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.
Barely Functional Adults 