52 miles. Another “heroic” struggle against the wind.

We had a great plan today, to make 102 miles from Wolf Point to Glendive, putting us on the threshold of stepping into North Dakota. As is said, “no battle plan survives contact with the enemy.” Today the wind was our enemy so our plan flew by the wayside after 6 hours or so of hard pedaling, we even had to pedal going downhill! We sought refuge in the little agricultural town of Circle where anti-meth posters compete with new John Deere tractors for attention on Main Street.

There is only one motel in town, the other two are boarded up, so our choice was limited. But run down as it is, the motel gets us out of the wind and even has wi-fi.

Our trek today took us south east away from the Hi Line and the BNSF railroad. We crossed the Missouri River and then the fun began. The road crosses a series of ridges that separate the Missouri drainage and the Yellowstone River so we were constantly up but very little down thus far.  The up hills lead to plateaus and then more up hills all to the background of the wind buffeting us and whistling in our ears. On coming trucks provide a passing air dam that at times can bring a cyclist almost to a halt. Trucks passing on our side give one a shocking push but then the draft can push the bicycle away or even suck the bike into the whirlwind behind the truck. So the ride was stressful!

The landscape we are riding through is of vast fields of sweet smelling clover and wheat all bright green. That hue against the cloudless blue of the Big Sky reminds me of the Tellytubby set!

Tellytubbies?

The wind direction is predicted to shift to be from the north tomorrow so we’ll have a little advantage since we will be heading east toward Glendive.

Shiny new grain storage and a tiny little church.