Day 18 - Hysham to Miles City - "Riding in the Donut Hole"

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, HYSHAM TO MILES CITY, MT

76.1 miles

1029.56 miles to date

Today was 72 miles of pure headwind and we are beat. Plus, I have a sore and tight gluteous (or bun) muscle that has pulled at my lower back all day. Headwinds are hard for Gerry to start with, so we both had to give our attitudes over to the Lord all day.

We woke up to blue skies again, but the weather report said that this area is in a "donut hole" of a large weather system that is circling Montana (Bozeman is getting snow today, we heard.). We thought we'd better get a move on early to try to stay ahead of what is reported to come this way.

So we left town just past 7:30 and headed east on highway 311 - straight east for 11 miles. It did bend slightly a couple times in the next 17 miles into Forsyth, with a couple climbs.

At Forsyth, we took a break at the DQ tables out of the wind. I called my brother to ask for some prayer for extra strength today. To have this headwind after two previous long days is pretty taxing. Arlen said it was snowing and raining with a stiff wind there in the Paradise Valley.

We rode the frontage road to the exit just before Rosebud then got on the freeway. We were glad we did because the frontage road after that had some pretty nasty climbs that the freeway didn't have.

At mile marker 113 on I-94 we hit 1000 miles.(For those of you who are following us as part of home-schooling geography, that's just before Hathaway.) We went into the rest stop just down the hill, where Gerry enjoyed talking with an older gentleman from Wisconsin. He also has twin (adult) sons, and told us of several similar incidents that would happen to them even though they were miles apart.

After Hathaway, we had six more ups and downs before reaching Miles City. We figure that we probably climbed at least eight miles today when you add them all together.

As I mentioned in one of the earlier entries, when we're climbing my mind goes a lot of different directions. Today, I composed a little ditty to the tune of "Are You Sleeping?" or, if you prefer, "Where is Thumbkin?" Enjoy. (It's based on a t-shirt that I have.)

Life is simple.

Life is simple.

Outrun the rain,

Ride through the pain.

Life is very simple

When all you do is pedal.

Eat. Sleep. Ride.

Eat. Sleep. Ride. (tee hee)

We kept one eye on our rear view mirrors, watching that dark bank of clouds as it chased us all the way. It moved slower than we thought it should, so we believe it was God's graciousness to us.

Finally, reaching Miles City at 3:00, we found a motel, checked in, dropped the trailer, sprinted down to the grocery store for some milk, fruit, Mtn Dew and chocolate (the two essentials!) and got back to the room before the rain hit. The temperature dropped a good 15 degrees since we got here.

Tonight, I finally got pizza! (Thank you, Aunt Marteena.)We had it delivered because I wasn't about to get back on that bike again today! especially in the rain. A hot shower, Dr. Advil & Tylenol and rest make the rest of the evening look better