Winnett, MT July 1

Winnett, MT -- Thursday, July 1
What a day. We had a relatively easy 54 miles. Although we had a slight head wind, it did not significantly impact our ride. The most challenging part of the day was the first nine miles as we climbed out of Lewistown.
Once that was over it was close to downhill or flat the rest of the way.
The biggest challenge was pedaling the 54 miles with out any services. As we have throughout our journey, we purchased a variety of fruit, vegetables, and packaged meat to snack throughout the ride and stop for a roadside (aka ditch) lunch. The scenery also added some good flavor today as well.
Our biggest highlights today did not come from riding but from our overnight town of Winnett. It was here that we were threatened with severe weather and rain, camped in city park where the sprinkler system malfunctioned in the early evening and began bathing our tents in water, and discovered that Winnett is the second cross road for transcontinental cyclists (Missoula being the other, at least on this day. As with the past few days we've managed to dodge the most severe weather and heavy rain.
More rain is expected tonight. Fortunately, in Lewistown, I purchased a can of silicon and re-sealed the fly on both our tents. As a result our tents have stayed dry through the rain brought by nature and lawn sprinkling systems.
Today Winnett has been a meeting place for cross country bicyclists. In mid afternoon, at the only cafe in town we met two young English lads pedaling to Vancouver. Their route is undefined and changes day-by-day.
Whereas ours is slightly more structured, theirs is free spirit. They have been on the road 40 days and have only paid for overnight tenting/accommodations twice. I marvel at this free spirit. I wish I had more of that in me. On the other hand, some of that free spirit comes with questionable judgment. They planned to overnight in a town 23 miles away and left for that town just as the severe weather was fast approaching. I suspect they were caught in the storm. Shortly thereafter, two Canadian riders pulled into town after pedaling from Denton (93 miles). They were a little beat. This is something that we contemplated but Andrea and Alex vetoed. If it had not been for the arrangements that we made with the city (we are camped next to the pool) to leave the pool unlocked for the night they would have been without showers or restroom facilities. They have been following the same route that we have. Whereas we have dodged the severe storms, they have been hit twice. Hopefully having them camp with us doesn't cause our luck to change.
Winnett is a town of 184 people. It is the county seat of the largest county in MT. Its claims it has the lowest per capita population of any county in the contiguous 48 states. Its total population is less than 1000. Given all of that its sole cafe was recognized in 2006 by Gourmet Magazine for its big, thick, fluffy pancakes and was recognized by The Missoulan as having some of the best pies in the state. We've already sampled the pie, tomorrow we plan to sample the pancakes.
Lastly, throughout our ride all of us have noted numerous crosses placed along the road ways. Some of these have been highly decorated, others bare. The crosses represent highway accidents and deaths. At one location yesterday we counted 10 crosses and at another 4. We've heard that MT at one time had no posted speed limit on any of its roads. Currently, the speed limit is 70. Still far to fast. Presently that has not been a problem for us. We hope that continues for a few more days until we reach ND and a western sporting goods store.
The scenery today was varied and good.