrooms, spinach, nom nom nom) with the stuff we got from the grocery store in Forsyth that morning. When you are burning through calories like crazy, your appetite can grow incredibly strong, making everything taste so much more amazing than it normally does. Anna would recommend this to anyone trying to eat more healthfully – even veggies and hummus tastes like a gourmet feast after an intense hour or two of good old physical activity.

After 45 miles or so, we arrived at the free campsite I’d found on Google. Except, it didn’t exist. Google had put it in the wrong city and there was no campsite in sight. We had to bike another five miles through town to get to a campground on the other side of the city. It sucked, but there was nothing else we could do. So, we biked those last five grueling miles (stopping on the way to pick up some beer, of course) and arrived at Big Sky campground around 8 PM with a total of 53 miles for the day, 7 hours in the saddle. It kind of sucks to pay for camping but the rate here was reasonable ($16/night) and they have a ton of amenities including showers, laundry, and WiFi. Considering how much work Anna and I are going to knock out in Miles City, it makes it a worthwhile investment to pay for WiFi for a few days.

The next few legs of our ride are going to continue to be civilization sparse. We will be in North Dakota in a few days and besides Dickinson, Bismarck, and Fargo there really isn’t much. It should be a relatively easy ride as we slowly loose elevation all the way to Chicago.

Bozeman to Billings (or, May Monsoons Kick June in the Balls)

Bozeman ended up being a pleasant surprise. We got to stay with two amazing hosts, as well as wander around the cute little downtown area. It’s a bit of a shame that the college in Bozeman doesn’t have any Master’s programs that I’d be interested in. So far Missoula is still our favorite city in Montana, but Bozeman is ranked a close second and we’d certainly love to return for a longer stay at some point.

On Monday (5/25) we got kind of a late start. After saying good bye to our Warm Showers host we stopped by Wal-Mart to get some groceries for the road. Billings is a four-day trip away and we wanted to make sure we were ready. There are plenty of small towns along the way but it’s difficult to know what type of stores they’ll have in them. We’ve found it’s much better and safer to be prepared.

While packing up outside the store we had several people come up and chat with us about our journey. We handed out some of our business cards and were able to secure a place for us to stay in both Alabama and the Florida Keys, whenever we make it that far. People are really amazing and generous most of the time… well, some people. Our journey is far from a statistical study but so far it seems people of lower income are more willing to help out strangers than those of higher income. I’m not really sure why that is.

Anyway, we hit the road around noon with a warm sun and clear skies above. The first 15 miles were pretty rough, we had to climb another mountain pass. It wasn’t as bad as MacDonald but we were pushing by the end and the sun was taking its toll on us. Once we reached the top things got a bit easier. We coasted downhill about five miles through some farmland and met back up with the interstate. There were tons of other cyclists on the road (thanks Memorial Day), including a man we met named Vlad. He is in the middle of cycling from Washington state to Massachusetts. We exchanged a few quick stories with Vlad and wished him a good journey. Needless to say, he was traveling much more quickly than we were.

After another small climb we had a nice 10ish-mile downhill into Livingston, our planned stopping city. During this part of the ride we had our first flat. Anna’s front tube was punctured by a really sharp and pointy piece of gravel. So far the Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires have been a huge success – one flat for eight wheels over two weeks of travel is pretty impressive for us! We were on the road pretty quickly after the flat and had dinner on the side of the road just inside Livingston. Unfortunately, we were unable to secure any housing in the city. There were no Couchsurfers or Warm Showers hosts, and the campgrounds were pretty expensive due to the location near Yellowstone. We reached out to a few churches but only heard one response, from a church that told us they had a policy against letting people stay in their church overnight or camp on their land. Seemed like a pretty un-Christlike policy to us but we politely thanked them for the response and just moved on. It’s a little sad but we are kind of used to churches ignoring us or telling us no when we need help. I am always tempted to throw a few verses their way to remind them of who they claim to be following but I always bite my tongue. If we had passed the church on our route I would have definitely knocked the dust off my shoes on their doorstep, though.

We continued to cycle along the Yellowstone River as the sun started to set. It was beautiful out and we saw tons of deer wandering around, but unfortunately finding a safe place to lay our heads was difficult. There was so much open land (not good for camping secretively) and so many miles of barbed wire with NO TRESPASSING signs (not good for camping in general). We asked the only person we saw if he knew of any places we could camp…we were hoping he would offer up a small space on his dozens of acres of land but instead he just suggested that we head back into town and pay for one of the expensive campgrounds. We ignored his advice and pressed on, eventually finding a little cove on the side of the road to set up our tent for the night. It is slightly ironic (I think, I still don’t know the proper way to use that word) that a veteran was unable to find a safe place to sleep on Memorial Day.

We had barely been settled in our tent for ten minutes when a car pulled up next to us and the driver told us we could stay by the river with him and his friends, just a couple miles down the road. We definitely would have taken him up on his offer if we hadn’t already gotten settled in, plus we were exhausted from our day of biking and biking j two more miles sounded like too much work. So, we crashed long and hard in our original side-of-the-road spot, knowing that we had only another 25 miles or so to go before we reached Big Timber, our next resting point.

The night went pretty smoothly. The road we camped along was pretty much unused during the night and it wasn’t until around 6:30 AM that we heard cars passing by our tent again. We slowly returned to the land of the living and hit the road around 10 AM. (Getting up and moving can be pretty tough sometimes. We don’t do a lot of miles daily compared to other tourists…in fact, Anna calls us bike turtles instead of bike tourists because of our large shells, slow speed, and the way we carry our homes with us. But, those shorter miles are still draining since we are active and in the sun most of the day.) Anyway, after we finally hit the road, we spent the first 11 miles treading slowly over very rough and rocky terrain. Now it was time for our Surlys to show their strength. The Disc Truckers are beasts that absorb shock well and put up with a lot of punishment. I really can’t imagine doing the last two weeks with our old equipment. It certainly would have been possible but it would’ve been a lot less fun and way more frustrating.

Our day improved after we turned off the bumpy dirt road onto a smooth paved frontage road and coasted the remaining 16 or so miles into Big Timber (Big T!). When we got to town we headed to a really nice city park to do a little maintenance and upgrades to our gear. Then, around 5:30, we headed over to our host’s home. The pastor of the Lutheran Church in town had kindly offered to let us stay with him. Pastor Joel turned out to be an incredible person. He seemed to know exactly what travelers need. He offered us a spare bedroom and bathroom, told us to make ourselves at home, and just to let him know if we needed anything. He then headed into his living room and gave us our space and privacy. This was really wonderful for us because after miles and hours on the road, we are usually pretty frazzled and it is really hard for us to make small talk. We’ve found it is much better to let that wait until the next morning, after we’ve rested and our thinking is a bit clearer. Pastor Joel did just that, he let us rest.

The next morning we woke around 6:30 AM (thanks Higgins, you dickhole) and started getting ready to go. Pastor Joel was awake shortly after and we talked with him a bit about our lives, Big Timber, and the world in general as we packed. It was clear that he had some stories to tell and has lived a full life so far. He has three kids and a handful of grandkids, but there seemed to be a bit of sadness behind his eyes. He mentioned that he was single, though didn’t mention why. Being in a big house alone with only an aging dog has got to weigh on the spirit a bit. I wish I knew more of his history, but he spoke of it vaguely and focused mostly on the future.

We left Pastor Joel’s with a smile and a wave and hit the road around 9:30 AM. Our day as planned was going to be one of our longer ones, at 44 miles, but the terrain looked to be in our favor. We traveled quickly on an interstate frontage road for about 24 miles until we hit Reed Point (we even had a bit of a tailwind for once!) At Reed Point we ate some lunch, played with Higgs, and made the decision to get on the interstate for 8 miles instead of taking the backroads for 10 miles. The backroads were gravel, hilly, and altogether nasty. The interstate, on the other hand, was pretty flat and had a large and smooth shoulder. It was definitely the right decision.

In no time at all, we arrived in Columbus and headed over to Itch-Kep-Pe Park, an amazing free campground maintained by the city. We arrived at 3:30 PM, which is pretty early for us, and began setting up camp. While setting up camp a guy named Kevin (I’m pretty sure his name was Kevin, I suck at names) approached and started chatting with us. He is on a cross-country journey as well, traveling in his van, which is pretty awesome and decked out with solar panels, a big bed, and a desk for studying. We ended up chatting around the fire for about six hours about our travels, how fucked up our government and system is, science, comics, transhumanism, and exploring the stars. He was truly a student of the world and had an inspiring curiosity about all things, it really reignited my drive to finish Khan Academy and keep studying sexuality and psychology. He even told us about the Persiad Meteor Showers coming up in August – we will be on the road between Madison, Wisconsin and Chicago at that time so maybe we will camp out in a low-light area and watch the sky light up. It was a great conversation and I hope we stay in touch throughout our travels. Alas, we needed rest though and hit the sack at about 9 PM.

We woke up super early again thanks to our asshole dog. I’m not really sure what feeding schedule he thinks he’s on now but he wakes us up at 6:30 and won’t leave us alone. We are going to need to fix that somehow. Maybe I’ll just abandon him on the side of the road in rural Montana (kidding). Luckily, we fell back asleep until 10:30 or so. I had a work call at noon so we just stayed in the campground while I knocked that out.

The late start to our day ended up making things a bit miserable (although we had no way of knowing that ahead of time). It started drizzling soon after we got on the road and we were hit by a big thunderstorm around 2 PM or so. The rain was just pouring down and making it pretty much impossible (and dangerous) to keep biking, so we had to hide out under a tree. We were cold, completely soaked, and any equipment exposed to the elements was also completely soaked. (Although luckily our trailers and panniers are pretty water resistant, so everything inside stayed mostly dry.) Our mood was a little on the gloomy side as we weighed our options…we could either set up camp there under the tree and just give up on making it to Billings, or we could keep waiting with the hope things would clear up so we could hit the road again. Looking up weather reports was no help, all they told us was that there was was a 51% of rain the rest of the day. Do you know how worthless that information is? 51% provides no guidance. It is the flip of a coin. I sometimes think meteorologists are just fucking with us all. We all know the old saying, “April showers bring May flowers”, but we often forget about the lesser known saying, “May monsoons kick June in the balls”.

After an hour or so we still hadn’t made the decision to give up and set up our tent, which was lucky because the worst of the rain ended up passing, and we decided to get back on the road despite the continued drizzle. We were now running pretty late but the road continued to be smooth, paved, and relatively free from hills. We stopped infrequently, only to let Higgs use the bathroom and to eat a little bit of food. I did go into a gas station to get a candy bar because I deserve it. At the gas station a big, burly Harley rider walked up to me. He had an eye patch over one eye and his jacket looked like something off of Sons of Anarchy. I know nothing about motorcycle clubs so I just assumed he had an uzi or something on him too. He had seen us biking earlier in the rain and asked about the ride. I explained it to him and he chuckled, called us badasses, and offered me a fist-bump. I returned the fist-bump (obviously).

The rest of the day was basically on and off rain. Luckily it didn’t downpour again though, so we were able to press on through the drizzle and eventually made it to our host’s home at around 8 PM. We were greeted with towels to dry off with, red wine, and rhubarb crumble with ice cream. We were also given a private sunroom to sleep in and access to their hot shower as well as their hot tub. It is going to be a lovely time here in Billings. While we do need to get our bikes tuned up and get some work done, we are certainly looking forward to a few days of relaxation and exploration of this town. We have some ideas for breweries, a Thai restaurant, and a source for fantastic sushi. But to be honest, I just hope they have some decent pizza.