Culbertson, Montana

We must have upset the balance of nature last night. We camped in the town’s park rather than sleep in a motel. The absence of head winds for the past several days returned, making the first 25 miles very challenging. However, we did start out with a good breakfast. Rumor has it that rather than eating real breakfast food, Jeff just had 2 slices of apple pie and coffee. Rumors just spread among cyclists.

On the way north, we stopped at both Fort Buford and Fort Union. Fort Buford is connected with the Missouri-Yellowstone Confluence Interpretive Center. There we met Kerry who welcomed us and provided a great overview of what we were to see. From the Center we cycled to Fort Buford. It was established in 1866 and housed both cavalry and infantry units. Next we cycled to Fort Union which was not a military fort but rather a trading post. There we met Lisa and Dave who were dressed in period customs and provided an outstanding description of life at the fort. They even served us boiled coffee in tin mugs. Fort Union dominated the area’s fur trade between 1828 and 1867. It belonged to John Jacob Astor’s American Fur Company.

Cycling got easier as our direction changed from north to west. We stopped at a café in Bainville and met Neil Knudsen and his wife, son, and parents. Neil is a minister and just completed services and was treating his family to a lunch. In Culbertson we stopped at the local museum. Not only was it free, it was great. While only 16 years old, the museum is filled with artifacts from the surrounding community and depicts life here over the last 100 plus years. In the museum, Joe saw a sign that accurately depicted his view on eating. The sign read: “A well balanced meal is having a cookie in both hands.”

At our hotel we met Robert; a younster at 60. He is cycling from Seattle to Minnesota along the northern tier of the United States. He took 3 weeks off work to do this and needs to average 77 miles a day to meet his goal. He told us that he is "not smelling the rose but looking for bragging rights." We had dinner with him but we all found it difficult to wish each other great tail winds…since we are going in the opposite direction.

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