Luckily I put a tarp over Breezey and put everything else in my vestibule. It pays to stormproof all the time. Pretty much put me over the edge on this whole green lawn thing. There are more than 12,000 species of grasses and we choose to force one kind to cover every empty space of developed land.
Emerged from the tent feeling well irrigated. Had my usual granola breakfast in the gazebo around 6. Chilly this morning. Katie cooked up breakfast burritos last night and gave me one for the morning. I saved it for the road.
I was on the move by 7:30 and rode west out of Havre up a large incline. There was construction, narrow lanes and the pick-ups going to work had to wait behind me. Sorry, not sorry.
At the top of the hill is a famous Buffalo Kill, a cliff where the plains indians would chase the buffalo over the edge to hunt them, collecting thier remains at the bottom, using everything. There's evidence they had been doing it there for over 5,000 years. Now, there's a Holiday Inn there.
The day was smoky again. Cooler, and some tailwind. Easy going. Stopped in Kremlin, about 20 miles out.
It was real dead.
I rested at the schoolhouse. I had a feeling school would not be in session this Fall.
From Kremlin there were several towns, all 6 or 10 miles apart. As the man in the park said last night, they were placed there as rest stops for the postman's horses; evenly spaced water breaks and drop centers for the spread out farmers.
There was Gilford, Hingham, Rudyard and Invarness. You can see them coming for miles; dark green bunches of trees with a tall silo and water tower standing above them. Those are the occupied ones. Others, less fortunate, lack the trees but the silo still stands tall like a metal gravestone in a massive prarie graveyard.
Joplin was the next stop. This town had some humor.
Just 10 miles more and I was in Chester. These towns all look alike. Sometimes I have to look at the water tower to remember which one I'm in.
I'll stop here for the day, nothing beyond here for quite a ways. The wind was shifting to the south as I pulled in, and it seems it will be from the west be tomorrow morning. Want to make it to Cut Bank. Hope it doesn't kill me.
Stopped at the library for a while. Got some crackers at the store when the library closed. I'm eating the last of my food up tonight and tomorrow, for my mother has agreed to meet me in Cut Bank with her little trailer. I'll be glad to see her. In many ways this trip has made me more mature- just more experience under the belt, but there's no doubt I'll be ready to have mama take care of me for a while. She'll be my support vehicle for the mountain passes. At first I thought it might be against my principles to let someone carry my gear, but gosh darn it I've carried it just about 2,600 miles so far, I think I could use a hand getting over the continental divide.
Rob and Katie and later Dennis and Marie, my cycling friends from the past couple days all showed up in the park. They went out for dinners and a shower and left me be to cook dinner.
I had just finnished dishes (dish, rather, I have but one) from my chicken couscous soup and was sitting down to write a postcard when I heard that terrible sound and had a flashback to this morning. pssSSSSTT... sprinklers starting up...
I jumped out the hammock and pulled my tent out of the firing line, cursing the whole time, and dodging the hoses like a thief in a heist movie around those red lazers. Dennis and Marie had left thier doors open to keep it cool and they got sprayed pretty good. I ran over and closed them quick as I could. I went over to the sign that had told us specifically to camp there so that the sprinklers wouldn't get us and called the number for the city office. Fella answered and I was fuming, but trying to hold it together. He came by and shut it off and apologized, which I guess was nice. Just couldn't get over getting sprayed twice in one day. I think America needs a lawn intervention. This has gone too far.
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