Browning, MT Ants....sprinklers....storms!

We didn't actually get out of Great Falls until 2pm. We stopped at Walmart for a prescription refill and then headed to 3D International for lunch. The restaurant had been recommended to me by a good friend. Although, he suggested the steaks they didn't have steaks on their lunch menu. So we had their Mongolian BBQ. It was really good. We stuffed ourselves and then finally got on our way towards Fairfield on Rt. 89. Leaving Great Falls was alittle tricky but we only had one turn around so that's pretty good for us! What we thought was going to be a 20 mile ride actually turned into a 40 mile ride. Someone who was reading the map failed to see the little 10 mile number on one stretch of the road. Oh well, what's another 20 miles! There were quite a few climbs on the route and of course it was hot again. 100 degrees. We stopped at a gas station to stock up on water. We have run out of water on rides before and it is not a fun thing to do. The traffic wasn't too bad. They gave us plenty of room even though there wasn't much of a berm. As we got to the outskirts of Fairfield we saw some Montana tandem camels! The picture is above. We weren't sure what was available for camping in Fairfield. When we got there we went into the grocery store for supplies and asked. One of the ladies said that there were no campgrounds but she had seen people camp in the city park. We said that would work. She said her husband worked for the city she would check with him. We asked if there was a city pool. She said yes it is by the park! We rode down the street to the pool. I went in to ask if we could take a shower. They said sure we could. After our shower we had dinner. Tonight was a bag of caeser salad and turkey, oreo cookies, fruit and milk. We started to set up the tent, when the city worker stopped by and said there are sprinklers (now do you get where the title is from????) buried somewhere but I don't know where. They come on at 10 pm. Hap looked all over and couldn't see any so we set up. The sheriff drove by so we also asked if it was ok to camp. He said no problem. On another tour in Oregon we had camped in a rest area. I don't think the sign that we camped behind "No Camping" applied to bicycles. We had been caught and had no choice but to get off the road. So we "hid" behind the sign. All night long I was sure that a helicopter with spotlights was shining was going to be hovering over our tent with loudspeakers saying "YOU IN THE TENT COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP! BACK AWAY FROM THE TENT!" Since that trip we were very careful to get permission to camp. Just before we were getting in the tent, two women came walking over. One was waving a flyswatter! I asked her if she was going to hit me!! It turned out they were old friends since the fourth grade. Shirley was from the Seattle area and visited about once per year. We had a great conversation with them. Then Shirley gave us her phone number and address and invited us to stay with her in Seattle. We got into the tent about 9 p or so, almost right away I started feeling something crawling....in the sheets....I got the flashlight out and couldn't see anything. But finally I did find one ant crawling on my leg. At 10 pm we heard "Thump...thump...thump....on the side of the tent!" Uh oh! We jumped out and saw a sprinkler going off about a foot from the tent! Mmmm ....wonder how I missed that, said Hap? We finally blocked the spray with a big trash can and a bench and got back in the tent. I kept feeling crawly things in the sheets. I kept looking with the flashlight but couldn't see anything. So now I'm wondering, "Is there really anything there or am I imagining it??" Hap didn't seem to be bothered or at least he snored through the crawling! All of a sudden we heard "Thump...thump...thump..." on the other side of the tent! Uh oh, so Hap jumped out and I could hear him dragging another trash can. I was fighting my own battles with my imaginary or NOT creepy crawly things. Hap finally got back in the tent...for awhile then we heard "Thump....thump...thump..." again. This time it was hitting the bike. Thank goodness we had put it in our garage! So out Hap went again. And me, I got out took the sheets and shook them. We both got back into the tent just as a storm hit. It was mostly alot of lightening and wind, not much rain. But it sure whipped the tent around. I put lotion on, took a benadryl and thought of something else other than crawly thingys. We finally got to sleep about 3 pm.

The next morning we had planned to get an early start to beat the heat. But we overslept, I wonder why? We ate breakfast at a nice cafe in town. Since we of course didn't beat the heat, it turned into another hot day of 107 degrees. Today we had our first view of the Rocky mountains. I know it was the Rockies because there was a sign that said ROCKY MOUNTAINS. We rode all day on Rt 89. We stopped in Choteau for milkshakes. We had more climbing today. We passed alot of lakes and places to watch birds. We had a slight tailwind most of the day. We stopped in Bynum to fill our waterbottles. Talk about a town in the middle of nowhere! We couldn't even find any shade. We got into Dupuyre expecting to find a campground. At the visitor center in Choteau the person running it said, oh yes there is a big campground there right on the edge of town, just across the bridge. Dupuyre was just one road (Rt 89) and that's about it. We looked for the campground across the bridge and was only able to find a rest area with a big sign that said NO CAMPING! (See above!). We went back into town (and I use that term loosely....) to the only business which was a bar. We went in and the first thing we noticed was the tv and it was 3pm. We asked if they could get VERSUS so we could watch Le Tour de France. Of course you can she said. We sat in the bar drinking lemonade for two hours watching tv and trying to cool off. We noticed the sign that said Happy Hour 5-6:30pm. $1.00 beer. We also asked if there was camping. She said there was a city campground, but there was not water and it wasn't maintained. We asked her if there was any place to take a shower. She said yes and called her son Avery. A cute little guy about 8 yrs old on his bike. He said take these people down to the house so they can shower. Off we went following Avery to their guest house for a great shower. We went over to the park, set up the tent and went back to the bar for a dinner of taco salad and burgers. Oh and the $1 beer! It was great. We went back to the park and had to take the rainfly off the tent because it was still so hot. We laid in the tent and watched the movie "Sideways" that I had picked up for 5 bucks at Walmart. It was a good movie. We had a good nights sleep. No sprinklers, no bugys and no storms!

This morning we fixed oatmeal, peanut butter, bagels and coffee for breakfast. We went back over to bar and loaded up with water for our long ride across the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. We are still on Rt 89 heading for Glacier Park. The terrain is barren. We can still see the mts in the distance. But not much else. We had alot of 3-4 mile climbs and short downhills. The biggest obstacle for today (remember Dugan "Obstacles are meant to overcome!) was the wind. I don't think we have ever ridden in wind like today. With the wind blowing us sideways and the trucks passing us it was just plain scary. Hap was having a heck of a time hanging onto our beast of burden. At one point we climbed for about an hour and expected a downhill to rest and had to pedal down the hill in our granny gear! That's just wrong. It cannot be healthy! Why was it that we are doing this?? I really didn't like the ride today. Fun?? What happened to fun?? Hey Hap......oh never mind you can't hear me....cause the WIND is blowing to hard! Our plan was to ride across the reservation to St Mary. But when we got to Browning, we still had 35 miles to go INTO the wind. It wasn't difficult to decide to stay in Browning. We rode into town, stopped at a gas station and bought something cold to drink first. There were no services for today, so it was a good thing we had filled our camelback water carrier before we left Dupyre. We found the Western Hotel and walked down the street to do our laundry. On the way back to the hotel we stopped to get a pizza for dinner. The air conditioning felt great! Today was our hardest day of riding so far. The hills weren't so bad but the wind was a challenge. Tomorrow we'll head out for St Mary's. We may not have computer coverage for a few days but I'll try to post soon. Until next time........