Day 21
The next day offered great weather and a tail wind. I headed out after breakfast (Two things I learned: in Montana you should always eat a real meal at every opportunity, and on Sunday only the bars are open in the smaller towns) cruising at 15 to 17 mph. I stopped in Chinook (23 miles in less than 1.5 hours) for a second breakfast and near Fort Belknap (another 25 miles) for a snack. I stopped at the cafe in Dobson for lunch, but it was closed so I had to go to the bar for some bad bar food. I rode on to Malta, but had to settle for a good milkshake there because all the restaurants were closed. Then I rode to Saco, mosquito capitol of Montana.

The wide open spaces and the High Line

Actually the mosquitos found me when I stopped to take a leak 10 miles before Saco. I thought they were biting flies because I had never seen such aggressive mosquitos. In Saco I learned to use Deet before leaving my motel room. The fellow from Minot who I met back near Glacier had warned me about this area. He said you needed Deet even to ride through it. I found I could ride fast enough to get rid of the mosquitos, but they literally swarmed over me when I got off of my bike, biting ferociously.

I reached Saco fairly early after 120 miles of tail wind assisted riding. It really was a great day on the bike. Near the end of the day the wind shifted more from the north and east and riding became harder. I briefly entertained the idea of going for a personal record by riding on to Glasgow, 43 more miles, but with the wind shift and some signs about road construction ahead, I turned back after riding through Saco (all four blocks of it) and stopped at the only motel in town. The only cafe in town was closed on Sunday, so I had to eat more bar food. My tummy took several days to recover. 120 miles, good winds, good roads, bad food.

The couple from Kenya greeted me as I rode up to the motel. My first 120 mile day had enabled me to catch up with them. After supper (they wisely ate in their room), I spent several hours visiting with them. Jim and Jean are Scots who have lived in Kenya for six years. He taught at a 'public school' (i.e. private high school) in Scotland for many years, eventually becoming Headmaster. Then they moved to Kenya to teach at a primary school for white children. He had retired from that job, but they liked living in Kenya so they had stayed on. They had toured in Europe, but this was their first tour in the US. They were doing the AC northern route from ocean to ocean.

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