Pictures: Leaving Harve--Rick, Susan, Bill, Diane, Kevin
Campsite and grill;
Scorched earth in the gravel parking lot
Eating dinner;
Bill and Kevin.
Slept in; went back to Wal-Mart; mailed 4lbs 2ozs back to OKC; sat outside closed bike store and cleaned my bike chain; met up with the gang eating breakfast at 4B’s café after they rode in from Joplin. We all went back to the now open bike store and joined the crowd with the Okie Boys and the Louisiana Guys completely overwhelming the bike store owner. Got snacks at IGA then headed out of Havre. The road out was the worst we had encountered. No usable shoulder tons of traffic, rude drivers and lots of semi trucks. We made it to Chinook for lunch then headed out 21 miles to Harlem. As we left Diane queued up behind Rick. They opened up a hundred yard gap on the rest of us before I decided to chase. Rick was setting a pace of 21mph and Diane was working hard to keep with him while I lurked behind. This kept up for about 12 miles until a deer ran across the road in front of us. I hollered “DEER” and Diane nearly jumped out of her skin because she had no idea I was behind her. A couple seconds later a spotted doe came out of the same area and ran across the road then along side us for a few yards before jumping the barbed wire fence and charging off to find its mother. I took up the pace setting at the front trying to keep it between 20.5 and 22 above that and I started to see Diane fade. I thought it would be fun to make it to Harlem in an hour so the pace persisted. We made it in an hour and 4 minutes with Diane grinning from ear to ear proud of the 20 mph average.
Harlem is a gem of a town. Just a block from the Albertsons was the city park adjacent to the police department and city hall. Rick found out where we were to place out tents ( near the signs that say ‘Bicyclist camp here‘) we used the pool’s showers and they left the front door open for us to have access to City Hall’s bathrooms. There were nice shade trees and even a grill. Susan proposed that we cook steaks on the grill and have a great salad. After some more brainstorming we bought charcoal, 2 T-Bone steaks, brats, corn on the cob to roast, baking potatoes, aluminum foil, 2 bags of Caesar salad kits, chips and salsa, some beer and Rick got Champaign to celebrate our first thousand miles.
I thought my stove fuel, HEET or methanol, would work fine to start the charcoal. Kevin and I burned through 3 ozs of it. Kevin wasn’t convinced that the charcoal had caught so he got Susan’s fuel can that holds Coleman fuel for her stove and started to douse the charcoal with it when it ignited. He dropped the flame engulfed fuel can and it rolled into the gravel parking lot pouring out puddles of flaming fuel. Then he attempted to stomp out the flames but found out the fuel sticks to your shoe that makes you dance even more till the fuel burned off your shoe. The puddles of burning fuel attracted attention of some of the children swimming in the pool so questions and answers floated back and forth while we watched the fuel burn off over the next several minutes. Kevin put some ice on his ankle and admired his freshly fire shorn leg. Success the charcoal had caught and the potatoes et al were soon cooking. Chips, salsa, and another 6 pack of beer were consumed while things cooked. Then we feasted on the best camp meal ever. Stuffed to the gills with another beer run to top the evening off.
Slept in; went back to Wal-Mart; mailed 4lbs 2ozs back to OKC; sat outside closed bike store and cleaned my bike chain; met up with the gang eating breakfast at 4B’s café after they rode in from Joplin. We all went back to the now open bike store and joined the crowd with the Okie Boys and the Louisiana Guys completely overwhelming the bike store owner. Got snacks at IGA then headed out of Havre. The road out was the worst we had encountered. No usable shoulder tons of traffic, rude drivers and lots of semi trucks. We made it to Chinook for lunch then headed out 21 miles to Harlem. As we left Diane queued up behind Rick. They opened up a hundred yard gap on the rest of us before I decided to chase. Rick was setting a pace of 21mph and Diane was working hard to keep with him while I lurked behind. This kept up for about 12 miles until a deer ran across the road in front of us. I hollered “DEER” and Diane nearly jumped out of her skin because she had no idea I was behind her. A couple seconds later a spotted doe came out of the same area and ran across the road then along side us for a few yards before jumping the barbed wire fence and charging off to find its mother. I took up the pace setting at the front trying to keep it between 20.5 and 22 above that and I started to see Diane fade. I thought it would be fun to make it to Harlem in an hour so the pace persisted. We made it in an hour and 4 minutes with Diane grinning from ear to ear proud of the 20 mph average.
Harlem is a gem of a town. Just a block from the Albertsons was the city park adjacent to the police department and city hall. Rick found out where we were to place out tents ( near the signs that say ‘Bicyclist camp here‘) we used the pool’s showers and they left the front door open for us to have access to City Hall’s bathrooms. There were nice shade trees and even a grill. Susan proposed that we cook steaks on the grill and have a great salad. After some more brainstorming we bought charcoal, 2 T-Bone steaks, brats, corn on the cob to roast, baking potatoes, aluminum foil, 2 bags of Caesar salad kits, chips and salsa, some beer and Rick got Champaign to celebrate our first thousand miles.
I thought my stove fuel, HEET or methanol, would work fine to start the charcoal. Kevin and I burned through 3 ozs of it. Kevin wasn’t convinced that the charcoal had caught so he got Susan’s fuel can that holds Coleman fuel for her stove and started to douse the charcoal with it when it ignited. He dropped the flame engulfed fuel can and it rolled into the gravel parking lot pouring out puddles of flaming fuel. Then he attempted to stomp out the flames but found out the fuel sticks to your shoe that makes you dance even more till the fuel burned off your shoe. The puddles of burning fuel attracted attention of some of the children swimming in the pool so questions and answers floated back and forth while we watched the fuel burn off over the next several minutes. Kevin put some ice on his ankle and admired his freshly fire shorn leg. Success the charcoal had caught and the potatoes et al were soon cooking. Chips, salsa, and another 6 pack of beer were consumed while things cooked. Then we feasted on the best camp meal ever. Stuffed to the gills with another beer run to top the evening off.
Any boy scouts in the group?
ReplyDeleteCongrats on 1000 miles!