Each State has its own character, and Montana is no exception. On entry from North Dakota you cross into Mountain Time (-7GMT) and enter into a dry wilderness. There’s farming here and there, but most of it is dry and dusty grassland. It felt very dry on the skin and my washing (which I strap to the panniers) didn’t take long to dry out.
Towns were far and few between, I made the mistake of deciding not to stop in Culbertson and continued to Poplar, which I’d hoped to find somewhere to stay, but as it happened, didn’t (the motel had closed down and the campsite was nonexistent). So I time trialed my way to Wolf Point, where I found the Big Sky Motel by the side of the road and called it a day; 156Km (97miles) and 9 hours from Williston ND.
Wolf Point is at the centre of Fort Peck Indian Reservation, and like most reservations I was warned to avoid cycling through this one after dark, due to drink drivers. So it was a relief to find a motel, just as the sun was setting. As I walked through the door three children greeted me, and one of them boldly asked me for my credit card, which I thought was funny. They were playing a game and were pretending to be the owners of the motel, one even handed me a key before I had even payed and another wanted me to try an Oreo biscuit – it was a bit like being in primary school again!
Today is also the day I started to use Highway 2. It runs parallel to the Canadian boarder and will take me to the west coast. There will be some sections where I will have a break from it, like when I enter into Canada, but on the whole I will be using it most of the time – if the GPS breaks at least I know which road to take, it’s that simple.
Distance so far: 5284.5Km / 3283.6mi
N48.09932W105.62670
