Sunday, May 30, 2010

Big Sandy.. more like Big Dandy..!

So today we rolled out of Great Falls with every expectation that it was going to be a miserable day.. For one, the weather was supposed to be the same as yesterday.. For two, Jeff is gone.. We only planned to do about 40 miles to the next town, Fort Benton.

But as we got on the road, it became Beautiful! The sun came out, and we got a tailwind..! We were pumped.. So as we got to Fort Benton around 2:00, we decided to just grab some lunch and keep rolling..

We ended up biking to Big Sandy, Montana, which is about 35 miles on past Fort Benton. As we got here, we realized that we had several options..

1.) We met a guy in Fort Benton that owns the grain elevator here in Big Sandy.. He said that if we wanted to camp there, we could just find a place wherever.. it didn't seem like a very sweet place to camp though when we got there.. soggy grain everwhere..

2.) some people told us that they thought we could just camp in the city park.. but nobody was really sure if it was allowed.. (this became our primary plan)

3.) Try to meet a local.. and somehow show them that we are not creepy people..

We decided to go with #2, but at the same time decided that we wanted to eat dinner at a cafe in town (thus, not ruling out the chance of #3 becoming a possibility)..

Just as we decided to eat in town, a little old lady, Muriel, and her grandson's fiance came walking by.. We asked them where a good place to eat was and they pointed us towards the very place they were heading, the Mint cafe. As we came in, Muriel had pulled two tables together and waved to us to come join them..! So naturally, we did..! (who is gonna turn down an opportunity to mingle with the locals? not this guy..!)

After we ate and chatted, we biked the 2 blocks over the city park and started looking for a place to setup our tents.. As we found though, it has been raining here for the past several days, so there was standing water everywhere.. Just then, Muriel pulled up and asked us if we wanted to come take a hot shower at her place..!
Again, who is gonna turn that down?

So we biked over to her place, took showers, and Muriel offered to let us sleep in her heated garage! She even gave us a mattress and an air mattress! Her grandson and his fiance helped us get everything setup, and now here we are.. chillin like kings on our air mattress with the heater cranked, snackin on cookies..
Who could ask for more..? (again.. not this guy..!)

ok.. i'll keep you posted on tomorrow.. i think we are gonna ride our bikes..

2 comments:

Sarah said...

I think your final sentence, might be my favorite line of this post. hahaha...hope you're still having fun!! :)

Annie said...

Okay, really, I am amazed at how many people are letting you guys sleep at their house and take showers there! These people are brave! :)