Day 32, Shelby, MT to Harve, MT 105.2 miles!

Wow, I have not been a good blogger, somehow I am way behind! *****Spoiler Alert!*****. I am in Wisconsin now but let’s go two states back. I’ll try to get caught up over the next week or two.

Tailwind was the word of the day. It pushed me down Route 2 all day. I have never ridden over 100 miles in a day on a bike, and this was a loaded touring bike. Some of the slight downhills I pushed the envelope and got over 30mph and the slight uphills felt like they were downhills.

In Ruyard, MT there was a tiny diner called the Sugar Shack. Maybe I needed a milkshake…

While having my milkshake I met two local women eating and playing pinochle. We talked for a bit and one said she lived in Gildford, the town I had been planning on spending the night in. She said touring cyclists were welcome to stay in their town park for free. I arrived in Gildford shortly after lunch and looked at the park and town. It was a cute town and you could see the community spirit in the town park. It would have been a wonderful place to stay but because the tail wind was still blowing and it was still pretty early, I chose to set sail to Harve.

As I neared Harve, there was a storm to the South and I wasn’t sure if I would beat it to Harve. I didn’t. It had just started raining when I was on the outskirts and I saw a man in his open garage so I turned in his driveway and asked if I might wait the storm out under the cover of his garage. He was kind and said yes. He worked for the railroad as a yard boss and answered some of my burning questions about the railroad and in 5 minutes the storm had passed.

I rode into the town of Harve and asked (the sheriff’s office) about camping in the town park. They said I could but couldn’t tell me what time the irrigation came on or if there was anywhere in the park that wasn’t irrigated. I went to the park and asked some folks if they had any answers to those questions. A woman said she thought they wouldn’t irrigated the playground because it was all gravel and no plants. And she said there used to be a merry go round that they took out next to the playground. It looked like a big gravel tent pad so I crossed my fingers and set up my tent. You see where this is going, right?