Day 18/19 St Mary to Cut Bank MT and rest day

Hi everyone,
I'm in Cut Bank MT. I decided not to take the Canadian route. I went off the American Cycling Route to save about 70 miles " a short cut"  Yes that's right a short cut that turned out like every other short cut I've ever taken:)

In theory I did save the milage that I wanted to. But I had to work much harder for the miles that I rode. All Mighty Google is not always right. The Google app showed that I would have a short climb out of St Mary and then a ......hold on to your hat, telephone poles look like a picket fence ride to the bottom at Cut Bank!

After the first 7 miles I realized that I had been duped. 

I stopped at the top of the first climb to check my elevation. I was standing at 6018 ft.  Yesterdays Logan Pass was 6646 ft. Granted I only had to climb half the distance that I did yesterday but it was totally unexpected.
Several more long climbs were to follow this one.

I had talked to my biking mentor (Charles Ginn) about my plans for the day before leaving St Mary. He thought that the route was doable as long as I didn't have strong headwinds and didn't stop in Browning. He said he would call to make sure I had made it to Cut Bank later that night.

Well after leaving St Mary late and the climbing I encountered, I sent him a message saying that I didn't think I was going to make Cut Bank. Not exactly a pleasant thought considering that would mean stealth camping in a wheat field. It's hard to hide in a wheat field unless your 2 feet tall!

Well as you you already know I did make it to Cut Bank and have been taking a rest day here. Yesterdays route was very pretty and went through the Blackfeet Reservation and the land of the Lewis and Clark expedition.

The RV campground suggested by Charles is great.  They are close to town, have hot showers and are very accommodating.

I'll be leaving early tomorrow flowing Hwy 2 for a few days all the way to Wolf Point. Google it from Cut Bank by dropping the little man on Hwy 2 if you want to see what I'm looking at for about the next 5 days.

Let me back up a little.
I met a great couple from France in the campground in St Mary (Corinne and Laurent). They were bike touring the US, Canada, Central and South America for the next couple of years. Great people and good to be with for the short time we had.

I camped next to Eddie from Long Island last night. He started from Bar Harbor and is headed to Bellingham WA. Really good to talk with. I was able to ship some of his no longer needed gear back to Long Island for him today. He left early and decided to take the same route I just did. It won't be bad knowing what to expect.

I'm just taking it easy today. I took a short ride into town to get food and go to the post office. Other than that, I've just been doing laundry and catching up on needed task that don't go away even if you are on the road.

Pictures from yesterday and today: ●Corinne and Laurent
●Me and Corinne
●Laurent took this pic and emailed it to me
●Top of first climb
●On route
●Kansas doesn't have all the wheat
●Camp in Cut Bank
●Eddie from Long Island
●River below my tent