Friday, Jun 17, Stanford to Lewistown, MT

 We wanted to get an early start as winds were supposed to be stronger as the day went on and the temperature was supposed to climb to 90.  So today was the first time we put on our shorts and we set off a little after 7 on a bright, clear morning with little wind and a waning moon low in the west. We could still see a few mountains with some snow on their tops and thought this might be the last time but continued to see new ones during the day. At one stretch of the road two large birds with very, very long beaks started circling us and crying out. We figured out that they were long-billed curlews. We think they were acting like killdeer in seeking to draw us away from where they were nesting. We think we saw one of them south of Cut Bank as well but that one was walking on the ground. We also saw a good-sized dead bird along the roadside, it was an owl. As the road curved around the village of Moccasin, saw a lady cleaning up a little entry garden into the small village and chatted with her. Found out she has a ranch six  miles from Stanford and  because of how they sit in relationship to the mountains, they have plenty of moisture for their crops, unlike others who are in drought. There was a hand pump in the area she was cleaning up, the well has been there since 1910 and still works. After a stretch of road where we were almost going straight into the wind, we were ready for a break and went off the route into Hobson where there was supposed to be a cafe or restaurant. We ended up at Full Curl Smokers that is in the business of barbecuing and smoking meats. We had an early lunch of their beef with Kansas-style bbq sauce, beans and coleslaw, rhubarb-apple cobbler and a chocolate milkshake. A former superintendent and a school teacher from the Dallas-Fort Worth area had started the business 4 months ago and were doing well. As Jim was parking his bike at a convenience store, he met an 80 year old lady who used to ride bucking broncos and bulls and was very good at it. She was wearing a big belt buckle that she won at a competition. She told us we will have trouble with our knees by bicycling. However, we think one would have more trouble riding bucking broncos then from bicycling, because she had broken her left knee twice.  Shortly after that came the bend in the road that Kay had been waiting for which put the wind mainly at our back, and we were able to fly along. We saw another long distance rider, Butch, that we had met briefly early yesterday. He agreed that last part of yesterday's ride was the toughest ride that he’s ever done and he did the whole country 15 years ago. We pulled into the Kiwanis campground in Lewistown about 3 pm where we also met Chris who is going from east to west. He did about half of it last year but then the forest fires made him stop. He started again in Duluth this year. So all 4 of us are sharing a site at the campground tonight.

https://ridewithgps.com/trips/93703322