Camp Disappointment

It is amazing how quickly the scenery changes after crossing the mountain passes. After climbing the relatively easy yet still actually difficult Marias Pass, amidst the never ending entourage of flies, we found ourselves descending into our next challenge; the plains. The physical stresses of climbing are over, to be replaced by the mental stresses of the seemingly endless vastness of the next thousand kilometers.

We spent the first night at some strange RV park, which we settled upon after being told all other accommodation options were full. We have named it Camp Disappointment, as they really went to great lengths to ensure that nobody could get a few minutes of sleep. Camp Disappointment is situated on a hill at the end of a gravel road on the edge of a town that has eschewed garden gnomes and picket fences for dented cars and old fridges as lawn decor. It also happens to lie between the heavily used BNSF train tracks and a heavily used basketball court. Add a drumming party competing with a house party all within earshot, then a dose of obnoxious campers beside us, and you've just got yourself a grand old time.

Somewhere between dozing in and out all night for no more than 20 minutes consecutively and waking up with sore backs and necks, we decided that upon coming across our destination for the day, Shelby, MT, we'd splurge on a proper hotel room. Now that there are three of us, with Matt joining until Minnesota, it would not be much per person.

We set off with just a shade over 110km ahead of us, with the task of getting the Rockies out of sight once and for all. First stop was Browning, named appropriately in my books, as the trees had at this point made way for vast expanses of blank hills. We ate at the worst Subway of all time, with its under baked bread and general lacking of three quarters of the offered menu items. We were served by the large but inattentive staff member wearing a name tag reading "Big Sexy," handwritten and surrounded by hand drawn stars.

Back on the road after that, we realized the flat prairies we were promised were actually rife with rolling hills, and the prevailing winds out of the west were actually headed directly at us out of the east. Good times.

A long day of tough riding ended with us making our goal, which I of course renamed Shelbyville. Dinner ended up being Pizza Hut, after Matt's glimpse of the inside of the kitchen at the "Country Something Or Other" restaurant, then finding that the cook had called in sick at the "Dixie Inn."

A day into the plains, already looking forward to the end.