Lewistown, MT June 30

Lewistown, MT -- Wednesday, June 30
We had two ride options today: take a partial rest day and ride to Lewistown (40 miles) or continue onward to Winnett (93 miles). As noted above, we choose the easier of the two options. Although it was not a difficult day (we were in town by noon), it was not easy. We fought headwinds, a few challenging climbs, and dodged rain along the way. A I write this we are having a thunderstorm and severe weather is projected through the late evening.
Both Andrea and Alex and I have discovered that our tents are not as dry as we would like. We have drips, which become puddles of water on the tent floor where the tent fly touches the inner tent. Unfortunately, no matter how we tighten or secure the tent, we cannot correct the problem.
Hopefully we won't wake up in a pond tomorrow morning. Tonight we are staying at an RV park. This is not the most attractive park; however, the manager of the park placed us away from the road and traffic. The manager also gave us a great rate for the four of us. The main office building has great showers, a laundry area, and a kitchen. We took advantage of the kitchen during a rain storm to cook our evening meal, however, both Alex and I got caught in the rain fetching the food for the meal. Ah, life on a bike!
Although our journey across the west has been slow, we've generally been able to watch the scenery change. As we approach eastern MT, the scenery is changing very slowly. A spatterring of buttes and valleys and an immense sky. We work hard at gaining elevation first though long gradual climbs culminated by long step climbs only to loose it quickly and begin repeating the process a few miles down the road. In some aspects the scenery and the climbs are becoming more monotonous than we would like. Of course, some would saw getting on a bicycle and pedaling hours on end day after day is the very definition of monotonous.
Tomorrow will be another relatively short day to Winnett. Tomorrow will set the stage for two long days with few services between towns. We are keeping our fingers crossed for slightly overcast skies and fair temperatures.