June 25 to July 1

Harlem, Montana to Surrey, North Dakota

Thursday, June 25, 1998 - Day 14 - 79.22 miles - to Harlem, MT.

David and I left at 7:00 AM this morning as the rest slept in. Our normal routine was to get up at 6:00 AM and be on the road before 7:00 AM. We rode about 10 miles before breakfast, and continued on US 2 through Havre which was too busy and noisy for our tastes. We stopped, in Havre, long enough for me to buy a new rear flasher as the one I had somehow got lost in Sandpoint, ID. (it just disappeared) and the one had picked up in Libby, MT. was junk and did not work. I could not tell it would not work until later in the day when I got some batteries. Any case the one a got in Havre was ok. I only needed this rear flasher a couple of times during the tour, but it was nice to have.

The Montana prairie was prettier and more interesting than we expected. It was green rather than the expected brown or yellow and we watched distant small mountains slowly fall behind as we traveled. Tail winds also added to the general enjoyment. There was not much of a shoulder to ride on but traffic was light.

We pulled into Harlem and set up our tents in the city park next to the swimming pool after clearing it with city officials. I noted the sign on a box in the park with the sprinkler watering schedule. I asked the officials about it and was told that someone comes at 2:00 AM and, if there are campers, he doesn't turn on the sprinklers. Ha!!!!!

Scott and the Girls showed up later as did Dave and Julia. Even through the sky was doing it's usual afternoon thickening, they broke Tom & David's #1 rule of camping: set up the tents first. They parked their bikes and went swimming on this hot day. It wasn't but a few minutes later when David and I dove for our tents, as the shower hit, and we listened to the others scrambling to set up their tents and get their gear inside.

Swoosh........Swoosh........Swoosh........ What's that noise? I think I know, thought David, but was afraid to look. He turned on the light in his tent and saw it was 11:30 PM. He unzipped the tent, looked out and saw the industrial-strength lawn sprinkler sweeping and blasting the girl's tent and spraying the others within reach. Harlem, Montana Town officials had lied to us about the sprinklers and a few passing youths were laughing at the spectacle. It appeared that the youth's were hanging around to see the scramble. Scott and David emerged from their tents as did his very tired, sleepy and wet daughters Sarah and Lisa from their's. They dragged the girl's tent over next to mine. I had woken up but was not alert enough to understand what was going on, so I stayed in my tent. Crisis over, all want back to bed.

Splatter........Splatter........Splatter........ Oh Great, 1:00 AM and it must be the other sprinklers. This time the stream was hitting all the rest of the tents and even more incredibly, the girl's tent had been dragged over on top of one of the now-active sprinkler heads. Everyone exited their tent, except for Julia and me, who again sleep-in. While someone held on to the sprinkler head to prevent it from turning, others ran around for stuff to cover the sprinkler. Dave placed a 55 gallon oil drum trash can over the closest sprinkler, but, that was no good as it sounded like a 747 running-up for take-off. Then the drum was placed between the sprinkler and the tents which deflected the water with far less noise. Dave found a second drum for the other sprinkler. At last, all those who were up went back to bed. The next morning the town official that I had talked to walked by, on his way to work, with his head down and would not look at us.

After all this was my birthday and I always sleep-in on this day.

Friday, June 26, 1998 - Day 15 - 50.72 miles - to Malta, MT.

We got off to a fast start today, covering 50 miles in 3:20 minutes. "It's starting to rain. Let's wait a little while and see what it does." We had just finished lunch in Malta and were about to continue on. Watching the rain get heavier and an east wind come up, we took shelter in a store being used for construction storage (windows and doors). This store had nice big front windows that we could watch the rain from. The owners of the store were next store in their other store and did not mind us being there, even our bikes were inside the store. David was restless but we were dry. I put some cardboard on the floor and took a nap, while David continued to watch.

Soon, Scott and the girls splashed by, David ran out to speak to them. They had rain gear on and were going to try to keep moving. After a few hours, we gave up and I scouted for the cheapest motel room in town. The owner of the motel even drove us to a restaurant for dinner, we walked back. As we went to sleep we could only hope that the rain would stop.

Saturday, June 27, 1998 - Day 16 - 00.00 miles - to Malta, MT.

We woke up to rain. We walked the 3/4 mile, in the rain, to the same restaurant, only to find it closed and had to walk back to the motel. After drying off a little we found another restaurant for breakfast. The owner of the motel let us stay in the room after check-out time as we hoped the rain would stop. It did not, so we planned to stay for a second night. David read a book that he had along while I watched the weather channel. Later that night we went to the only movie house in town and saw Godzilla with about 20 kids. The owner of the movie theater drove us back to the motel, it was still raining. We found out later that Dave and Julia were also holed up in this town, but in a different motel and apparently hitting different restaurants.

Sunday, June 28, 1998 - Day 17 - 125.92 miles - to Wolf Point, MT.

"It's not raining. Lets hit the road." Leaving Malta, we were warned about mosquitos in Seco, the mosquito capital of Montana, and indeed we found them. Driven by a strong tail wind, we were in Glascow for lunch (70 miles by 12:10). After lunch, I realized that I had a chance to beat my all time record for 100 miles. As David stopped to retie his shoe lace I jumped on it. I was flying and soon realized that I could be under 6 hours if I just kept pumping. David, would later tell me, that he couldn't catch me as he was spun out in his highest gear, 74 inches. I had a high of 103 inches and enjoyed every bit of it. As I reached the 100 mile mark I stopped to record the new record, 100 miles in 5 hours and 49 minutes. The last 25 miles we rode together in to Wolf Point, MT. We made up one day we lost sitting in Malta, MT.

We hadn't caught Scott, but there was a biker on the lawn of the motel, which was also a RV park and campground. We stopped to talk with him. He greeted us with "you must be David and Tom." He was stranger to us, but, his bike wasn't. I recognized it as the bike from Avalanche Creek Campground. So we met Jason, a biker from Michigan who had ridden all over the mountains of the west before hitting the trail east. At Avalanche, he was hiking with some girls he had met when we were setting up our tents. He was still-sleeping when we left early the next morning. Jason went over Logan Pass in the afternoon. Later, Dave and Julia arrived as did another biker, Mike. We almost had a party that night while wondering, where are Scott and the girls?

By this time, David and I realized that following an established long-distance route would mean that we would have company. We were constantly being told that such and such bikers are X days ahead. It seemed that all bikers knew who was ahead of them and sometimes behind and also who was passing in the other direction. The bikers tended to stop at the same convenience stores and selected restaurants. There is a bicycle fellowship which surfaces on epic trips. David knew this from a similar experience in Yugoslavia in 1979.

Monday, June 29, 1998 - Day 18 - 104.1 miles - to Williston, ND.

Today we would depart Montana and enter North Dakota. We kept being told, by the locals, that we were riding "the high line." This refers to the highest railroad in the 48 states. The road to Williston, ND. was surprisingly hilly and the surface less than marginal. The thickening clouds chased us in and David and I couldn't keep up with a much younger and stronger Jason (26). After dodging some serious rain, we camped in the city park and showered at the town's recreation building all for free.

David rode around and checked out the other parks to look for Scott and his daughters, and get his 100 miles. There was no sign of them. We had heard they were ahead of us but not how far nor did we know if they would continue past Williston. David and I had dinner at a restaurant, named "Bonanza." This was a new one for me. It was an all-you-can-eat place and we made them pay for that statement. A local rider, Aaron, came by and said "hello" to us, he would escort us out of town the next day, longing to join us it seemed.

Tuesday, June 30, 1998 - Day 19 - 77.5 miles - to New Town, ND.

Our route left US 2 for ND 1804, named for the Lewis and Clark expedition. We climbed and descended long hills in grasslands north of Lake Sakakawea (dammed up Missouri River), we met an older biker, Jim from Seattle, on a recumbent heading west. He left the east coast on May 28th, and looked very capable and comfortable and also told us that Scott and the girls were not far ahead of us. I told David to go for it. He calculated that is was not possible to catch someone who was 3 or 4 miles ahead of you without a great effort. Never the less I knew that he wanted to go for it. "There they are." I spotted them about 2 miles ahead on the uphill side of the valley facing us. David spin ahead and caught them. Soon I was up with them also. It was reunion time and as we rode together we talked about all our respective adventures since Malta, MT. As we rode along we kept a wary eye to our rear where lighting and heavy rain were visible as we rode into New Town, ND. We would learn that Jason was caught in the thunder storm and got very wet.

The map said to check with the New Town police for camping. They let us camp right behind the station and use the facilities inside (showers, kitchen and the squad room for our bikes) and encouraged us to. We got the feeling that there were safety issues there, although, the only disquiet were constant firecrackers (the 4th was approaching). Jason showed up and we all had an exciting evening doing laundry and celebrating Jason's birthday (27).

In New Town, we had our only instance of someone going into one of our tents. Some local kids put a kitten in my tent as a prank. Unfortunately, it was scared, and made a mess in my tent. It took me several days to find it all and get the smell out. The others gave me a little extra distance during this time.

Wesnesday, July 01, 1998 - Day 20 - 87.69 miles - to Surrey, ND.

The ride to Minot was warm and uneventful, but and I enjoyed every mile while the other thought it was a bit hot. We had a picnic, in a grassy area between the lanes of highway 83 which goes into Minot. Minot, was very busy a so we decided to roll on a little farther to Surrey. We did stop at a bike shop so David could buy a new water bottle, his was getting kind of green inside.

There was no one to ask about camping in the city park, so we put up our tents and waited to see what would happen. It was not long before the police showed up, a resident called him. If you think that you ride into a small town and no one knows that you are there you are very wrong. The policeman said there was no problem, but wanted to be sure that we'd be moving on in the morning. Dinner was difficult as there was no real restaurant, but there was a mini-mart that made pizza. All six of us shared 3 pizza for dinner that night. This was also our 2nd time without a shower.

While in Minot, David called Tom S. This is where he originally was to leave us and this was the date (July 1). He described his riding to Spokane, rain near Usk, WA., and said he saw us from the train window as he traveled across Montana. He also had no hard feeling on the whole experience.

Summary

This third week we rode 525.13 miles with an average of 87.52 per day. We also stayed in our first motel, two night, due to rain. My memory of this week will always be my fast century.