Day 15: Billings, MT to Hardin, MT

After a horrible nights sleep, we both had a hard time waking up this morning. Our motel looked innocent enough in the daylight, but at night it turned into a loud crazy place. Around 3 AM, I awoke to a loud banging on our door. I lurched out of bed and I was ready to wake up Marc. Then the banging moved to the next door and then the next. It was followed by some drunk guy yelling profanities and crying out "I just need to use a phone - I don't want to spend no $20 to use the damn pay phone!"

After that rude awakening it was hard to fall back asleep, especially given our meek accommodations. Our motel room left something to be desired. The carpet was at least as old as the motel (circa 1960) and filthy with sticky patches. Needless to say, we did not take off our shoes until we got into bed. The bed seemed comfortable enough but had the thinnest pillows I've ever seen. (About as thin as a pantiliner!)

Luckily, we were able to sleep in a bit as we only had a 50 mile ride for today. After a hearty breakfast at the Denny's, we finally left town around 11:30 AM.

Our ride out of Billings was a climb. (It seems like all towns in the west are in a valley - almost every town we have biked into is a descent into town and then a climb out.) We climbed about 10 miles up a twisty side road south of Billings. As I approached the crest of final hill, I heard Marc whistle for me (our universal signal to stop) and then saw him pulling his bike off the road. Damn, I thought to myself, another flat tire. Oh, it was hard to ride back down to him, I was only seconds from reaching the top of the hill.

His tires must have been a bit low on air, as he got a pinch flat on the back tire. While he patched the tube, I enjoyed the scenic overlook of the Billings skyline. Billings is the largest city in Montana - hard to believe as it seems to be around the size of Kalamazoo, MI.

The rest of our ride was fairly uneventful. We enjoyed gorgeous scenery winding through hilly mesas and ranch lands. Part of ride was through the Crow Indian Reservation. We attempted to stop for lunch under the only shade we could find - there were two trees along the side of the road in an otherwise barren farmland area. As we approached, we could tell it was a popular spot as there were broken beer bottles everywhere and lots of garbage. We stopped under the shade, only to find that the mosquitos were swarming us. I had about 10 mosquitos on me within seconds. I didn't even get my foot out of the pedal, before I was riding away. I shouted back to Marc - "I can't stop - the mosquitos are eating me alive!"

We pedaled on for another 5 miles or so before we stopped again to attempt lunch. The mosquitoes were not as bad as before but still annoying. (Its been years since I've had to deal with mosquitos - they are not around in Boulder at all!)

After a quick snack, we got back on the bikes for a short 12 miles into Hardin, MT. We rode past the Custer's Last Stand Re-enactment Site - Hardin's claim to fame. Every year, around June 27th, the Crow Indians and the townspeople put on a reenactment of the famous Sioux Indian Battle.

The town of Hardin is fairly small with just a few motels. We were able to find the Lariat Motel in the downtown area. I use the downtown term loosely - downtown Hardin consists of a IGA grocery, a few cafe's and a general store.

We ate dinner at 3 Brother's Pizza where I had a slice of Peanut Butter Chocolate Pie. Definitely not a preferred flavor of mine but I ordered it as it was the only pie choice. It was extremely rich with a thick peanut butter base and oreo cookie crust. The saving grace for me was the whipped topping that toned down richness. ( I know that I have to choke down my share of chocolate pies along this trip when the choices get slim, but I wasn't too keen on starting already!)

We were about ready to leave the restaurant when a huge storm blew into town. Literally blew into town - huge dust bowls were rolling down the main street. We watched the skies turn dark grey and the wind whip through the trees. Suddenly the power went out and the town's tornado sirens started up their warning calls. One of the other restaurant patrons looked to us and said, "I hate storms!"

What a storm it was...the skies opened up and it poured rain. I was thankful that we were safe inside the restaurant.. A fellow patron in the restaurant offered us a ride to our motel, but luckily the storm let up and we were able to walk back. On the way back there were magnificent lightening strikes lighting up the skies around us. Hopefully the skies will clear up for our 95 mile ride to Sheridan tomorrow.

We expect tomorrow's ride to be particularly tough as there are no services between here and Sheridan. If we do not make it all the way, we'll definitely be camping.