Stanford to Winnett

Friday, June 27, 2003

Westbound: Great Falls to Stanford Eastbound: Winnett to Jordan

I woke up reasonably early, with the assistance of the alarm feature in my cell phone, and headed across the highway to Bubba’s for breakfast. Really for the first time on the tour, I had a big breakfast. Two eggs over easy, hash browns, toast. Unlimited Coca Cola. I’m not saying I hit every appropriate food group, but I did tank up. It helped through out the day and set a pattern for most of the following days.

Before leaving Stanford, I rode from the highway a bit north into the actual town. It’s not large. North south it seems to run maybe six or eight blocks. East west the pavement seems to end after about four blocks. The main street has a post office and some other businesses but clearly is less busy than in the past. Nonetheless, between the post office and the highway there are some nice tree lined streets. My purpose was to ship some stuff home, mostly map pages I no longer needed rather than carry them further. There was a short wait at the post office—clearly a communications center for the town—but the staff was friendly. After a short conversation outside the post office with an older lady from Stanford about my bike and my tour, I was on my way back to the highway, out of town, and then heading eastward again.

The road immediately east of Stanford was similar to the road to the west. After two hills, however, there was a very long down hill. Only the first mile or two felt like a down hill. The rest of it just made the ride ever so much faster. For a while, 18 mph was no challenge. It’s fine to enjoy such assistance, but one should never confuse riding downhill with strength. After about 25 miles, I came to an older town, a highway junction, and the end of the free ride. The next segment was busier, had rougher pavement, and a narrower shoulder. When I got to Eddie’s Corner at the intersection with MT 191, I stopped for a drink and a rest.

Eddie’s is a full service establishment. There is a nice restaurant, a small motel, a guest laundry, a convenience store/gift shop, and a large filling station. If a credit card tourist got an early start from Great Falls and did not want to stop at Stanford, then Eddie’s would be a good destination, albeit at the cost of missing the Runway Motel and Bubba’s. Not only was the facility attractive, the people at Eddie’s were very nice. Somehow I managed to leave my helmet inside and was ready to mount and depart when someone kindly brought it out to me. While my head did remain attached, apparently nothing short of the same for its helmet would ensure its protection.

The remaining miles to Lewistown continued the gentle climb interrupted by the stop at Eddie’s. Shortly before noon I reached the outskirts of the city and took the downtown option as opposed to the bypass. When I got to the McDonald’s, short of downtown, I stopped for lunch. Because it was only noon, I decided to continue onto Winnett if I could ensure a place to sleep. I took advantage of the good signal in Lewistown and called first Winnett for a reservation and then home to advise of my plans. Communications worked well; lunch not so well.

McDonald’s, this day offered a two-fer. Surly service—by a gray-haired lady!—and a quarter-pounder meal I couldn’t finish, not because of its size but because of its lack of appeal. Without Bubba’s breakfast, I might have been hungry enough to choke it down. I don’t ever remember just tossing most of a meal like that. The service was even more a surprise. I have always found older people that work in fast food establishments to be pleasant. Everyone else I met crossing Montana was friendly and helpful, some—like Karen in Lincoln, the technician in Missoula, and a gentlemen down the road in Jordan—impressively so. This lady was different. She was the exception to both my observations that must punish her friends, family, and associates. One counter-example does not destroy days and years of positive examples. After reading some more, I packed up and left.

From the McDonald’s the terrain slopes downward toward the center of the city. Lewistown is a real city with a real downtown, but the scale that might have worked in 1920 seems not to work in 2003. Both the size of the city and especially the size of the businesses downtown seem too small to flourish in today’s markets. I’m all-too-afraid that the 90 or 100 miles of driving to reach a Walmart in Great Falls or Billings may make perfect sense more than once a month to folks near Lewistown. It might cost $20 in gas for the round trip, but on a large order, lower prices and selection might cover the cost. Lewistown is not the only city to face these challenges but it does not have a growing metropolitan area it might try to reclaim. The depopulation of the rural areas in the Mountain Time Zone is no mirage. The market cities face the strain.

There were some modest discount appearing stores on the east side of town as I left, but they didn’t look like they could compel shoppers to remain near home. I hope I’m wrong in that quick assessment, but my real rooting interest would be in the downtown rather than in a “medium box” store on the outskirts.

Shortly after leaving Lewistown, the road climbs 700 feet or so in five or six miles and then having reached a nice crest, offers a gentle downhill for the next 50 or so miles. Along that way there is one major intersection, not much in services—though I did not turn off the highway to visit Grass Range which has a truckstop, café, and campground—and then one comes to Winnett.

Winnett is small, about two blocks by maybe five. There’s a café and a bar. The Northern Hotel, 101 Grand Street (406) 429 – 7781, built in the 1920's has about 19 rooms with a more modern motel adjacent. I did well to get to town a bit after 6 pm because the proprietor of the hotel and motel had plans for the evening. Safely settled in, I took my shower and tried to call home. Winnett is in a modest valley. The lack of altitude may have hampered transmission. My cell phone could make contact for only about a minute at a time. I got the phone to ring back home but could not maintain the connection for conversation.

I went off the bar to see about supper. The menu was not extensive so I tried the steak. It came with a nice, small salad and excellent onion rings. Not up to Bubba’s standards but nonetheless good fare after more than a hundred miles of riding. It seemed only polite to wash it down with a draft or two. Despite the primary purpose of the establishment being a bar in the wild west of Montana, the only other customers during my short visit were an older woman and a little girl who seemed to be her grand daughter. Not exactly a rowdy crowd on a hot Friday night. Tobacco smoke was not an issue.

I then walked around town a bit, went all the way up to the highway to try again to call, and twice more made brief, but transient contact.

About 100 miles—the bike computer began to be unreliable—in 7:12 on the bike.

Back to Sandpoint to Glendive

Westbound: Great Falls to Stanford Eastbound: Winnett to Jordan