September 9, 2024 – Fire on the Mountain

    I've been steadily chugging along, but the fire is on the mountains. So, I better run, boy, run. I slept at the Mosby rest area. I slept very well and had a fantastic day of riding. I rode close to 90 miles and made it to the city of Lewistown, MT. I traveled from Mosby to Winnett on Highway 200S. In Winnett I took the old Winnett road to Grass Range. In Grass Range I traveled on Forest Grove Road most of the way to Lewistown. There was a lot of uphill riding, but there was no headwind. At a divide atop a high hill, I was able to get my first view of the Rocky Mountains in the distance to the west. I rode into Lewistown in the dark of night riding along the Big Spring Creek. It was Saturday night, and I didn't know that Lewistown is a fairly large city. My destination was a convenient store called Rindal's Country Corner. I talked with a cashier in the store. I asked her if Lewiston has a good burger joint. Her reply was, “no, unless you call McDonald's a good burger joint.” “But, there is a good pizza joint a few blocks away called “L-Town Pizza.” So, I decided to head up the street to the pizza joint. On the way, I saw a theatre out of the corner of my eye. A movie was letting out and another movie was to begin in about 30 minutes. The two movies showing were The Forge and Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice. My parents told me that The Forge was a must see, so I skipped the pizza joint and bought a ticket for a 9:30pm showing of The Forge. I also bought a large coca-cola and a large popcorn with extra butter and butter salt. That along with a pack of gushers was my meal for the night. The movie was outstanding. It is a Christian movie with a great message. The movie is about a 19 year old man, named Isaiah. He is just out of high school, but he is unmotivated and has no direction in life. All he does is play basketball, video games, and hit on unsuspecting girls. He neglects all his responsibilities, and his mother is very stressed and worried about his future. Isaiah's mother has had enough of his irresponsible behavior. She makes him look for a job, and her son must pay rent to live at her home. Isaiah starts his job search aimlessly, but God is working. He gets a part time job at Moore Fitness...a fitness equipment distribution center. The president of the company, Mr. Joshua, takes a great interest in Isaiah, and he begins discipling and mentoring him. Joshua, along with prayer support from his mother and her cohorts, lead Isaiah to salvation in Christ Jesus. The movie shows the process of Isaiah turning from a boy into a well-respected young man through his faith, good works, and acceptance of responsibility. The Gospel is presented in the movie several times, and the movie is highly encouraging and inspirational. A must see, indeed. The movie is directed by the Kendrick brothers.

    That night in Lewistown, after the movie ended, I found a baseball field to sleep in. I slept in the dugout. The park was full of several deer. In the darkness, I saw at least five to six deer. One deer was resting at the pitcher's mound, and another was resting at home plate. One deer was at 3^rd base, and the rest were in the outfield. They were ready to play a game of baseball!!! I even saw a buck with a great set of horns/antlers. They kind of reminded me of reindeer and Ernest Does Christmas. They kind of spooked me in the middle of the night as they moved around, but they didn't seem to be spooked by me one bit.

    I slept well, for the most part, but I got a late start in the day. I went to McDonald's for breakfast and talked with a couple older gentleman for quite a long time. They would hardly let me eat. Every time I was going to take another bite of my breakfast sandwich they would ask me another question about my bicycle adventure. One of the gentleman's name's was Mike; a career English teacher here in Montana. I didn't get the other gentleman's name because he got up during the conversation and left abruptly...for no apparent reason. From McDonald's I went back down to Rindal's Country Corner to buy more drinks and refill my water bottles. I ended up talking with a one-legged man named Hans and his younger brother Harry. They seemed to be the Jimmy of Lewistown. Jimmy is an unusual fellow who lives in downtown Pensacola...kind of sketchy, kind of wild, kind of cool, and definitely unusual. Harry is a tattoo artist who has a studio in Lewistown. Hans was interested in my journey, and he told me how he lost his leg. He accidentally jumped through a window and the window cut his leg off like a guillotine. I talked with Hans and Harry for a while, and by this time it was already about 10:30am. So, I got a late start, indeed.

    I left Lewistown and rode on back roads to Stanford. I rode about 56-60 miles. In Stanford I ate at a cafe off the highway called Candel's Byway Cafe. I ate a half-pound bacon cheeseburger with beer-battered fries. I also drank three 12 ounce cans of coca-cola. The burger was out of this world! The joint should be on Triple D...it was that good! I went to sleep at the local park in town. The sprinklers turned on right when I laid down. They sprayed right on me. So, I moved my sleeping mat, slept a little while longer, another zone of sprinklers turned on a sprayed me again. I moved again. This time a bone-chilling breeze kept me up, so I moved back to my original location as there was a wind block there. As soon as I fell back asleep, the sprinklers turned on again and doused me with water. To make a long story short, I got wet and did not get much sleep last night.

    In the morning, I packed up my gear, groggily and went back up to the cafe and convenient store. I talked with the cashier, and she told me about an app called “Radio Garden.” It's an app that let's you tune into virtually every single radio station on the planet. Mind blowing, huh?

    Today was a miserable day to some degree. There is a fire in the forested mountains of Idaho and Montana; smoke is everywhere. I was breathing smoke all day long...no visibility...eyes burning and to top it all off; there was a 15-20 mph head wind that I was riding into all day. I made the 52 mile journey to Belt, MT. I'm 27 miles away from Great Falls. I'm ready for a day off. I'm tired, need a good night's sleep uninterrupted, and in dire need of a day of rest and refreshing. Also, I want some pizza. Over and out for now!