Sidney, MT July 4

Sidney, MT -- Sunday, July 4
What a day! The original story line was how we rocketed 84 miles over hills and some extended flat areas propelled by the favorable wind direction and speed we could have hoped. Our travels today first were to the NE and then nearly straight E with winds strongly out of the SW. High temperatures in the high 70's/low 80's made our riding conditions nearly ideal.
Although the ride was ideal we had many variables to content with including the availability of services, due to the holiday, and camping location.
Since we were off the designated route today we had very little information to guide us. Our first town Richey - 30 miles out - was figuratively a ghost town today. All the businesses were closed and a few people could be found. Fortunately we had fruit, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and water to re-fuel and get us to the next town, Lambert, 21 miles further.
It is here we struck pay dirt arriving just as the town parade had ended and free food (a donation was suggested) was being served. It was like a RAGBRAI town. We had great conversation, great entertainment, great food, and even great pie!! We spent a lot of time in this town and enjoyed every minute.
Despite the long trek, we arrived in Sidney at about 4:00. We had hoped the find a place to stay in town to catch the evening fireworks. With the exception of a dump of an RV park that wanted to charge us $30 to camp nothing could be found. We even sought advice from the sheriff's department without success. In the end we ended up camping at Rosalin Park five miles out of town but somewhat on tomorrow's route. We had been warned that Rosalin had no running water and As it was next to the river it is mosquito infested.
What we had learned was true. Almost immediately when we got off the bikes we were swarmed by mosquitos. Andrea immediately proclaimed "This is the worst fourth of July ever". We were all wondering how we could possibly manage not only setting up our tents but cooking our meal in this infestation. As I was surveying the situation I noted two campers 150' away enjoying the late afternoon under the protection of a mosquito net.
In my usual voice, knowing my voice carries, and in response to Andrea's proclamation, I stated that maybe we would get lucky and the campers would invite us over. A few moments later we were invited over and, after quickly setting up the tents, accepted their offer.
Randy and Cheryl are the names of our saviors this evening. What had started out as near disaster turned into a wonderful experience - one of those kindness of stranger moments. Randy and Cheryl shared their vodka, wine, and dinner. We ate like kings! Fresh caught catfish, burgers, and salad. We could bring little to the table, except a cork screw for the wine bottle which they did not have. We even made a beer run into Fairview with me driving a 4-speed 1966 Ford PU (Randy was the passenger as he was to drunk to drive). What a trip! This will be one of those moments that I will remember for a long time.
Lastly we had our own independent fireworks display. The display put on by other nearby campers and the $5 display the Alex had assembled from a vendor in a Sidney grocery store parking lot. Yes, a day to remember.