Day 40 - Williston, ND to Culbertson, MT

Miles biked for the day: 45

Total miles biked to date: 2038

Nick, Micah and I slept in a bit because we stayed up so late talking and enjoyed I yummy bowl of leftover coconut curry for breakfast. Nick and I biked 3 miles together before he split off for the Lewis and Clark trail that will take him to Wyoming. Another day of fighting cross headwinds, and suffering some cold raindrops. I reached Montana and two civil engineers were standing near the Welcome to North Dakota sign. When I reached North Dakota in Fargo no sign existed on that particular route and I needed a photo for my blog. One of the guys jokingly said, "Yes, you can take my photo." So I took their photo and he took a photo of me in front of the sign. Miles later I stopped into a restaurant for a quick bite and a break from the wind and in walk the same two civil engineers. They joined me for lunch and I then learned they both live in the town in which I will be biking to tomorrow. JJ said he has an extra bedroom if I would like to stay at his house. Sweet - another night of free lodging!

I arrived fairly early to my destination town of Culberton, MT. I stopped into to the town's museum. Lorraine and Russell (the most adorable couple who have been married for 61 years who volunteer at the museum) greeted me and gave me a wonderful tour of their amazing museum. I could not believe the quality and the amount of artifacts in this museum. At the completion of the very personal tour (since these two grew up in the town and even have some clothes and artifacts in the museum) we sat down and ate homemade cookies and coffee.

I made my way to my lodging for the evening. Micah (my host from Williston) had a friend who knew the pastor of the Lutheran Church and Al the pastor offered for me to stay in the church.

I changed time zones (mountain time) and had oodles of time in a town with nearly nothing to do so I went searching to find a computer. When I stepped into the local motel to ask the receptionist if the town had a library she asked if I was biking with the other cyclists. "What, there are other cyclists here!?" The receptionist rang up Margaret to meet me in the lobby and she told me her story. Margaret's husband (Berry) is biking across the country from Washington to Maine with a family friend (Jonathan - 19 y/o) and they would be arriving in a couple of hours. Margaret drives from town to town with their gear, arranges for hotels and everything else in between. She had two computers so she generously let me use the computer until the boys arrived. Jonathan on a much tighter budget than the couple had planned to camp in the town's city park, but I invited him to stay with me in the church. When the boys arrived we celebrated and gave hugs all around in the excitement of meeting other cyclists. They also completed their second day in a row of 100 miles days. We cruised in the sag wagon over to the local pizza parlor and enjoyed a fun evening of sharing stories, offering advice and giving some precious cycling information. I introduced Jonathan to couchsurfing and gave him the contacts of all of the people I have stayed with. He commented, "This is like Christmas!"