Chester is where everything turned around for us. We stopped at a little diner for a small breakfast, since I didn’t want to eat too much before riding. Chuck had some French toast, and I had an egg and toast. Someone came in wearing biking clothes, and we nodded and said “Hi.” He sat down across the room from us. In a few minutes, another man came in and sat down with him. He noticed that I was in “biker gear” and came over to talk to us. We were both following the ACA route and compared maps. I was thrilled to find out that they were actually heading west, and they invited me to ride with them. I finally get to have some company! Yay!!!!
We finished our breakfasts, and some of the more colorful locals made some remarks about us riding across Montana. Chuck and I were amused by them, but I didn’t think our new friends felt the same. The two men were Don and Bob, and they had stopped in Chester for a while because of the strong winds. They had been riding separately, but hooked up in Chester. Bob is from North Dakota, and I’m a little fuzzy about Don’s origins, but it’s somewhere out east. He was very impressed that I had done so much riding yesterday. We got everything together, and I said good-bye to Chuck. I think he was relieved to see me with some other bikers.
The three of us headed out, with Bob leading the way, me in the middle, and Don bringing up the rear. I sped up and dropped back once in a while, so I could chat with them. I quickly realized that we had met two of the nicest people on the trip. Bob told me he had spent a year in Burlington, Vermont and really liked it. He worked as a house painter for a while, and took a job at Bolton Valley Ski Area in the winter. He loved the pace of life in Vermont and had done quite a bit of hiking and exploring.
We stopped for snack breaks every once in a while, and Don was a lot like a 7-11! He had everything and was happy to share it: almonds, peanuts, bananas, carrots, peanut butter sandwiches, you name it. I was very grateful, since all I had was my Fiber One bar (which I’m getting a little sick of, by the way). We stopped in Dunkirk for a snack, and then rode on to Shelby for a lunch break. I pulled ahead of them and arrived in town about 10-15 minutes before they did. We had been fighting some fierce winds, and I was pretty exhausted at that point. Chuck had found a decent sports bar and he was starving (it was about 2:00) so we ordered some quesadillas. As soon as I took a bite, I decided I was done for the day. We had planned to camp with Bob and Don in Cut Bank, so when they showed up in Shelby, we took some of their supplies in the car, to lighten their load a bit. They both left, and we stayed for a while, working on the internet and making plans.
After a while, we headed out to Cut Bank to set up camp. This was when I got my first glimpse of the Rockies, and they looked pretty spectacular, even though they were pretty far away. We passed Bob and Don, just outside of Shelby. Apparently, they had stopped at the supermarket to restock and have some lunch in the parking lot. They weren’t moving very fast. The winds were strong, and it made me extremely grateful for the ride from Chuck. I don’t think I would have made it to Cut Bank…or it would have been very dark by the time I got there. We went to the Riverview RV Park and Campground and spoke to the owner about my ride. He gave us a small discount. The campground was nice and the bathrooms were clean. The view of the river (once you walked a bit) was spectacular and I took some pictures.
We set up the tent, and opened the windows, since it was pretty windy there, and we didn’t want the tent blowing away. We went to the store and got some frozen dinners, since there was a microwave oven available for campers. We also got a bundle of firewood, but it ended up going to waste since we didn’t have enough kindling to get a fire going. Don and Bob showed up after we had dinner (I had burned Chuck’s dinner) and they both demonstrated how efficient they are at bike camping. Don had all his camping gear loaded in panniers, and Bob had a B.O.B. trailer for his gear. I was pretty tired, so I socialized for a little while and then went to bed. It had been a tiring day.
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