Day 46 - Havre to Chester, MT

Miles traveled today: 68
Total mileage to date: 2382

Knowing we had a big day ahead of us with 64 miles and significant cross winds, we woke up early and left Mike and Pat's house by 7:00am. We headed downtown and enjoyed a nice breakfast at a downtown diner with a fairly minimal debate concerning which restaurant to choose. We played another round of spades while waiting for our meal.

We had nearly ran out of water and arrived to a town that according to the map had a service station (I suppose many years ago they had a service station). Nothing existed in the town so we needed to find someone to help us out. Gretchen, the youngest, least experienced and most shy of the three of us has taken a back seat on making a lot of decisions and does not argue when Nicole or I take the lead. Nicole and I thought that we should encourage Gretchen step it up a little and challenge herself. We gave Gretchen the task of procuring water from a local person. This task proved to be a perfect skill level challenge and although it slightly put Gretchen out of her comfort zone, she passed with flying colors with our bottles filled to the brim with yummy water. We found a small park and enjoyed a lovely mid morning meal.

The weather has been gorgeous (besides the tough winds) with sunny days and 60 degree temperatures.

We moved along to our next town and needed more food to fill our bellies. We stopped into a small town that had a tiny grocery store and tables to sit. Ted, the clerk, sang sweet music to our ears when he told us he had free popcorn from the popcorn machine. We took full advantage of his offer. We bought a frozen pizza and Ted had a pizza oven he let us use. We also played a round of spades with my deck of cards which has become quite the addictive activity for us girls. A 92 year old local character, Lawerence, walked in a joined us for lunch. He was a sweet man with interesting stories about his town. We offered to buy him a soda and he said, "Having the chance to talk with you lovely girls is worth so much more than a soda."

We moved along another 6 miles and Nicole raised the white flag on biking for the day since she had not slept well the three previous nights. Nicole made a friend at a convenience store that happened to be driving to Chester so she hopped in her truck for the remaining 25 miles. Gretchen and I trudged on into the winds on our bikes. I was so proud of Gretchen! We completed 68 miles - her longest day on the bike!

Nicole made it to Chester 4 hours earlier than Gretchen and I and met up with our couchsurfing host, Tyrel, for the evening. The two went grocery shopping and when Gretchen and I arrived we had a cold beer and a spaghetti dinner waiting for us. Nicole even bought ice cream. Tyrel invited a couple of friends over and the 6 of us had a great evening filled with laughter and fun stories.

The naming of the bikes: Nicole being the oldest and most experienced is riding Charlie the bike and pulling Bob Sr. I am riding The Dawg and pulling Bob Jr. and Gretchen is riding Elmo the bike and pulling Baby Bob (aka: B squared). I am not sure why, but we have gotten a kick out of naming our bikes and referring to them as if they are human beings.