Miles City, MT to Dickinson, ND (or, Becoming Legendary)

We enjoyed our time at the wonderful Big Sky Campground in Miles City but, as is always the case, we had to hit the road. Our first day out was a short 37 mile day along the interstate into Terry, Montana. The ride was uneventful for the most part but we did have our second journey-related flat (we’ve also had one flat due to human error…Peter fucked up). We’re definitely realizing that our Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires were well worth the investment. After 24 days on the road – over 500 miles – with eight wheels total, we have only had two flats. The Schwalbes may be $50 each but they more than pay for themselves in both time and money saved.

Terry was small (about 600 people) but it had all the amenities we needed…basically, a grocery store and free water. The woman at the grocery store called someone and confirmed that we could camp in the city park. These little towns seem to have a common sense that is lost in larger cities. Without a bloated bureaucracy making up rules about what can and can’t happen on public land, it is easy for us to just set up a tent for the night without hassle. There was one Corgi that tried to bite Higgins because most Corgis are dickholes (at least most of the ones we’ve encountered), and there was also a loose dog that Peter helped catch, but for the most part our time at the Terry city park was fairly uneventful.

The ride from Terry to Glendive was supposed to be a fairly easy one. It’s only about 40 miles with mostly flat terrain, and the weather was forecasted to be pretty nice. Unfortunately, however, we got wind-fucked. About halfway through the day we got hit by an alternating headwind/crosswind that gusted up to 30 MPH. There are few things more frustrating than peddling as hard as you can on flat terrain and only moving 4 MPH. We even tried to get off the highway and take some gravel side roads, hoping there would be trees and hills to provide us with some cover from the wind. That didn’t end up working though – the terrain was mostly farmland and now we were both wind-fucked AND gravel-fucked.

We crawled along for several hours and finally arrived at Glendive around 4 PM. We had found some online references to free camping in a park in town so we set up base there. Anna went to the Albertson’s across the street for some groceries/beer and also confirmed that we could camp in the park as long as we didn’t start a fire. I’m not really sure why someone would just start a fire in the middle of a park with no fire pits, but clearly this has been a problem in the past.

For the price (free), the park was pretty nice. There was no easily accessible electricity or WiFi, but we had soft ground, a nearby grocery store, and access to a bathroom. Granted, both bathrooms reminded us of a scene out of the movie Hostel with terrible lighting, blind corners, creepy concrete walls, and the smell of sliced opened bowels filled with Taco Bell. The latter part came from the women’s bathroom where someone had apparently taken a shit all over the toilet, walls, and the button you push to flush the toilet. Someone also abandoned a full, diarrhea-filled baby diaper in the trash can in there. Some people are gross.

Seems sanitary…

We did have a nice lady named Donna give us $20 while we were hanging out at the park waiting for people to leave. We tried to explain that we didn’t need the money but she wanted to be kind so we accepted it. It turned out that Donna worked at the local vet where we were taking Higgs to get his rattlesnake vaccine booster the next day. Small world…and small town.

After everyone left the park (finally), we set up our tent for the night. We slept well but woke a little earlier than expected because city maintenance showed up to spray the weeds in the park. Our tent was in their way, so they called the cops on us. An officer approached our tent and informed us that camping was not allowed and that we had to move. He was friendly enough – if anything, he seemed to agree it was ridiculous that he’d been called to oust campers at 6 AM. We later learned that the city only sprays the park for weeds once a YEAR, which means if we would have camped there literally any other night, we probably wouldn’t have been hassled. Oh well.

Getting up early had some perks. I rode around town a bit to get a feel for the infrastructure. There weren’t a lot of options for power, WiFi, water, etc but I did find another park that had electricity.

We spent the day in Glendive doing our normal errands…working, powering up our stuff, and getting supplies. I also took Higgins to the vet to get his rattlesnake vaccine booster. That was a kind of crazy experience. Vets out in rural areas are a bit different than their urban counterparts. For one, the things for sale are incredibly frightening. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen syringes used to inseminate various livestock, but they are large. Another strange thing was the number of bulls in the parking lot. I am used to zero bulls in the parking lot; this vet had at least six.

After we got all our work and errands done for the day, we decided that Makoshika State Park was our best option for camping that night. On our way through Glendive to Makoshika, we said good-bye to our old friend the Yellowstone River. We’ve been riding along or near the Yellowstone for a couple of weeks now and it will be kind of weird not to see those rolling waters nearby anymore. Anyway, after a very quick ride, we arrived in Makoshika just as the sun was starting to set. Generally, we hate spending $18 for 12 hours on 225 square feet of hard land without electricity or water, and with only a drop toilet to share with 20 other people. (We aren’t New Yorkers, after all.) We didn’t have much of a choice though, and in the end we’re glad we didn’t. Makoshika was absolutely gorgeous. The pictures we took don’t do it justice at all. The way the colors from the sunset highlighted the natural beauty of the badlands was enough to truly take your breath away. (More pics can be found at our Facebook page www.facebook.com/shiftsandhiggles )

The view from our tent can’t be beat.

Home is where the tent is…

The next day we got up fairly early, but took our time hitting the road. We have gotten into a pretty decent routine and as long as we don’t have a Couchsurfer waiting for us or anything, we feel no real rush. Our mileage has been good and our bodies are getting in decent shape. 40-50 mile days just aren’t as big of a deal anymore, so we take our time in the morning. Last night, we’d planned on doing a little hiking in Makoshika in the morning, but it was already in the 80’s at 9:30 AM so we decided not to. Makoshika is now on our list of places to return to, though. It would be awesome to come back and do a multi-day backpacking trip between the different campgrounds.

Makoshika!

We had to ride the interstate again today because it was our only real option heading east. There are some side roads but they are mostly gravel and incredibly hilly…basically the bane of our existence. The terrain has started to flatten out a bit but there is a noticeable lack of trees along the interstate, which sucks on sunny and hot days. Occasionally we find a small town that has some buildings or a city park with shade, but most of our breaks are short and in the sun on the side of the road.

As our day came to an end, we encountered a lot of trouble finding a place to camp for the night. We stopped in a small town called Wibaux that had a very nice park, but the sheriff informed us that they didn’t allow camping there for whatever reason. At around 4:30 PM I called ahead to the next town (Beach) and talked to their Visitor Center. I was informed that there were several tent camping options in Beach, but the person wouldn’t discuss it over the phone for some reason – instead we were told to come in to the Visitor Center and talk to someone in person. So, with a basic idea that we would have shelter in Beach, we kept moving and crossed into North Dakota.

State Line Selfie!!!!

When we arrived at Beach around 5:45 PM, their Visitor Center was already closed. Apparently the person I talked to on the phone didn’t think it was important to mention that the center closed a half hour from when we were talking. Bullshit. I grabbed some flyers that had information about the town, but that ended up being a bust. The only campground listed on the flyer turned out to not actually exist. (Thanks?) Anna biked to a few gas stations and talked to some of the locals to see if anyone knew anything about tent camping options in the city, and nobody knew anything. After some quick exploring of the town proved fruitless as well, I went into a local RV park to see if they would allow us to set up for the night, and the owner said that we could set up for free! This was our first taste of that “legendary” North Dakota friendliness we’d heard about.

Higgins is disappointed by the lack of sticks.

The RV park wasn’t much, but it had power and we had explicit permission to be there – more than we can say for many places we’ve set up our tent. We plugged in our devices, I went to buy a six-pack of beer, and we settled in for the night. It wasn’t a great night of sleep. Being in a city is always a little stressful for us. We lock our bikes and take precautions but there is always a small nagging fear that someone will rob or burglarize us. Our entire lives are with us, losing a bike or trailer or wallet or piece of equipment would be devastating. In the middle of this night, Anna thought she heard someone trying to steal my bike. It turned out to be nothing, but once you are on edge at night, it is hard to settle in. Then, it started raining so we had to get up and cover everything with our tarp. I really think the meteorologists have been trolling us all. We check the weather constantly and it is wrong so often, particularly when it comes to forecasting rain.

After our less-than-restful night’s sleep, we got up and got ready to go. We decided that we would rent a hotel in Dickinson (two nights away). We hadn’t showered in nearly a week and it is never good when you can smell your own crotch while standing. Our budget allows for a hotel room once a month in case of an emergency, so this wasn’t a big deal. Besides, I had a lot of work to do and if I could marathon 12-15 hours of work in one day, having access to reliable motel WiFi would pay for itself five-fold.

The ride through western North Dakota was hilly, but gorgeous. We traveled through Theodore Roosevelt National Park and got to see the Painted Canyon. Every time we crested a hill we had the most amazing sights on all sides. We took photos but, again, they couldn’t do it justice. We had no idea this part of the country was so lovely. Roosevelt National Park is another spot we’d like to spend more time in. Maybe one of these days we’ll get a van and spend a year just driving to state and national parks and backpacking them for a week each or whatever. While at a scenic overlook for the Painted Canyon, we met an incredibly stoned guy who asked us about our ride. He thought Higgs was a child at first. He was from Minnesota and had kind of an old hippy vibe. We had a great time talking to him and he gave us the stereotypical peace sign as we took off.

You should probably just see this in person.

We arrived in Belfield, our hopeful home for the night, as the sun was getting ready to set. The park we stopped at did not have any “No Camping” signs so we decided that camping was allowed there. That’s how the law works, right? Everything is allowed unless expressly forbidden? Legal or not, it worked out well for us. One cop patrolled by at around 9 PM but didn’t see us. We slept well and woke up around 5 AM to get moving before the cop did his morning patrol. As we left, a guy stopped us and asked us what we thought of the park. It was only 7 AM at that point so he probably realized we’d camped there. He was friendly though and seemed genuinely proud of the city park.

It is constantly amazing to us how nice some of these parks are in very small towns. A town may have only 600 people, but it will have an incredibly nice park with a pavilion, new bathrooms, kitchen facilities, picnic tables, and other equipment. I’m always curious how they afford them. Sometimes there are signs thanking the Lion’s Club (or some similar organization), but sometimes there are not. I wonder if these small communities have better direct control of their tax dollars. I imagine in a town of 600 people everyone knows the city council members by name and if they waste money it is pretty obvious (and hurtful because you all know each other). Maybe the community can also band together to create nice things for a low cost without bureaucratic waste. The anarchist in me who is sympathetic to a communal or socialist set-up at the local level loves this.

The ride from Belfield to Dickinson was kind of gloomy and pretty uneventful. It wasn’t particularly challenging, we just rolled along the interstate about 22 miles into Dickinson. (With a warm shower waiting for us, we only took one short break.) Our hotel (The Rodeway Inn) was the cheapest one in town and had terrible reviews, but it was much better than we expected. The staff was incredibly friendly – they even let us check in early – and our hotel room had everything we needed: a hot shower, reliable WiFi, electrical outlets, plenty of room to put our bikes and gear, clean linens, a mini fridge and microwave, etc. It took about an hour to get all our equipment unpacked, dismantled, and into our room, but once we settled in I got to work pretty quickly. Anna started knocking out some of our errands like laundry, uploading pictures to Facebook, etc. I ordered Domino’s for dinner because I wanted it. We didn’t get to bed until 1 AM, which was a bad decision, but when you have an actual hotel room sometimes you lose track of time. Oh well – we will just regret this in the morning!

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.

Helena to Bozeman (or, The Hills of Methtana)

Helena proved to be a fun little town. There was definitely a more rural feel to it than Missoula, but it still had some great breweries and bars, and our Couchsurfing host was amazing. She showed us around town a bit (took us to Blackfoot River brewery as well as Lewis and Clark brewery), and she graciously let us take over her backyard and house for a few days. I feel like Helena has a lot more for us to find if we had time to explore and dive in a bit. Maybe someday we will be back for an extended stay.

Higgs. Chillin’.

On Wednesday (5/20) we hit the road again. Our next major stop was Bozeman, Montana…another city we knew nothing about but shows up on a map. The day started out a little late for us, it is always tough to gather up and get moving after a few days off, but by 11 AM or so we were back on the road. It wasn’t long before we were greeted by our old friend, Headwind. Headwind sucks and I want to punch him in his cocky throat. The first hour or so was a little rough with Headwind plus a slight uphill, but eventually the wind settled down and things got a bit easier. The time passed quickly as we wound through the mountains, and we even saw some antelope (antelopes?) in a field!

The last ten miles or so of the day were pretty easy, it was mostly downhill. We are now coasting along the Missouri River which eventually finds its way to St. Louis (thank you informative sign at the campsite for that info). Also, Lewis and Clark hung out around here a couple hundred years ago, which I find kind of cool.

Home is where the tent is.

Our place of rest for the night was a little campground along the Missouri (Indian Road Campground). It was free, which is always a bonus. Also, someone left a full can of Coke on the table near our spot so we mixed that with some rum we happened to have. I don’t remember where the hell we got a small bottle of rum but I’m glad we had it. It was nice getting into the campground a bit early, I was able to plug in the solar system, get some work done, and even do a little reading. This camping thing is pretty cool when you have some daylight to enjoy it.

The night was fairly uneventful and our morning was calm and relaxed. We eventually hit the road around 10:30 AM and made a quick stop at a gas station in Townsend to get some water. The campground we stayed at was wonderful in many ways (including being free) but it didn’t have any potable water available. But, nothing a stop at a gas station couldn’t fix!

The route for the day was similar to yesterday, a gradual uphill for about two-thirds of the ride and then a downhill into our planned camping spot near Three Rivers. Despite an early appearance by Headwind (blast him), things went smoothly until about 10 miles into the ride. Then, we hit some construction. This wasn’t just normal construction with flaggers or a detour of a few hundred yards, this was serious construction. The entire road had been torn up and was basically gravel-covered mud for about five miles. Hardly ideal for a car, much less a bicycle. We didn’t really have a choice, as no alternative routes showed up on any maps, so we just continued through the construction zone cautiously as semis blazed past us at alarming speed. (It seems they really don’t care if there are no road markings or actual pavement to drive on.) About halfway through the construction, one of the workers stopped us and said we could ride in an area that was sectioned off from the main road. Apparently they weren’t doing any work in that area today so it was all ours. It was still gravel, but at least we didn’t have vehicles flying past us spraying us with mud and flying rocks.

Reluctantly crouched at the starting line.
Engines pumping and thumping in time.
The green light flashes, the flag goes up.

We eventually made it through the construction, got back on solid road, and were finally able to take a much-needed break. We saw a hitchhiker who waved to us, but that was about it. Then, a few minutes later, we spotted a bicycle chained to a piece of farm equipment. Sitting nearby was a bedroll, a backpack, and some other belongings. One of the tires on the bike was flat and we realized the hitchhiker may have actually been a cyclist who needed assistance. If that was the case, we wished he would have asked for our help! Regardless, Anna and I both promised to start explicitly asking any travelers we pass, especially those on foot, if they need help instead of just smiling and waving. One benefit of riding so heavy is that we generally have plenty of water, food, and electricity to share with anyone who might need it.

Peter admiring that world famous “Big Sky”

Eventually we got back on the road after our break, climbed to the top of our hill, and found ourselves staring at dark storm clouds right in our path. It was tough to judge distance but we guessed they were a couple miles away, coming our direction. There wasn’t much we could do so we just pressed on and hoped for the best. Luckily, we somehow missed the storm and made it to our campground without really encountering anything more than a few random raindrops.

Hmm, that doesn’t look good.

The campsite (Missouri Headwaters State Park) was a bit of a disappointment. First off, it is expensive as fuck. It is $28 for a tent spot (despite saying $10 online). Normally a campground will offer you some amenities for that price, like running water, electricity, possibly a shower and/or laundry facility on site, maybe a pavilion, or even just beautiful scenery. Unfortunately, this campground did not get the memo. It is miles away from any actual rivers or trails or anything you would come to the state park to see. There is no electricity, showers, laundry, or even trash removal on site. The bathroom is an outhouse. And the only place to refill water is about three miles away from the campsites…which meant we had to bike an extra six miles to fill our water bottles. We essentially paid nearly $30 for worse amenities than we had at the free campground the night before. Kind of disappointing, but not much could be done. (We were pretty beat at the end of the day and biking an unknown number of extra miles to avoid this campsite didn’t sound fun.) We set up our tent, ate some food, charged the solar battery for a bit, and went to bed. Soon, we would be in Bozeman.

Rainbow!

The road to Bozeman was fairly straightforward – we had some rolling hills with small towns and farms along the way. We met some friendly horses who ran up to their fence and eagerly snatched up a few baby carrots out of Anna’s hands. This might have been some sort of farming taboo, feeding horses that aren’t yours, but everything seemed to turn out okay.

Anna feeding some carrots to our biggest fans.

And, of course, we were surrounded by meth. Anti-meth signs were everywhere. The hand-drawn “not even once” posters dotted the landscape and every city advertised (bragged? warned?) that they were a “Meth Watch” community. I really never knew Montana had a meth problem and part of me seriously wonders why. Is it just impossible to get good drugs? I guess Montana is pretty far from the traditional drug pipelines of Seattle, Chicago, New York, Miami, San Diego, etc… but man, this is the age of the Internet. I know for a fact you can order incredibly clean MDMA online and have it delivered by the postal service, and all you need is an Internet connection, Google, a few hours of spare time, and a ninth grade level reading comprehension. Oh well, I guess out here meth is king, which is really kind of sad because MDMA is such a better experience. I’ve never actually done meth unless it was mixed with Molly to make it a bit speedier. Much like heroin it really doesn’t appeal to me, but I do know people who use meth recreationally and are functional parts of society.

I’m torn on these scare tactics. I could see them being effective in a limited way if only applied to certain drugs. If we had a comprehensive education program about drugs and ended the tyrannical war on drugs, then it could be effective to have a couple drugs (like meth) that are advertised as too dangerous to try even once. But clearly that requires us to stop putting weed, MDMA, cocaine, ketamine, 2C-B, LSD, shrooms, and everything else into the same category. If you tell students that all drugs are really bad (mmm-kay) and they end up smoking some weed and see that it isn’t that bad, then you undermine the entire program. If the government is willing to lie about weed, why should I trust them about meth?

Of course, the best thing to do is to legalize everything and put more money into health services like Portugal did. Further research into addiction is showing that the environment is a major factor, and people (or rats) don’t sink their whole lives into a drug if they have a community to be a part of. The research and work done by Dr. Carl Hart is really changing how we look at drugs and policy, but sadly not many politicians are listening because power is gained by blaming drugs.

Anyway…that was an unexpected tangent.

About halfway into Bozeman, we started getting some ominous clouds forming over us. I thought we were going to be luck out again, Anna wasn’t so sure. Anna was right. I should listen to her more. After lunch we ended up getting soaked for about 20 minutes. To be honest, sometimes that sucks more than it raining all day. Getting pissed on for just 20 minutes feels like a prank. Like Zeus and Poseidon are on Mount Olympus laughing at our happiness and thinking it would be funny if we had dripping wet socks, but not wanting the farmers in the area to actually get their crops watered. Fuck you Zeus and Poseidon.

Welcome to Bozeman?

Despite the downpour (and another one soon after that, which we escaped by hiding under a Safeway awning), we made it to our wonderful Couchsurfing host’s home in Bozeman around 6 PM. We chatted for a couple hours, despite all of us being pretty tired (she had early work in the morning). Our host is going to start a European bike tour later this year and it was fun to exchange experiences, talk about equipment, and hear each other’s plans. Sadly, we are only staying here one night and the rest of our time in Bozeman will be with someone we met off Warm Showers. She seems pretty awesome too so I am sure things will continue to be great. In some ways this bike ride is more about the people than anything. We meet such awesome fucking people. Hell, we even had a stranger offer to let us crash in his living room when we were buying supplies at REI. The world really is filled with beautiful, amazing souls who genuinely want to help others reach their potential and experience all this world has to offer. It is an inspiring thing.

**If you are interested in more photos of our journey we have a Facebook page you can follow (www.facebook.com/shiftsandhiggles).**

Missoula to Helena (or, The Camels Were Gone from Montana by 1867)

Saying goodbye is never easy.

As excited as we were to hit the trail again, it was hard leaving Missoula behind. We met so many wonderful new friends and strengthened old friendships as well. Missoula is a home to us now, a place where we feel loved and accepted. It isn’t easy leaving that, but, like most things in life, the easy way is not the way of growth or adventure… and we had an adventure to restart.

There are moments in life when language rings hollow. Trying to express how much we will miss this friend is one of those moments. Part of our hearts stay here in Missoula with her.

Our first day of travel was the perfect way to begin – exactly what we needed day 1 to be. We stopped at Black Coffee Roasters one last time for some world-class coffee and their batshit amazing avocado toast. Then, around 11 AM, we got on the road and headed east towards the mountains with wide shoulders to ride on and beautiful weather to boot. The terrain was uphill, but only slightly. This was a great opportunity for us to test out our new bike and trailer set-ups – prior to leaving we never got a chance to ride around with our trailers fully packed. (Smart, we know.) Turns out they are heavy, but not overly so, similar to our previous leg of the bike ride. The new bikes and trailers are incredibly stable and provide a much smoother ride than our old gear did. Higgins loves his new set-up as well. He doesn’t hesitate or resist getting into the trailer anymore and loves being able to stick his nose out the front to smell all the things. (Don’t worry, we have two leashes attached to his collar and the inside of the trailer to make sure he can’t lean too far or jump out and hurt himself.)

Higgs is ready to roll!

As our first day continued, we passed all the usual Montana things like a distillery, a bunch of farm animals, deer, a skunk, ghost towns, etc. We were lunching along the Blackfoot River when Anna’s front tube mysteriously went flat while her bike was just sitting there. I’m not sure why, the puncture was on the inner ring of the tube and this was the same tube that came with the bike to begin with. Oh well, it was an easy fix, and hopefully the flat was a fluke! The late afternoon brought some clouds and the threat of rain, but as we climbed to the top of our final hill the weather was still on our side. The original plan was to just camp on the side of the road but we found a campground in Lubrecht Experimental Forest that had unlocked cabins (which were furnished and even had electricity!) We weren’t sure if the campground was actually open…there were no signs to help us, and the only people we encountered just waved at us from a distance. We waited for someone to approach us so we could ask whether it was okay to sleep there, but no one ever did, so we just had a nice dinner, set up our stuff in one of the cabins, and went to sleep.

The night went smoothly, except for when we were woken up at 4:30 AM by a tow truck backing up near our cabin (we never figured out what it was doing there – there were really no cars there to tow). Morning came soon after that and we hit the road after donating a few dollars to the camp as a thank-you for such nice accommodations. The day started with a steady downhill along the highway. The shoulder started getting a little narrower and had more and more sand and gravel on it. It was still nice but the conditions were deteriorating slowly. We also had a lot of hills… and a lot of hill optical illusions (when you look ahead and it looks like a downhill but turns out to be an uphill, AKA why are we pedaling as hard as we can to go downhill?? Pretty frustrating). We took our time though and had breaks whenever we needed them. Everything was pretty much going according to plan until we hit the intersection of Highway 200 (the road we’d been traveling on) and Highway 141. The plan was to continue up 200 to Lincoln but the shoulder basically disappeared, traffic was zooming past at or above the speed limit of 70 MPH, and the road started winding up a mountain with a cliff on one side. It just wasn’t safe. So, we decided to have a change of plans, turn onto 141, and head directly south towards Helena instead of going through Lincoln.

Doesn’t the “too” mean “also”? What kills, in addition to meth? Is it playing sports? Is it having a sword stabbed into your left shoulder? Is it playing sports while having a sword in your left shoulder? This sign raises more questions than it answers.

 

Highway 141 was probably the safest and best option we had, but it turned out to be a pretty miserable option. We quickly found ourselves in farmland facing a terrible headwind and crosswind. Apparently, when you destroy all of the trees in an area, it becomes incredibly windy. The climbs also continued with fairly steep rolling hills the whole way. I am beginning to think staying in Missoula for 8 months and storing lots of calories in our bodies for future use was not the wisest thing to do.

Anyway, the temperature started to drop and any time we stopped biking to take a break, the cold made us pretty uncomfortable. We were trying to make it to a lake in the hopes there would be camping options there, but as the hours passed and we got more and more exhausted, we realized we weren’t going to get to the lake in time. There weren’t a lot of other options for camping, but we eventually found a spot on the side of the road with some bushes where we set up our tent. We fell asleep quickly and slept hard, despite the cold and the occasional sound of passing cars or deer sniffing our tent.

WHY?!?!

The next day started cold and a bit damp. Since we had changed routes unexpectedly, we really had no idea what the day had in store for us, but we did know we had two days to go (about 60 miles) until we reached Helena. We started riding with the gloomy, overcast sky hanging above us, threatening to pour rain on us at any moment but rarely doing anything more than drizzling. The road was pretty decent with very little traffic and the usual hazards that come with rural bike riding… loose dogs running across the highway at us (luckily they turned out to be friendly), skunks hanging on mile marker signs, etc. By early afternoon we’d made it to the “town” of Avon where we stopped to rest on the porch of a building next to the local fire station.

Avon, Montana

 

While we were resting and eating lunch, a truck pulled up next to us. It was Old Bill. (Name changed to protect Old Bill’s privacy, and also because we don’t know Old Bill’s real name.) Old Bill asked us what we were doing and made general small talk. When he found out we were going through The Pass he let out a friendly laugh and told us to watch out for the snow. We chuckled along with him. Old Bill was always joking about snow. We were sure the weather wasn’t going to be THAT cold up on the mountain. Old Bill continued on his way and we continued resting. A few minutes later Old Bill came back, and told us about a great restaurant down the road where we could stop in to get some coffee and warm up. Then he laughed again and pulled away.

We hit the road soon after that and started heading east on Highway 12. The traffic was heavier but we had a wide shoulder to use as we crept upwards towards The Pass. The first 9 miles or so were pretty easy and we arrived at a gas station/convenience store in Elliston at around 6 PM. We stopped to get some coffee, use the bathroom, and convince our muscles they were ready to climb The Pass directly ahead of us. The next five miles or so were going to be hell already, so of course the clouds above us decided it was time to dump their load. We knew that waiting wasn’t going to get the job done, so we got back on the road despite the rain, quickly finding ourselves at the foot of the mountain where the following historic marker sat.

If I had a time machine I would go back 150 years just to see camels in Montana

The climb was terrible. It really wasn’t a ride, it was a walk. We pushed our bikes nearly the whole 5 miles. The 8% grade was just too much with the gear we were carrying and the days of travel behind us. It didn’t help matters that we had a very narrow shoulder and lots of wind, plus visibility had decreased dramatically because of the rain and clouds. We often found ourselves pressed against the guardrails when cars passed by too closely (GET INTO THE LEFT LANE, YOU FOOLS!) But, after hours of pushing our bikes, ignoring our numbed hands and feet, being blasted by strong winds and rain that turned to sleet, we managed to get to top of The Pass just before sunset. (Although the sun was nowhere in sight behind the thick clouds, we assumed it was setting somewhere). We set up our tent quickly, put the tarp over our equipment, ate some glorious baked beans out of a can with nutritional yeast and Frank’s hot sauce, and then fell asleep. Sleep didn’t last very long. The tent collapsed on us in the middle of the night because of the heavy winds (mental note #1: always stake the tent down, don’t be a lazy asshole) and I ran out into the cold sleet to fix it, breaking our food bin in the process (mental note #2: plastic food bins cannot support the weight of a full grown human being). After fixing the tent I fell back asleep quickly, but the morning came soon and with the morning came snow. Old Bill was right.

There’s something you need to understand about Old Bill: he is always joking but always serious. There are innumerable rumors about his origins. Some say that his Granny was a settler named Helen and the city of Helena is named after her. Others say that his great-grandpa was Sammy MacDonald who came over as a settler after the Civil War, and that the MacDonald Pass was named after him. Some others say it goes further back than that –  that Old Bill is the last direct descendant of the ancient Montanan Native American tribes and the state is named after his ancestors. Finally, some claim he has Elven blood in him, that his ancestors chose not to travel across the sea with the rest of his kind to the Undying Lands before the Dawn of Man.

Regardless, Old Bill was right. We got snowed on. A lot.

Due to the snow and our general tiredness we didn’t really get moving until about 1 PM. Luckily(?) our day started with a 7ish mile downhill. Normally, that would be awesome. But this wasn’t a normal day. It was bitterly cold out and we couldn’t ride for more than a couple miles before needing to pull over and stick our hands in our crotches to warm them back up, lest we lose any of our fingers to frostbite. The combination of strong winds, cold temperature, and wet conditions had taken its toll on us. There was an unexpected bright spot though when we pulled over at a scenic outlook. A nice elderly couple in a car had pulled over there as well and they were very excited about our adventure. They chatted with us a bit and kind of brightened our morning. We also met another cyclist who was traveling from Phoenix to Minnesota…he looked pretty rough. He was missing most of his teeth, had some pretty intense sun damage to his skin, was wearing shorts in 35 degree weather, and he didn’t have front brakes. The three of us took off down the hill at about the same time but he quickly passed us while yelling “Ho ho ho!” to Anna. It was weird.

Eventually we got to the bottom of the mountain and pushed on into Helena, where we found a Starbucks to sit down and warm our bodies. While we sat there a man named Fred Cowie approached us. It turns out Fred is a Professor of History at Carroll College in Helena, but his true passion is art. He chatted with us a bit about our lives and the adventures he has had. Just before he left the Starbucks, he gave us a beautiful small watercolor he painted and his business card. It was an amazing meet-up.

After we got a bit of work done at the Starbucks, we ran some last minute errands and then headed over to the home of our host for three nights. Nicolle found us on Couchsurfing and offered to let us stay at her place while in Helena. She has a beautiful house on a big plot of land with dogs and chickens. Overall it has been a great ride so far but we are looking forward to resting a bit, exploring what Helena has to offer us, and prepping for the next round of travel.

 

 

Spokane to Missoula

Well, this is just a little bit late. Last August we arrived in Missoula but never really got around to posting about the last leg. This will probably be a little short because it was so long ago but I’ll do my best with the notes I have. (Edit: It wasn’t short)

——

We left our wonderful hosts in Spokane early on Tuesday, August 5th. I didn’t expect to have such a great time in Spokane (the city of my birth) but it was wonderful. I could see us coming back to live here for a while or for a longer visit. Hopefully we will meet again someday, Jaimie and Sasha!

The ride out of the city was pretty easy. We encountered the standard urban stuff you deal with in cities…lots of stoplights and cars and random pedestrians…but soon we got out of town and hit a more rural environment. We had decent shoulders most of the way but we did encounter a pretty steep hill near some construction. The construction workers gave us a very encouraging “Good fucking luck!” as we peddled past them. The route continued to be a tad hilly but by mid afternoon we found ourselves at an unexpected haven, On Sacred Grounds coffee shop. On Sacred Grounds is owned by a cool couple who chatted with us and even put us on their website (which will never stop being funny to us). The coffee shop is kind of in the middle of nowhere and didn’t show up via Google search. I don’t think a lot of people stumble upon it but it was a pleasant oasis where we could refuel caffeine and rest in the AC.

Sadly, we had to hit the road again soon. We had an easy ride from that point on, mostly downhill, into Rockford. We couldn’t find a good place to camp in town because all the city parks had “no overnight camping” signs. We probably could have gotten away with it, there wasn’t exactly a lot of law enforcement around, but we had daylight and decided to press on. Eventually we found a spot near someone’s farm to set up the tent for the night. Anna and I got to bang in the moonlight, very romantic.

We woke pretty early with the sun but kind of took our time getting ready. Eventually the farmer who (apparently) owned the land we were on came over to see what all the commotion was about (we were throwing sticks for Higgs and just generally being loud). Once we explained what we were doing he was super supportive and didn’t care that we had camped on his land. Apparently, he’d been worried that we might be dumping garbage. That would make us assholes, and not the good kind of asshole that is involved with pegging and prostate play and double penetration. The farmer wished us luck, we hit the trail soon after that and after a few miles we crossed into Idaho!

State borders should have stable locations to set cameras.
Also, Higgins loves being held.

Our route ended up taking us through the Couer d’Alene Casino parking lot…which was weird. We resisted the urge to gamble and kept riding, but soon we encountered a locked gate blocking the road. A kind security guard opened the gate for us and said he would drive ahead to unlock the gate on the other end. Why is there a section of public road with two locked gates that require a casino security guard to open? We have no fucking clue. Anyway, as we were riding toward the other gate, the guard passed us on his way back to the casino. He waved to us. Unfortunately, he hadn’t unlocked the other gate…he didn’t have the key…but he decided not to mention this to us as he drove past. Instead, he drove back as we were carrying/passing our gear over and under the second, still-locked gate to let us know he hadn’t been able to unlock it. Yeah, we didn’t get it either.

After we finished maneuvering our gear and selves through the locked gate, we continued onward and soon arrived in a very small town called Worley. There wasn’t much to Worley except a shop that primarily sold tobacco but we decided to take a break in the shade and get some coffee. While Anna and Hans were in the store I saw a small dog run into the road and get hit by a car. It was freaking scary but there wasn’t much I could do because I was holding Higgs’ leash. A nice (motorcycle) biker ran out into the road and helped the dog get to safety. Overall the dog seemed shook up but okay, at least we hoped so.

Leaving Worley led us to a very hilly section of road. On one of the many hills, we passed an unexpected nudist resort. If we had had more time we probably would have stopped for a day or so, but alas, we had to continue on. Soon we got to one of the most amazing bike trails ever, the Couer d’Alene Trail. This trail is a rail-to-trail, meaning it is gloriously flat, and it is PAVED and beautifully maintained to boot! The trail took us over a lake, around islands, and through incredibly gorgeous marshlands. We had no idea Idaho, which we formerly only associated with potatoes, could be so beautiful! We saw tons of wildlife including two moose (which Higgs wanted to play with) and many different types of water fowl. The only bad thing about the trail was that there were a lot of warning signs to stay on the trail itself because the surrounding soil and water had been contaminated from the original railroad construction. In the middle of the trail we camped out at the Kahnderosa campground, which I think is some sort of pun related to the original Star Trek.

Once we got to Smelterville, which smelled very strongly of human waste, the scenery deteriorated pretty quickly. We couldn’t find a good coffee shop or place to relax, but we did find a Walmart to restock some supplies before heading off towards Kellogg. Kellogg, which we thought would have some decent WiFi, ended up being a goose chase for a while. (Several places that had showed up in Internet searches as having WiFi didn’t actually exist or had closed recently.) Eventually we found a community center where an amazing woman named Tommie offered us delicious blended frozen drinks for only a couple dollars and unlimited access to their WiFi network. We settled in for the afternoon to get some work done. When we finally headed out, Tommie gave us her phone number in case we needed her help with anything in the next couple days – so nice! We spent the rest of the afternoon riding out to Wallace where we camped for the night at an RV park that had a brew pub attached to it. Of course we imbibed.

The next day we went through several tiny Idaho towns before starting our climb to the Idaho-Montana border. Here is where I made a terrible mistake. Instead of following the Google bike route, I found a “shortcut” that cut 15-ish miles off the route. This shortcut ended up being the worst road ever. It warrants repeating. Worst. Road. Ever. The road was an extremely steep climb and filled with giant rocks and potholes, soft dirt, and gravel. Plus, part of the way up, we were only a few feet away from a cliff’s edge. We weren’t even sure it was accurate to call this thing a “road” since we doubted any vehicles could survive it. We tried to make it up this “road” just by pushing with all our might, but that wasn’t enough – we eventually needed to take turns and have several people push each bike/trailer one at a time, with Higgins helping to tow us up. It was THE WORST. I still feel guilty about deciding to take us that route. Seriously. Worst. Road. Ever.

Finally we made it to the top of the “road” with all our gear and (after a nice long picnic break to catch our breath) we got onto the real bike trail. This wasn’t particularly easy either…it was thick gravel and still slightly uphill. We managed to ride most of it at a good pace though. We made it all the way up to the crest, which was on the Montana-Idaho border, which was also a ski resort. Pro tip: If you are bicycling and see ski lifts then you have done something terribly wrong. We took a quick break, took a picture of the Montana border crossing sign (which was impossible to do with all of us in it), and smiled as we started a much-anticipated downhill. It’s nice to be reminded that every uphill has a downhill, and those downhills can be orgasmic. (Caution: I do not recommend attempting to orgasm while riding a bicycle down a hill).

Riding into Montana was the best road ever. It warrants repeating. Best. Road. Ever. Not only were we on a steady paved downhill along a highway, but we were on a freshly paved part of the road that was blocked from regular traffic. We literally had multiple lanes allll to ourselves, so we didn’t have to worry about semis zooming past us inches away. It was fantastic and such a treat after the hell-road earlier. As the sun began to set we found a field along a river that was blocked from the road to set up camp. We probably could’ve been seen from the highway, but we just threw some blankets over the tent and hoped for the best. And it worked, no one bothered us or called the cops on us all night! We woke and hit the road fairly early and stopped in St. Regis after a few miles to get some coffee. We also got a huckleberry shake and some fresh huckleberries, because apparently huckleberries both exist and are popular in Montana.

We made some pretty good time after St. Regis. The road was paved and either flat or downhill, but it was a hot one. The sun really can sap energy and we ended up taking a nap at an abandoned restaurant/casino right off the highway. After we got back on the road, the scenery started to change and the terrain became more hilly. This wasn’t the worst news though, I heard some weird noise coming from my bike and it turns out I had broken a couple spokes. Anna and Hans took as much weight as possible from me but the rear wheel continued to wobble pretty terribly. Eventually we got to a campground to discuss options. The nearest bike shop was about 50 miles away in Missoula, which meant separating for several days to get things fixed. Not ideal. We decided to press on.

After an hour or so of precarious riding, the sun was starting to set and I pulled over to discuss finding camping with Anna and Hans. While we were talking a sudden scream emitted from the road to our right. I looked over to see a strange person running towards us. That strange person ended up being one of my dearest friends, Blayne! She happened to be floating down the river that day with some friends and on their way home they spotted us on the side of the road. I knew we would see her in Missoula but we had no idea we would be in the same area on this day.

Blayne’s arrival ended up solving all our problems. They were in a truck towing a boat and there was just enough room to stow us, Higgs, and all of our gear and drive us all back to Missoula. So, I guess we cheated that 50 miles or so. Whatever. After the day we’d had, we were thrilled to hear our new heroes were going to a dive bar in Alberton before going home. We smelled terrible but joined them to get a few drinks. There is just something about a bar with bras on the ceiling, that only accepts cash, and where dogs roam free that makes us smile.

That night we slept hard, happy to be in Missoula and to have been rescued from a fate on par with the bicycle breakdown disaster we had back in Washington. We ended up liking Missoula so much that we paused the bike ride after Burning Man to stay here for the next eight months. All our time here has been amazing and we are so glad we got to spend our winter intermission exploring one of the most friendly and fun mountain towns in the world, making so many new friends we will never forget. Missoula, we love you, we’ll miss you, and we’ll be back soon! But now it’s time to hit the road again 🙂

Time to Hit the Ol’ Dusty Trail

My, how time has flown! Winter is finally over and we are preparing to hit the trail once again. In one week we will leave Missoula and continue our journey bicycling around the country. Missoula has been wonderful to us, we have met some amazing people, had an adventure or two, and fattened our bank accounts (as well as our waistlines). We have also made some changes to our little life.

The first, and foremost, change is that Hans is staying in Missoula. It is always bittersweet when travelers decide to part ways. We had some amazing times with her on the road but she has started on a new journey of her own. Change is the only constant in the universe. We all wish each other well, but from now on it will just be Anna, Higgs, and I cycling the continent. Because of the change we have created a new Facebook page to dump our photos on. If you are interested in that, please check out Shifts and Higgles – “shifts” because we are cyclists who shift gears pretty darn often and “Higgles” because that is one of the many nicknames of our amazing puppy.

Another change is that Anna and I have upgraded our bikes! Crank and Harmony have been wonderful but it was time to get something better suited for bike touring. This will be our lifestyle for a few years so it makes sense for us to invest in higher quality equipment. After many unanimous recommendations, we both purchased new Surly Disc Truckers. My new bike is named Sonder and Anna’s is named Ron (after Ron Burgundy, Ron Swanson, Ron Weasley, and all the other awesome Rons out there).

sonder n. the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own—populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness—an epic story that continues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to thousands of other lives that you’ll never know existed, in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk.

Sonder

In addition to the bikes we also purchased two new trailers from CycleTote (one for Higgins and one for equipment). Anna and I will both be working part-time online on the road so we upgraded our electronics as well.  Our big purchase was a GoalZero solary panel system. We went with Yeti 150 Solar Generator and a Nomad 20 Portable Solar Panel. The panel will spend most of it’s time on the back of Higgs trailer to power everything up while we ride. We also picked up a Jackery Giant+ to keep my phone charged while we travel, using it as a guidance system and an audio player can drain the battery pretty quickly. Oh, and I will keep using my Samsung S4 Mini… because I love it. All this new gear was fairly pricey but after our past rides and researching other similar travelers it seems like the best set up for us.  Plus, how else were we going to spend the money we saved from living in Missoula for eight months?? (Apparently living in Western Montana is just a tiiiny bit cheaper than Los Angeles.)

POWER!!!!

 

Higgs CycleTote Trailer with GoalZero Solar Panel

Our journey begins again on May 12th and we will be heading in a generally eastern direction, towards the Great Lakes. If our past rides have taught us anything, it’s that we shouldn’t really get too attached to any specific plans. We’re sure this route will change many times over, but here is a map of our next leg. As always, if you know of any awesome people, beautiful sites (or sights), places to get vegan food, breweries, nudist resorts, or places to bang please let us know.

And here is a picture of Higgins because he is the cutest.