Coast to Coast - Dan's Bucket List: Havre to Beaver Creek MT

Monday – Aug 17, 2009

Pretty Good day. Calm Sunny day with just a slight breeze. A little warm this afternoon but overall a very nice day.

I rode 113 miles today. A pretty long day but I got to the hot springs at Beaver Creek to camp and it was nice to sit in the natural hot springs. Got a good shower and washed my clothes in the shower and went to bed.

There was just a slight breeze today and it blew at my back most of the day. The last 20 miles or so it was in my face but not bad. The breeze seems almost imperceptible if you are riding with it at your back but if you are riding into the head wind it suck the life out of you.

I met my first solo female rider today. No Lori she did not try to pick me up. I’m sure she thought about it but she refrained herself from my Tadpole-Like physique.

This lady was 70 years old and has been riding since May 16 from Maine. She was bucking the headwind and she was pretty tired. I was surprised to see that she was carrying so much gear. I’m sure she had at least 10 to 15 lbs more than I did. It made me feel like I should not whine so much about my aches and pains. Although when I explained that to my other personalities they did not listen as usual.

The lady’s name was Judy Norris. She did not appear to be in that great of shape but obviously she has a big attitude. She said when she came through the mountains of New Hampshire there was a mountain about 5 miles up and she could not ride up because it was too steep.

She began to push her bike but she was too tired to ride and did not think she could make it. She came across a man and a woman picking up plastic bottles on the side of the road and the man asked her if she needed some help. She said yes. He pushed her bike 5 miles up the mountain for her as she walked beside him. She called him her Road Archangel.

I’ve had a few people help me along the way on this trip and it is always greatly appreciated. I won’t let people push my bike, but they have done other things like give me food and water and vitamins and it is nice to be around nice people.

As I started out from Havre today, I began to see a few smashed rattlesnakes in the road and was thinking how nice it would be if I rode next to a rattlesnake on the side of the road and it reached out and bit me on the leg.

Well about 7:30 this evening as I was riding along pretty tired I heard a distinct rattle. I had already ridden over 100 miles and was tired but I turned around and went back to see if there was a rattlesnake there because I thought I heard one. Sure enough the snake was coiled next to the road. I rode next to him about 1 foot away. Glad he did not bite me. I was not in the mood for it. I sent a few photos of him.

I saw a few antelope, a small half grown fox, a coyote, some horses, more trains, and lots of prairie today.

There were quite a few historic markers along the way today.

Most of them were about some sad stories about American Soldiers doing inappropriate things to Indians. This in big Indian country. It is always sad to read and hear about Man’s Injustice to Man. It seems to go on everywhere.