Saturday, June 18, Lewistown to Roundup, MT

 To Roundup 

https://ridewithgps.com/trips/93850661

We got up a little before the sun, as did the other 2 bicyclists, to get going as soon as possible as today was supposed to be hot. Pilots also were up early as there were a number of small planes flying around the airport behind us as we got ready to leave. A sign said that a lot of airmen had trained here during WW2. The morning was cool and sunny, and we had a beautiful ride as we left Lewistown. We gradually climbed up a valley for 10 miles, green with trees and pastures and we saw 3 elk about 1/2 to 3/4 a mile away up on a ridge. We also saw a number of deer and antelope today. Traffic was light, mainly pickups pulling horse trailers. 

When we got to Grass Range, we had a decision point. Chris, the bicyclist heading west, had told us last night that a large section of the route about 3 days out for us was under construction with the old pavement torn out so it was a  difficult gravel stretch. Someone working there had given him a ride though it. At first we thought he said 20 miles, so that got us looking at maps. One possibility was to head southeast down to Forsyth, where a vet lived that Jim had done an externship with while a vet student. We had messaged their practice the evening before. Now we were going to try to call when it was open. If we got ahold of them and it would work out with them, we would leave the route and turn south. If it didn’t, we would continue on the route as we had heard the construction was more like 8 miles long so it seemed more doable. 

Jim was able to call and Calene, his wife was the one who answered and it was going to work out. So we turned off into Grass Range to get some food and continue from there. As we entered the tiny town, we saw loads of horse trailers there. We investigated and found out they were holding a rodeo for kids from  7 to 18. The person we asked as we approached said, “Are you the bicyclists we passed on the road?  You made good time.!” We were able to get a good cheeseburger with chips and gatorade and watched a little bit of calf roping and some barrel racing while we ate it. Shortly after leaving, there was a big, big hill, estimating probably 1.6 miles long and probably 3 to 4% grade and that got us red in the face. At the top we could see a long ways ahead, including the road disappearing over a far-away ridge. Kay checked her odometer, and it was 7.8 miles to the top of that far-away ridge!  

We still saw a little bit of snow on mountains back to the west. The landscape gradually got drier as we traveled to Roundup. The temperature got hotter and hotter too. According to “ride with GPS” it got up to 102., though we don’t know if the official temperature got that high. The shower tonight felt wonderful!