Circle to Glendive

Monday, June 30, 2003

Westbound: Jordan to Circle Eastbound: Glendive to Medora

In the morning, I embraced the nice restaurant next door and had my now-usual full breakfast. As I checked out, the owner of the motel congratulated my choice of Glendive as the easiest destination heading eastward from Circle. That put me on the road in an excellent mood.

Initially Montana 200S toward Glendive crosses a bit of plain, but soon the road starts to climb the Big Sheep Mountains. The road is ok, given the light traffic, and not overly steep, but a strong headwind and hot sun made this day among the hardest of the entire tour. Happily, the steeper part of the climb is not long, and I was up on top by noon.

I got a nice hamburger in Lindsay and continued downhill but upwind toward Glendive. This was one of those classic situations in which losing 1100 feet in 35 miles was not enough to counter the wind. It was hard work and—despite the breeze—hot and dry work. Nonetheless and however slowly, all the progress was forward. I reached Glendive mid-afternoon.

Glendive is a larger city. Riding through a real downtown was a welcome change. The Super 8 where I had a reservation is on the northeast side. From my maps, I expected this to be a thriving motel, restaurant neighborhood. Alas, not so much. Several motels, only one restaurant, and no shortage of tobacco smoke.

I’d chosen the Super 8 because I had to give my wife a destination to ship the first package. There is a generation of Super 8 Motels with similar construction akin to a mid entry home. The lobby is at the ground level but the two floors of rooms are a half story above and below the lobby. It turned out to be quite awkward getting the bike down the half flight of stairs to my assigned room. The ramp helped but still had a sharp u-turn. Not nearly as convenient as the Motel Six ground level design.

They had my reservation but the Fedex driver had not yet arrived. After I showered, I asked for directions to an ATM and was sent toward a gas station-convenience store most of a mile back towards downtown. Thought about using the bike, but the stairs were a barrier. As I crossed I 94, I looked down at the highway and saw that the rumble strip occupies the entire shoulder in alternating patches of rumble then no rumble. Interesting challenge for the morning.

By the time I was halfway to the convenience store, my ankle was hurting again. I should have used the bike; it doesn’t stress the ankle once I am rolling. Finished the walk to the store to find a nice place and to learn that their cash machine was out of cash. Rats!!

Empty handed, I walked back up the hill to the motel; still no package. Settled in the room for a bit and got a call from the desk; Fedex had arrived. Now, I had my next maps and a new book to read. Asked again at the desk, this time for a recommendation for dinner. The clerk endorsed the place next door toward the highway. It looked like a good interchange restaurant and I saw nothing better in view, so I gave it try.

The menu offered spaghetti with meat sauce. That looked perfect. But then it became evident that the smokers ruled the joint despite the promise of a nonsmoking section. Worse, the meat sauce included, at no extra charge and without notice, lovely little mushrooms. I admit to being a picky eater, but this was more than merely avoiding a cute, little, slimy fungus that lives off dead stuff. I’m all in favor of somebody doing the recycling even if I prefer my food to live higher in the food chain, which is silly since shrimp and all kinds of other delicious thingees eat really disgusting other stuff. Yet there is some basis for my aversion. Because some, as-yet-unidentified mushrooms have made me ill in the past, I really do have legitimate cause to overgeneralize and try to avoid them every bud, cap, and truffle. Besides, my peculiarity gives family, friends, acquaintances, and now you, Dear Reader, an opportunity to laugh at me. See, I’m really generous. You can enjoy the ‘shrooms and a chuckle. In any event, the smoke and the bonus protein having killed my appetite, I exited as soon as I could get my check, which was another challenge not worth the bandwidth to describe.

Fresh air improved my mood. Still a bit little hungry, I took a detour across the street to another convenience store-gas station that I had not yet explored. (Did I mention this locale looked better on the map?) The inside pretty much confirmed my inference from the exterior that it did not have good snacks, but I found two surprises. It did have good Gatorade even if it didn’t have good orange juice, and it had a universal ATM. I got some money, bought some ‘ade, and returned to the room.

Once again, I had no trouble reading my email using the Earthlink access number to get internet and then using the internet to reach Qwest’s mailserver. Returning messages, however, did not work. So I sent my answers from the Earthlink account and hoped it didn’t confuse my correspondents too much.

After a bit, I shut down the Dell, opened my book, Lady Anna by Anthony Trollope, and went to sleep.

49.77 slow, hot miles in 5:32 for one of my slowest days at 8.7.

Back up to Sandpoint to Glendive

Westbound: Jordan to Circle Eastbound: Glendive to Medora