DAY 65

May 18, 1999

Before leaving town I had to go to the post office to mail the photos.  It was a little difficult to find but I found it on the east side of town.  As I was getting ready to leave I met a guy named Roy.  We stood outside and talked about a new business he's starting, Experiential Therapy.  This sounded really cool!  You take groups into the wilderness and put them in situations where they have to rely on each other and trust them.  Roy is another on of those outdoor, rock climbin', types.

After the post office and then the store, I finally left town by 9:30am.  It was a long climb up to get out of town.   Then I was headed north on 3, which was totally flat.  When I reached Acton, I stopped at the Bar and Cafe' there.  I ate a chicken sandwich while the lady that owns the place told me how she was upset over an article she just read.  Apparently, Ted Turner had slaughtered a few too many buffalo on his buffalo farms.  This caused an excess of buffalo meat that the government is subsidizing by giving him something like 2 billion dollars.  Now, I thought that was crazy myself.  If I had Ted Turner's kind of money I would not seek help from the government, I would donate the food to the underprivileged.  Actually, even if I didn't have his money and was broke, I'd still donate the excess that I couldn't use.

Continuing north, the wind was still blowing to the northeast helping to push me along.  This section of road wasn't too exciting, looked much like 212 when I entered the state.  Then, about 4 miles from Broadview, I saw a man standing by his car in a pullout off the road.  Looked like he was waiting for someone.  By now I've seen lots of people pulled off the road during the past 3,000+ miles.  I wave and say "hello" as I continue on by.  Then I hear, "Are you Wade?"  "Yes", I said curiously.  How did he know my name?  Who was he?  I stopped my bike and he said, "You met my wife at Kasper's yesterday".  He introduced himself as Keith and told me that he and his wife read some of my journal entries last night (the ones on my web site).  After reading about some of my knee problems, he wanted to help me with his magnetic therapy products.  At first I thought he was going to try and sell me something, but no, he wanted to give me some stuff to try.  He told me that he was inspired by what he had read and wanted to help me on my journey.  Keith gave me a magnetic knee wrap, magnetic massager, and a "therm" wrap for my knee.  Of course I don't have the intense pains I used to, but they do ache occasionally....especially after a long day of riding.

After Keith gave me those things he did re-iterate with sincerity that he just wanted to help and added, "I know I may never see you again".  Which is true, I don't know myself what the future holds for me.   I've met so many incredible people and unfortunately, when I get involved in conversations, I forget to take their photos.  But I never forget a face, it's always the names I have a problem with.  I've called people by the wrong name so many times and it makes me feel bad.  Like the girl from Custer...I still have the image of her sketch pad sitting on the table behind her.  Those eyes sparkled, reflecting the same excitement I had as I shared my experiences.  Even her voice echoed my very tone.   It was one of those rare moments with a meeting of the minds as she stood in front of me.  But her name eluded me and I could only try to guess.

As far as the magnetic therapy goes, Keith told me the manufacturer's web site is: www.nikken.com and for additional info, his email is: kkober@wtp.net.   Just to clear things up, I'm not endorsing products here :-)  But I'll have 3,000+ miles to test it out!

Continuing my journey, I rode through Broadview which had a convenient store but nothing else.  Then Lavina was just as small as Broadview with only one small store.  At Lavina I headed west on 12.  Soon the cold rain came.   What was a 60 degree, sunny day, quickly became a 45 degree, dark, rainy day.   The cold wind was blowing to the southeast sending small bits of hail into me.   For 15 minutes I was miserable but then the rain stopped and the sky began to clear again.  Reaching Ryegate, I stopped at a convenient store and bought a banana, muffin, and tea.  I talked to the lady inside and she told me that a guy came through 3 weeks ago on a horse, riding it to Prudhoe Bay from Kansas.  Wow, maybe I'll see the guy on my way up :-)  She said his wife drove a truck with supplies and pulled a horse trailer.  They brought two extra horses just in case one couldn't make it.

The headwinds were tough as I continues west.  At the recreation area, "Deadman's Basin", I was debating stopping and setting up my tent or continuing on.  I was moving slow and still had 20+ miles to go...and the sun was waning.  I stopped at the entrance, stood there, took a drink from my water bottle, and looked up the road to "Deadman's Basin" ahead of me.  The wind was beginning to die down and the evening air was restoring my vigor.  So, I thrust my right foot on the pedal and my bike leapt into motion.  With the evening, also came the deer.  For the next 20 miles I rode up close to so many deer, either beside the road or right on the road,  I gazed over to my left and saw a group of about 30 deer in the field.  This was really cool!  And it was a good decision to keep going.  My lungs sucked in this cool air easily as I began to feel so alive.   Seeing that group of deer, I began to think ahead...to Alaska...to the Arctic Circle.  I wondered if I'd have the incredible opportunity to see the Great Caribou Migration that occurs every year.  Well, I'll just have to wait and see.

Reaching Harlowton, it was just beginning to sprinkle.   I saw "Wade's Cafe'" and had to stop there to eat :-)  It was 8:45pm and they close at 9pm so I made it just in time.  After eating my grilled chicken sandwich, I went across the road and paid $30.00 for a motel room.

Wind - Blowing to the northeast for the first half of the day, changing to southeast the second half. 

Today - 97.62 miles
Total -  3402 miles
Avg. Speed - 10.5mph

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