Old grain elevator near Shelby, MT.
Old grain elevator near Shelby, MT.
Last Modified on 9/3/97 at 4:05:05
Day's Narrative: I went to the nearby Town Pump truck stop in Shelby to have breakfast this morning and they said they were not being allowed to serve any food. Sounded like the inspectors caught them doing something dirty in the kitchen. So I had my regular two egg breakfast at Karen's Kitchen in downtown Shelby. Today was going to be a long ride 100+ miles (161+ km) if I attempted to go to Havre, MT (pron. have-er) or a short 42 mile (68km) if we decided to only go to Chester. Connie and I agreed to meet at Chester and decide then. We both got to Chester at 10:00 am, rested for 45 minutes or so, and decided to push on to Havre. The two motels in Chester were pretty bad. It was 84 deg F (29C) in Chester then, and the weather report last night on TV was predicting 95 deg F (35C) for this area today. That's a little warm, but I felt I could handle it. I have discovered that being in Great Plains doesn't mean there are no hills. It means there are no mountains. The plains here are completely, 100% wheat country, and now is harvest time. Enormous combines are in the fields and on the roads. Many of the fields have already been harvested. It got hotter. I stopped about every hour or so at small town service stations to drink soft drinks, and started taking two salt tablets every two hours. There was no place to get food. I was about 34 miles (55km) from Havre at the town of Hingham around 1:30 pm, and came upon a bar/convenience store. They had prepared submarine sandwiches, so I had lunch after all. I also bought a liter of bottled water to take with me, because I was starting to worry about the heat. US Highway 2 has been designated a national cross country bicycle route by Adventure Cycling in Missoula, MT. The result has been that hundreds of bicyclers go through here each year crossing the United States. All the store owners and employees have seen lots of bicyclers. That means it's tough for me to interest them in a conversation. So, I don't really have any unusual conversations to relate today. It got hotter while I was eating lunch. I stopped again down the road at a Conoco station in Kremlin, MT, and the employee there said their thermometer read 100 degrees (38C). The thermometer on my bike had been in full sun for a while and read 132 F -- not much help there. It was really hot on the road. I finally pulled into Havre about 4:30. The water in my bottles was actually hot -- but still wet. Connie was at the Towne House Inn and had a great air conditioned room. Tonight at dinner the waitress said the temperature in Havre this afternoon was 102F (39C). Today was over 104 miles (168km) and the temperature went to 102 F (39C). I feel invincible now. [Connie] We had planned to meet at the Motel 8, but it was full when I came through, so I went in search of another place and found a Towne House Inn, the same chain as the Comfort Inn in Shelby, they just haven't gotten around to changing the name to Comfort Inn. It was so hot while I unloaded at about 2:30 that it made me feel sick while working in it. I could only think that Ray must be incredibly hot. About 4 PM, I decided I had better leave a message at the Motel 8, since I couldn't get through on the cell phone to Ray. [His wasn't turned on.] I told them to tell a hot sweaty cyclist looking for his wife that I was at the Towne House Inn. I had thoughts of going in search to see if Ray was having heat stroke at about 5, but he showed up at the door at 4:45, ready for the Olympics. After all, he had done more than a Century [100 miles] in a Century or more of heat. I heard 102F from one of the hotel cleaning staff who heard it on the radio. We are laying over here in Havre for a day. Maybe it will cool off some by Wednesday. © Ray & Connie Poore, 1997
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