Shelby to Sako, 3 days - 220 miles

I'm going to compile the last 3 days of riding.  Every day has been pretty similar and I didn't take many pictures.

7-1-2010  Shelby to Hingham - 68 miles

Shelby was a very nice campground, though we were rudely awoken when the sprinklers popped on while we were all making breakfast.

Our last mountain views...then it was only wide open grassy plains.

The ride was nice.  We had thoughts of getting to Havre, but the wind wasn't with us.  When we stopped for the night, we found a great free city campground.  After setting up our tents, we spent several hours at the local bar talking with the farmers and ranchers about the road ahead.  That was very pleasant.

After a great nights sleep we were on to Havre and then Chinook.

7-2-2010  Hingham to Chinook 56 miles

The ride to Havre was a breeze, we had a tailwind which always makes things easier.  Once we got into Havre, it was time to visit Walmart and pick up some necessary supplies.  Just as we were finishing up, a major thunderstorm rolled in and we were warned to seek shelter because this storm had dropped quarter sized hail earlier.

After sheltering from the worst of the storm we took advantage of the strong winds to help push us on our way.  Once I road into town, I met Jim who escorted us to the ice cream shop.  After a wonderful root bear float, we found the city park which would be our home that night.

Throughout Eastern Montana and North Dakota we are riding on US highway 2, which parallels a major train route.  So we've seen hundreds of trains.

In this campground the mosquitoes drove me to my tent, where after reading a couple pages of my book, I fell asleep.


7-3-2010 Chinook to Sako 96 miles

Another wonderful ride with the wind at our backs.  It amazing how much easier it is to cover the miles when the wind is helping you.

As we road down the road, we discovered that the mosquitoes we had had so far were nothing compared to these bugs.  They would catch up to us as we road and I would look down on my arm to find 10 mosquitoes sucking my blood.  It was awful!

A wet drizzly day as we began in Chinook, thought it turned out pretty nice.

It was so bad that we decided that we couldn't camp, so we road into Sako and found a cheap motel.  That turned out to be a relaxing decision, setting up a great fourth of July.

The funky little laundry mat in Sako and Don's feelings towards more photos.

Now it's off to bed, I'll try to get the next three days tomorrow evening.