Previous entry: "Forsynth to Lame Deer" | Next entry: "Broadus to Alzada" 08/01/2007 Entry: "Lame Deer to Broadus" Greetings, all, from the cozy office of our Broadus host John. This morning it was very difficult to get up. We stayed up much later than we usually do watching fireworks and hanging out with Deacon Joe's family. It was completely worth it, and very entertaining, but getting on a bike seemed like much less fun than sleeping in the comfy church basement we found ourselves in. None-the-less, we still got up and on the road early enough to avoid a bit of heat. Immediately after I left the church, I was waved down by a group of people on the other side of the intersection. They were the support drivers for a group of Manitobans (what do you call someone from Manitoba?) doing a ride from Yellowstone back to Manitoba to raise money for Habitat for Humanity. They offered me fruit and water and lots of little tie-pins of Canadian and Manitoban flags for all my friends. Then I actually did start riding. Highway 212 out of the North Cheyenne Reservation is very hilly, and very beautiful. There were several "hills" that should have been called passes, and a pass that should have been called a hill along the ride. As I rode up the first "hill" I looked ahead to see Karen talking to a woman who was in the ditch with her motorcycle. She said she was fine, and we helped her pick up her bike (which only had a bent handlebar), and she told us that she would be fine...so we kept riding. All in all, it was not bad as motorcycle accidents go. We couldn't figure out what would have made her run off the road there. She must have gotten cowed. So, we continued to ride. The headwind got stronger as the day went on, keeping me cool and keeping everyone else cursing. The hills continued, not getting much smaller all day. As for me, I was glad that the wind kept up. Even into the afternoon, the wind was occasionally cooling, and I was able to prevent any heat headaches. I was constantly getting distracted by the beautiful prarie flowers growing along the roadside, so I stopped quite often to take pictures. Like usual, I fell behind towards the end of the day taking my time in the head and snapping shots along the way. When I finally pedalled down the hill against the headwind into Broadus at around 4:30 (A very long day) I found Seager, Karen and MinWah at the cafe each with a big peice of pie. It was their reward for completing what they considered the hardest day yet. It certainly was a challenging day, with the wind and heat and hills, and toward the end the maddening lack of anything interesting to look at or think about with so little energy...oh, and the fact that everyone except me ran out of water due to a 40 mile stretch of nothing that took much longer than expected (I carry over a gallon, so I was fine)...but Broadus quickly helped us to improve our suffering spirits. At the checkout line in the grocery store, the pharmacist approached us and asked if we were biking cross-country. Upon hearing our condensed story, he offered his house as our refuge for the night. It is in that wonderful house that I sit now, clean and cool and waiting for our laundry to get done. John and his wife Amy have five children, and are expecting their sixth this Saturday. We are very lucky to have found John, an avid bike enthusiast, and to have been invited to stay in his lively household. As I type, Mary is sitting on the desk next to me waiting patiently for me to finish and do something more exciting. Tomorrow we'll head toward Alzada, our last overnight town in the wonderful state of Montana. It will be a bittersweet feeling to ride over the border away from this land of beef and honey, where the roads are lined with sunflowers and prarie dogs. Montana hospitality will be hard to beat, but we look forward to many more adventures through South Dakota and then into IOWA! RAGBRAI is coming quickly! Replies: Leave us a note! (1) Ariel, I was in Eugene/ Springfield/ Florence for a camp inspection and to hand off some things (cold - seems really only cool- packs, book for Seagar, towel and note for you) to Auntie Lu. She talked to Kendra, who will bring the stuff to RAGBRAI; best way I think to get it to you. I forgot I still have Karen's black shorts in my van, but they can travel to Wisconsin via St. Louis later this month. Good riding, and think about those COOL waterfalls in the Columbia River Gorge! -AA Posted by Auntie Anne @ 07/06/2007 10:43 AM CST

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