we're almost there!

Well, we're in Great Falls anyway.. it's more than halfway through Montana. Everyone tells us it's only uphill from here. yippeeeeeee!

We saw trees the other day and got really excited! The scenery changed from rolling plains, to plains with bluffs, to plains with bluffs with PINE TREES pretty quickly. Dan got really excited. He could "smell the mountains" and we started looking for bears.

After we left Williston, ND, we rode to Sidney, MT (only about 45 miles away) and ended up staying the night there at Mark and Lillian Curtis' house. We met Mark as he was pulling out of a parking lot on a bike equipped with front and rear racks. He invited us to fill up our water and grab an extra water bottle at his house, so we followed him. It turned out that there was no real good place to stop and camp down the road, so we just called it an early day and camped in his backyard. Mark sure was a master of the breakfast foods; he cooked us some wholesome pancakes for dinner and oatmeal for breakfast. I picked a bunch of delicious carrots out of his garden too! We had a fun night playing with Rebecca and Aaron, the two kids. I got some cute pictures. Mark had toured around Washington and he gave us some tips (like "don't stop for the night in Eden, MT" which we really appreciated when we went through Eden, MT and the town was only half of an old barn). Thanks so much Mark and Lillian!

The next day we went west and stopped in Circle, MT. The day after that we stayed in Jordan. Then Winnett. Some might say that there a whole lot in these towns, but we discovered otherwise. Let's see....Circle....well, their football team won the state championship once. (All of these small towns' football teams seem to have private coach busses shuttling them to their Friday night games.) Jordan had the best breakfast buffet in the world. We loaded up with all you can eat fruit (fresh!), french toast, eggs, biscuits, hashbrowns, meat, meat, meat, meat, meat, juices, and coffee. In Winnett we enjoyed hotcakes that were featured in Gourmet Magazine. Actually, I got eggs and hashbrowns, and Dan got the hotcakes. They were the thickest hotcakes on this side of the Mississippi.

Lewiston was the biggest town since Williston. I drank an entire quart of chocolate soymilk there. We also finally got our stove working !!!!! We made spaghetti and tuna....Mmmmmmm. Our campground was a "rest stop" right next to the highway and the airport. Nothing like the peace and quiet of camping!

Last night we stayed in Belt. We tried to walk and find the brewery, but failed. We waited until light and found it this morning instead, which was okay since we only had 20 miles to ride to Great Falls. We're considering today to be a rest day :-) Tomorrow we head up and out toward Missoula, then across the great Rocky Mountains. We're in the home stretch! The guy at the supermarket thinks we'll make it before snow falls. So did the old man at the cafe this morning. Since we've been in Montana, people have stopped saying that we started too late. Those Dakotans must be scared of the cold!

Oh the time is running out on the computer. Might have to wait for the pictures...