Didn't know how far I would go today. I had a nice tailwind and no planned stops. The ride through Montana is nice and flat with just small climbs so I decided to get as many miles as possible. Rode along the Yellowstone River most of the day. Other than that it was all about the miles. Ended up at a KOA camp in Miles City.
Miles 106, total miles 1073, avg 14.4, max 32.4, time 7.17
Talked with a guy from North Dakota that grew up where I will be riding through. He celebrates his birthday by riding his age x2. This year he turned 60. His goal was 200 miles in one day. His riding partner backed out so he did 150, thats awesome. He was a little concerned about me taking all my gear on the Maah Daah Hey Trail. He says there will be some hike-a-bike, no biggy done that before.
I was looking forward to seeing Pompeys Pillar National Monument. I was surprised there was a cost of $7. Thought I was going to have to see it from afar, but the ranger told me bikes got in free, lucky me. It is a huge sandstone rock (see pic, yes I climbed to the top) that Clark's party stopped at. It has a bunch of signatures and dates still on the sandstone. There is a nice boardwalk that gets to the top of the sandstone, also a nice path down to the Yellowstone River.
Fought a headwind all day today so did not make it as far as I wanted. Stopped in Custer got some great fingersteaks and stayed in the park.
Miles 60, total miles 967, avg 11.4, max 29.1, time 5.15
Today was kind of like a day off. Got to know Billings a little better then I wanted to. Found a cheap hotel for the night, emphasis on cheap.
Miles 28, total miles 907, avg 12.2, max 27.7, time 2.14
Today I left the fantastic free campsite thinking 50 miles would be the max today. Nothing much today, just farmland. Made it into state #3.
Ended up making good miles today. Didn't want to ride so far today, but could not find any safe place to camp. I rode to a campground just outside of Laurel MT. A sign said it was closed. I think because the Yellowstone River was so high. I stayed there, it was nice and quiet.
Miles 78, total miles 879, avg 13.2, max 24.5, time 5.51
Left Worland around 9.30. Didn't know what to expect today. It looked like a lot of farmland. I had planned on taking a dirt road that follows the Bighorn River, but being behind so many days and the 4+ foot shoulder the 789 has had I took the easy route.
Nothing to exciting today, had to wait out a thunder storm for a couple hours. I stayed at a rest area that was right near a firefighting plane museum. I got a good pic of a Royal Canadian Air Force plane.
I ended up making it to Lovell WY. A guy walking in the city told me about a free campground. It was near some baseball fields so I watched a couple innings while setting up camp. Here is a cool mural of Bighorn Canyon.
Miles 78, Total miles 801, avg 14.1, max 32.1, time 5.26
Great sleep last night. The next few days will be fairly flat so I am hoping to make up some time. I passed an RV/camping spot about 30 miles into the day and thought it would be a nice spot, but there were miles to catch up so I kept going. About 30 minutes later a couple bikers that had stayed at the RV place caught up to me. They were headed to NY. We compared routes, both went on the 20 through Nebraska, but theirs is a straight shot and they do 80 miles a day so we probably would not run into each other again. They also got stuck in Alpine for a day. They pulled in Alpine the day I left.
Today I would be riding the first 20 miles through the Wind River Canyon. It wasn't too windy, but last night from 10pm-2am it was blowing like a freight train. Not a lot going on today just a couple pics of the canyon.
