by Greg | Jul 17, 2019 | Training
Even to my color blind eyes, from a distance I thought I was approaching a beautiful, blue lake! As I got closer I realized it was yet another mystery crop. (I think it is clover, but Diana, Jack’s 1st grade teacher, will hopefully give us the correct answer.)
Same field, but I tried to zoom in for a close up.
Some of you may remember my post about the St. John’s Motel that Jeremy and I “enjoyed” back in Michigan. Well The Bunkhouse Inn in Augusta, MT was the exact opposite. The hotel was built in 1912 and has served as the only “hotel” in Augusta ever since. The current owner transformed the dated hotel into a modern day establishment, while maintaining an Old West atmosphere. My room was comfortable, charming and next door to the shared bathroom. Yes, a shared bathroom in 2019. There were 10 rooms and three shared bathrooms, so no big deal, just quite unusual. The top photo was the “parlor” of the hotel and later in the evening two couples were playing a wild game of hearts since there was not one television in the entire hotel! 
Notice the “claw foot” bathtub and old time looking tile! Truly a find that will not erase the memory of the St. John’s Motel, but add yet another memorable experience to our Journey.
About 2,300 miles ago I posted a photo of a long straight highway as I descended the Adirondack Mountains. I added the following, “When what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a long, straight highway and NO mountains to climb!” Well, “When what to my wondering eyes should appear, but the majestic Rocky Mountains and climb them I must!”
I just couldn’t resist stopping to capture a few more photos of the fast approaching Rocky Mountains, but with a gorgeous wheat field in the fore ground. My traveling buddy, Snowstorm, just could not stay out of the wheat field. Snowstorm wanted to show OMJSN what wheat looks like up close.
America the Beautiful: “O beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain. For purple Mountains majesties, above the fruited plain…” Montana certainly has all of the above!
Hooray! Since neither Snowstorm nor I consume alcoholic beverages, and I certainly was not about to carry a bottle of champagne up this extremely steep pass, we settled for a silent prayer of thanks and this photo. I can’t believe we have crossed the Continental Divide on this Journey! “We did it!” I say We because even though I am doing the physical part of pedaling each day, I would not be where I am without ALL of you! (I remember way back in my Whittier Port Ops career, we always celebrated the last ship of the season with a “We did it” cake.) So tomorrow, please go to your favorite “sweet treat” establishment, select the richest, most decadent treat available, and then consume it, without guilt, to celebrate OUR success in crossing the Continental Divide!
On Friday I should be in Missoula and meeting up with long time friends, John and Barb Alonzo. John was my Principal when I taught at Jefferson Elementary, but for the past 40 years we have been close friends. We explored Glacier National Park, climbed St. Mary’s Peak, ran 5K races, rode countless miles together on our bicycles and met for $.99 breakfasts with my son Jeremy. John and Barb are like grandparents to Michelle and Jeremy, flew to Alaska for both their weddings, and we consider them great-grand parents to OMJSN. As you can probably see, I am extremely excited to be in Missoula to share a brief visit with John and Barb. They are truly special people in our lives.
Cheers, thanks for your support and motivation.
Greg
by Greg | Jul 14, 2019 | Training
Almost as sweet, crunchy and delicious as the Matanuska, “Alaska Grown” carrots we buy at Saturday Market in Anchorage! After dropping off my bicycle at a bicycle shop in Great Falls, and with a Saturday OFF my bicycle, I strolled through the Great Falls downtown street market. I marveled at the creativity and talent of local artists, sampled delicious huckleberry zucchini bread and couldn’t pass up a bag of carrots. My Sadie Lynn would be proud of her Poppy for eating healthy for a change.
The above is not my Brooks saddle, but one exactly like mine, complete with a broken seat tension bolt. My tension bolt wasn’t broken like the above, but very close to failing. Could I have made it to the Pacific coast without it failing, nobody knows. Since my Atlantis was in the shop anyway, I asked the mechanics to adjust and inspect the brakes. The majestic Rocky Mountains are within my sight and I know I will need good brakes once I start my descent into Oregon. The Century ride I had planned to ride today was canceled due to a severe thunder storm alert, so I had a day to be a tourist.
You know you are in Montana when, 1) You must carefully walk your bicycle over cattle guards placed on exit ramps. 2) Eight out of ten vehicles you see are pickup trucks, complete with a horse trailer and covered with mud. 3) Of the eight trucks you see, six of them have massive grille guards to protect the truck from the impact of large critters. 4) You see people from age 2 to 102 wearing cowboy hats and cowboy boots. 5) Western wear stores are more prolific than Starbucks, and 6) 99% of people you pass on the sidewalk smile and actually say, “Good day or how you doing.” Once you get a “taste” of Montana, you’ll never want to be anywhere else, well not counting Hawaii.
C M Russell was an American artist of the Old West. Russell created more than 2,000 paintings of cowboys, Indians and landscapes during his lifetime. Today I was fortunate to be able to spend almost three hours in the CM Russell Museum here in Great Falls. My Mom absolutely loved museums and visited hundreds of them worldwide in her lifetime. Just like my Mom, I just can’t pass up the opportunity to explore a museum and the CM Russell Museum ranks as one of the best I have ever “plundered” as Mom loved to say. (Mom just might have walked through the CM Russell Museum herself on one of her many “Mystery Tours!”) I read the plaques beside each painting, marveled at the real-to-life displays and watched remastered movies of Indian ceremonial dances. Below are just a few of the photos I took as I explored the fabulous museum.
The above was a life sized model of a buffalo hunt. The display was created using one on Russell’s painting as a reference.
Charlie’s last ride was in the above horse drawn hearse. I love viewing a piece of history along with an actual photo of the piece as it was used.
Above is a statue of Charlie outside his log cabin studio. Notice, in the below picture, the tree growing through the roof of the cabin. Which came first, the cabin or the tree?
Tomorrow or Tuesday I will give up the lazy lifestyle of this weekend and begin pedaling West once again. If all goes as planned, which never happens, my celebration Journey should reach the Pacific Ocean the first week of August. Until then, I look forward to pedaling through the Rocky Mountains in Montana and Idaho, viewing the plains of Eastern Oregon and finally inhaling the smells of the Pacific Ocean.
Take care and thanks for traveling with me on this Celebration Journey.
Greg
by Greg | Jul 11, 2019 | Training
The above farm was just a few miles outside Dickinson, North Dakota. Ten miles down the road from this farm, I stood looking out at the magnificent grandeur of “Painted Canyon!”
To go from lush green farmland to a miniature “Bryce Canyon / Grand Canyon” in less than ten miles is astounding. The Theodore Roosevelt National Park and the Painted Canyon will rank towards the top of my favorite attractions on this incredible Journey. Below are a few more photos of the Painted Canyon because I can’t possibly convey the beauty of the area in words alone.
I talked to the park ranger for a few minutes and she said, “Oh, you should see this area in late fall, or after the first snowfall! It is even more breathtaking than what you see today.” I told her Alaskans don’t really enjoy traveling to places even colder than Alaska, but maybe someone reading this post will find the courage to visit ND in the winter.
I can’t believe I pedaled across North Dakota with just one day of bad headwinds, and I actually had to wear my jacket most mornings to ward off the cold. Today was my first day of 90 degree temperatures, but I will take heat over rain/wind any day! Years ago, when we briefly left Alaska for a few years, Missoula, Montana was our home! When Anita wanted to return to teaching after Jeremy was a few years old, she just couldn’t get a full time teaching position. Teacher turnover in Missoula is, and was, almost nonexistent. So we decided to head back to Alaska and the North Slope Borough School District. We both were offered teaching positions in Wainwright. If Anita had been hired in Missoula way back in 1980, I am 99.9% positive we would still be living in Missoula today. So to return to Montana is like coming home to me. I look forward to meeting old friends John and Barb Alonzo and revisiting our family home in beautiful Missoula. (The last time I visited Missoula and drove by our home “Up Miller Creek” I couldn’t believe how big the tiny ponderosa sapling had grown since our Michelle planted it when she was in first grade.) As you can probably tell, I love Montana just about as much as I love Alaska!
And now the story behind my Brooks saddle. I won’t bore you with all the details, but for the past 200-300 miles I have been hearing a “creaking/clicking/grinding” noise when I pedal real hard. I investigated and up until today had not found the cause for the noise. Today I stopped early in Glendive and gave my bike a through checkup. (No bicycle shop in Glendive.) I discovered, quite by accident, that the tension bolt on my Brooks saddle is cracked and the threads are stripped. The tension bolt helps keep the leather stretched, which gives the saddle the strength to support my weight. If the bolt breaks, the saddle fails and I don’ carry a spare bicycle seat. I called a bicycle shop in Great Falls and they might have a replacement bolt which would solve my problem. Glendive to Great Falls on my planned route is four to five, 70 mile days, and tons of stress on the tension bolt each day.
This Journey is not about a destination, the number of days riding, or even the total distance traveled throughout the Journey. All Journeys should be filled with surprises, unexpected encounters with people and places, and even problems to solve. I just can’t chance having the seat bolt break in the middle of nowhere and no way to fix the seat. So, I am boarding a Greyhound Bus at 4:30am tomorrow morning, traveling to Billings, picking up a one-way rental car, and driving 235 miles to Great Falls. “Wisdom triumphs over Pride” is my motto for the next few days! I feel terrible that am “cheating” by driving instead of biking, but…. If my Brooks saddle can’t be fixed, I’ll buy a new seat and head west on Monday or Tuesday. (The bike shop mechanic told me they sponsor a 100 mile “Fun Ride” every Sunday, so I might just complete my first century ride on Sunday to make up for my “cheating!”
Forrest Gump: Momma always says, “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get!” Well a cross country bicycle tour is pretty similar to a box of chocolates!
Smiles, hugs and thank you to all my family and friends.
Greg, “Seatless in Montana!”
T-Rex smiling for my photo! The Glendive Dinosaur Museum was AWSOME!
by Greg | Jul 9, 2019 | Training
Diana, my grandson Jack’s awesome 1st grade teacher, gets the Super Star Farmer award by identifying the yellow crop featured on my last post, canola! As I ride highways and rural roads on this Journey, I am “blown away” by the vastness, incredible beauty and diversity of this our fabulous country of ours. In just the last two days I rode through fields of soon to be golden wheat, bright yellow fields of canola, and today acres and acres of alfalfa and grazing cattle. Most of us, myself included, don’t realize the impact American farmers have on our lives.
Last night my life was once again impacted by a delightful couple, Pat and Margaret, owners of The Rock Roof Inn in Glen Ullin, ND. This fine couple has lived, farmed, raised a family, taught school and provided travelers like myself with a comfortable, cozy “room away from home,” for most of their lives. Pat, who will soon turn 90, worked the family farm for most of his life and Margaret was always been by his side. Since my wife Anita comes from a family of Kansas wheat farmers, I asked Pat a lot of questions about wheat. He called it their, “cash crop,” but they also raised cattle just incase the wheat crop failed. Pat told me that for the first three years after they were married, their combine never cut any wheat because the wheat crop dried up! Imagine, no income from your “cash crop” for three summers, newly married and no outside income. I could go on and on with stories shared by both Pat and Margaret about life in rural ND, but it would take way too long. This morning I ate a delicious breakfast, watched the local weather channel, said my goodbyes and started pedaling west. I am once again blessed to have found yet another example of what I call Givers in Pat and Margaret.
The weather took a turn for the worse after leaving Glen Ullin, but not before I took the above photo. The Burlington Northern train is almost a constant companion on my travels across ND. Grain, freight, tanker cars, and coal are headed in all directions throughout the day and night. After this photo, the wind and rain started because I think Mother Nature once again decided that Alaska Greg has had it way too easy crossing ND. It took me four hours to cover the last twenty miles to Dickinson, ND. Oh the joys of touring on a bicycle.
I just had to post a photo of “The World’s Largest Sandhill Crane” with my trusty mode of transportation next to the crane. In just the last few days I have experienced the largest buffalo and sandhill crane statues, and when I get to Glendive, Montana, I hope to explore the Glendive Dinosaur and Fossil museum.
Take care and tomorrow is hopefully my last day in North Dakota.
Greg
by Greg | Jul 6, 2019 | Training
I-94 or County Road 39 from Jamestown to Steele, ND? As I ate a delicious slice of homemade banana bread, plus my usual of hard boiled eggs, cereal, juice and coffee I pondered which highway to ride the 65 miles to Steele. I chose “Big boy highway” over rural farm road with the potential of encountering over protective farm dogs. Also, if I got “smooched” by a big truck I would never know what hit me and depart doing what I enjoy. On the other hand, I would probably survive a dog encounter, but the bite would be painful, the recovery long and painful, and my journey would be over. So I-94 was the choice!
ND is FLAT, but for a biker that is a good thing. In the above photo, looking East, you can just make out I-94 which was my highway of choice for today. When I stopped to take this photo I noticed my Garmin 520 cycle computer indicated an altitude of almost 1,900 feet. With a slight tailwind and temperatures in the low 80’s I barely noticed the climb. (Or it might be that after almost 2,000 miles my quads are a bit stronger than a month ago.)
At one point I came upon a herd of cattle just standing still, eating grass and looking totally bored with life. For some reason I hit play on my iPhone and the song “Knee Deep” by the Zack Brown band started playing. Believe it or not, the cows immediately looked up, started wildly swinging their tails and I am sure I saw a few trying to dance. I slowed down to observe them more closely and I truly believe hearing Zack’s “Knee Deep” brought some joy to my new bovine friends. I gave them a loud “Moo” and got back to pedaling. Crazy, but true story. (If you have not heard “Knee Deep” or “Toes” by Zack Brown, find the songs on iTunes and enjoy. I promise will see why ND cows love to hear a bit of rock n roll as they munch and crunch.)
One huge benefit of riding I-94 is the beautiful rest stops! Highway developers place the rest stops about 30-40 miles apart, which is super for travel by car, but for a biker that is about one rest stop per DAY. The above was at about mile 45, so a perfect place for me to visit with fellow travelers, eat a snack and drink a bottle of water.
At mile 63 I came upon this gorgeous view! I have no idea what the yellow crop is, but it is the first time I have seen anything as pretty as the above. (The flowers were not sunflowers, but someone reading this post will hopefully know what grows in ND and is yellow.)
Short post today, but “Have WiFi, will post!” (Anyone remember the below TV show?)
Bismark, ND tomorrow!
Greg
Recent Comments