Trans America Bike Ride 2019: Day 31, June 30, 2019

Henry's notes for today edited and expanded July 1.

Lots of riding on I-94 the last few days. No other paved roads.

Day 31: Another milestone day as we crossed into Montana, state #11. 3 states left! But Montana is huge, and it will take us 12 to 13 days to cross its entirety.

Our first stop today was the viewpoint overlooking a small periphery of Theodore Roosevelt National Park's Painted Canyon, which is part of ND's "badlands". The winds did help us today again, but not as dramatically as yesterday. The ND landscape is quite expansive. As I gazed at a coal train passing through a small ND town from a distance, it was not dissimilar to watching a model train set that a hobbyist would have set up in his basement.

Wibaux was our entry point into MT. We had a late lunch there, which worked out fortuitously as we were protected inside when a heavy rainstorm passed through. On the way out, we met a Swiss couple biking from Seattle to Boston. Linda used that opportunity to practice her German. She has been diligently memorizing German vocabulary while riding by securing vocabulary lists to her front pack.

To make our coming days logistically easier because of the scarcity of towns, we decided to keep heading further west and stop for the day at Glendive. Montana displayed her own version of badlands in the last few miles before we entered Glendive. A fair amount of mileage was covered on I-94 today. A nice wide shoulder, and less scary than it sounds. The journey continues tomorrow . . . it's time to rest.