The Storm

I left Genevieve's house feeling well rested and she provided an awesome breakfast as well. I rode through more wheat fields and talked to more cows along the way... not much else to do in Montana. They call it "Big Sky" because you can see for a very long distance because it's flat and the sky looks HUGE. I rode for a few hours and stopped in a town called Wolf Point, MT and I met a guy at a local McDonald's who was also riding his bike. McDonald's is good for free wifi that always works and they have fresh water, so I stop at them often to use that as well and charge up the phone... I try not to eat there. But, I met a guy named Kirk who is also traveling on his bike from Florida and he went up to Maine and now hes headed over to Washington and then he's going to go down the coast to California. We talked a bit about North Dakota and the fracking/oil fields and about how I hadn't heard good stories about people passing through there. He had just come from North Dakota and he got sick passing through the fracking/oil fields from all the trucks and dust. We had some great conversations about the road and some of the parts we enjoy about riding and somethings that make it difficult. I wished him well and he rode west and I headed east.

Since sitting in McDonald's for about an hour, a crazy storm was rolling in. The skies were grey and the wind was picking up. I had at least 20 miles to ride to the next town and I thought I could do it, so I peddled on. I started riding and the clouds got darker and the winds got stronger. There was lightning all around me in every direction. I had never seen so many lighting bolts in all of my life and this was probably the most scared I have been on the trip. I think because the sky is so large, you can see everything for miles, so I was watching the storm roll in.  I stopped on the side of the road an realized I had about 15 miles to the next town and where I was heading looked like the worst part of the storm... It started to rain a little bit and fortunately there was a building on the corner. I went to the building, it looked closed, so I just hung out under the awning and was waiting for the monster storm to pass. The rain got harder and all the sudden the door to the building opened up. A woman came outside and asked me if I wanted to come in, it was a restaurant. I went in and ordered a water and explained to her that I was just waiting for the storm to pass. The storm kept getting worse as the hours passed by and there were more and more people coming into the restaurant. I ended up making friends with a Native American named Joh-Mon and we shared some good laughs. They also had a poker game going on that night, so I joined in on that and was the first one out... After the game ended, I had spent about 5 hours there and the storm had now passed. I thanked the owner for her hospitality and went out to the bike and got another 10 miles in before I found a great tree on the side of the road to sleep under. The rain held off and it was a great nights rest. I slept between the towns of Wolf Point, MT and Poplar, MT.