I’m passing through the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. The landscape is awe inspiring.
I took a lot of landscape photos on the tour. I plan to learn watercolor painting when I can’t ride a bicycle any longer. The photos I captured on this trip will provide a lot of inspiration. This is one of my favorites.
You only have to travel 848 miles to get to the Eastern border of Montana. That is the longest state traverse on the route.
This is good road with good shoulder. A lot of the roads along the way are not quite as good as this one.
You have to listen to your bike. It’s your best friend on the road. When it tells you it wants a break, it’s a good idea to listen to it.
Of course, the engine on the bike never needs a break…
I stopped to admire a lot of scenes like this one. It seems like these appear randomly out of nowhere. They disappear just as quickly.
Occasionally you have to stop and smell the… whatever these are.
Still making my way across Montana. Here I’m just a few miles from the Canadian Border.
I enjoyed trying to get the attention of animals as I passed by. For the most part they were uninterested in me.
The route follows Highway 2 across most of Montana. I’m about half-way between the Fort Belknap Reservation and the Fort Peck Reservation.
Camping is pretty much the only option and has been for a several days.
There are two dozen of these “sculptures” spread across Montana They were created by metal artist Jim Dolan and donated to the Montana Highway Department.
The artist installed these as a reminder that those suffering with mental health issues should reach out for help.
Yes. I checked every one to see if I could call home… I don’t have any issues though… None that care to admit to…
I’m just outside the town of Wolf Point which is on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation.
While stopped at an historical roadside marker. A man named “Duck”in a pick-up truck asked me if I liked history? I said yes. What ensued was a lengthy history of his tribe.
His job was to check the water purity of the fresh water pipeline to the Reservation twice daily at each end of the pipeline.
Duck is a member of the Assiniboine Tribe. He invited me to a Pow-Wow (several days hence). He also offered to show me the Tribe’s Buffalo Herd. I had to decline and keep moving but I was humbled by his offer.
The Assiniboine have the only genetically pure herd of Buffalo outside of Yellowstone National Park.
I’ve been on the road for a month and I have finally made it across Washington, Idaho, and Montana. Next up, North Dakota.
I was asked many times, what was your favorite State. That’s a difficult question to answer. Every State I passed through had something beautiful and unique to offer. I enjoyed them all. I hind-sight, I will say that North Dakota gave me a picture of the West that is probably the most unchanged from what it looked like a generation or two ago.
My first stop in North Dakota. Food that would seem routine back home can be amazing on the road. This little hunk of goodness would have stood out both back home as well as here.
The Docent at the Dickinson Art Gallery gave me this rubber duck as a thank you for visiting.
I named him “Commander Duck”. Partially because he is a duck, and partially in honor of the friend I made back in Fort Peck.
Commander Duck made an excellent navigator and stayed with me all the way to Bar Harbor. Here he is holding down his seat on the Flying Bridge.
It’s always a good idea to send a little reminder home, so they don’t forget you…
I had issues with this tent. It did not have a rain fly. That was a mistake on my part.
I went online to the REI website and had them ship me a better tent via General Delivery. I picked it up a few towns east of here.
“When the morning light streams in you get up and do it again” — Jackson Browne.
I liked talking to cows. Occasionally I could get them to talk back to me. The bulls run the show. When they have had enough of me they leave and take the cows with them.
I met the Mayor of Leonard, North Dakota in a C-Store. She was very proud of her town and told me all about it.
She was not only Mayor, but also a retired EMS Responder. She gave me a medallion in honor her 30 years of service as an EMS in Leonard.
This caught me off-guard. You have to admit, it is always a good idea…
I met some really nice people. In fact, everyone I met was friendly and nice. Many times I would ask for my check and I would be informed that someone had picked up my tab for me.
I will admit to falling over a couple of times. (The exact number of times is classified.)
Sometimes when you come to a stop you can’t get out of the clip-in pedals fast enough. It happens.
I never thought of my custom touring bike as a “two wheeled foot pusher,” but I guess that sums it up pretty nicely.
The big city! One of two on my tour. (Minneapolis and Cleveland.)
Visiting friends and getting a free bed for a couple of nights. They took me out on the town and showed me all the best sights at night. Minneapolis is a cool town.
I was not able to catch a Twins game since they were on the road.
In exchange for my friend’s hospitality, I volunteered to fixe them breakfast the next morning…
They were a little surprised when I pulled this out of my pannier…
They liked it!
It’s one of my favorite dehydrated meals. Much better than the biscuits and gravy at a Motel 6.
The town of Fairbault was 60 miles off my route. I decided to go there and see the home my Dad grew up in. He went to Fairbault High School before moving to Washington after a year at the University of Minnesota.
My Grandmother raised my Dad by herself. My Grandfather came back from WW1 with PTSD (unknown at the time). He died an estranged from my Grandmother shortly after my Dad was born.
My Grandfather flew back-seat in a Liberty DH-4. It was the only American built airplane (built under license from the British) to see action on the Western Front in WW1. He was shot down. His pilot did not survive. Airmen referred to the plane as the “Flying Coffin.”
The people living in the home were kind enough to take this photo for me.
This Mill is world famous. It was established in 1865. It was originally powered by a horse drawn treadmill, later converted to water power using a 48-inch water wheel adjacent to the Cannon River.
The Mill is considered to be one finest producers of woolen goods in the United States. (My apologies to Pendelton Mill.)
It’s always a special day on a long distance tour when you cross a line and enter a new state.
