Thirty more miles of gravel “shortcut” to ride today before getting back on pavement. The farther I went on these gravel roads, the more pocket gopher holes I had to dodge in the road. Yesterday I had seen a border patrol pick up truck go by and realized that I was probably on the last road south of the border. Today there was a bureau of land management pick up that stopped to ask where I was headed and to see if I needed water. I asked him what he was doing out on this isolated road. He explained that most of the land out here was bureau land management rangeland that was leased to ranchers and he was monitoring exclosures, areas that were fenced off from cattle to see how cattle grazing was affecting the rest of the land.
I found myself riding through herds of cattle multiple times a day on my short cut. Sometimes they were a good distance off the road and every head would slowly pivot as I rode by but they wouldn’t move. When they were closer or on the road they would move before I got very close. However, one herd wasn’t moving as I got closer and closer, I started making sure I wasn’t getting between any calves and their mothers while I was starting to go through them then I turned to the right and noticed that 75 feet off the road there was a bull! With no fence between him and me a pulse of adrenaline hit my bloodstream. But he just watched me go by and didn’t make a move. Not sure what I would have done if he had charged. If I could of gotten my hands on my bear spray, I may have tried to use it. I’m not sure if the spray would of slowed a charging bull. And it may have just made him more mad and punish me more, glad I didn’t have to find out.
I rejoiced when I finally hit pavement in the tiny town of Opheim, MT. The highway I was on for the rest of the day to Scoby, MT was a delight hardly any traffic and I felt like I could fly now that I was on pavement.
Scoby was a great little town. The Lions Club had a campground right in town and let me stay there for free (I did make a donation). The Daniels County Sheriff’s office was very helpful in orienting me to the services in town. I went to the laundromat to do my laundry and the change machine said “out of order” by then most of the businesses in town were closed and there was a phone number on the wall to call for assistance. The guy who picked up listened to me explain my situation and said “Well you are in a tight spot”. Then he said he was in another part of the building and would be there momentarily to help me.
That’s how I met Burley Bowler, the editor of the Daniel’s County Leader newspaper. The laundromat was in the back of the Newspaper building, he gave me some change and asked me some questions about my tour. He and his wife were working on the layout of this week’s edition but he took the time to take a picture of me posing by my bike and we sat down for an interview for an article about my tour. Then while my load of laundry was in the washing machine, I went across town for a swim in the public pool. When I came back, I pushed my laundry into the dryer and Burley invited me to have a beer with him in another part of the building. I enjoyed hanging out with him. Being the 3rd generation editor of the Daniels County Leader, he knew an amazing amount about the community and its history. He told me about his grandfather’s Newspaper building being fire bombed by the communist paper in the Neighboring town of Plentywood.
Scobey had a comfortable home town feel that I enjoyed.
Slow and Steady 
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