Day 49---morning meltdown, Wolf Point to Circle MT

54.9 miles, 5:13, 10.5 mph

The rain woke me up at 4 am, as the gutters on the hotel leaked and the rain poured over the edge of the roof, making a lot of noise outside the door to my room.  Today's stretch of highway to Circle is hilly, and very desolate, so rain is a bad omen.  I had a hard time getting back to sleep as the rain continued, even with earplugs.  Over the last three or four days, I've been pretty anxious in the mornings, and my two weather days in Glasgow weren't at all restful.  I've been sleeping poorly, and feeling pretty blah in the mornings.  I think some of it is endorphin withdrawal, maybe my endorphin levels are plunging during the night?

I dozed fitfully, and around 7 went to the breakfast room to eat.  My stomach was tight and I was a little nauseous, but manage to get some toast and peanut butter down.  It was still raining hard, so Iwent back to my room, and checked the radar.  It looked like the last line of thunderstorms would be through Wolf Point soon, so I started pack.

While packing I felt awful, and really didn't want to go on with my trip.  I spent 30 minutes or so checking escape routes, via train, rental car, and plane.  The long, hard days alone on the road are really starting to affect my mental attitude, and for a while I just lay in bed trying to meditate and calm myself down.  I've never felt this way on a bicycle tour before, and it's a new situation for me to handle.

Wolf Point has seen better days, Hart Schaffner and Marx no more

The depressed downtown

A possible escape?

Finally I could hear that the rain had stopped, and I decided I could push on to Circle today, and it turned out to be a really rough day of cycling. The first few miles along the Missouri River valley were pleasant, then after crossing the river at an historic bridge,I finally managed to eat some food.

The endless up and down hills went on for 20 miles, and I took it slowly, still feeling pretty burned out, until I reached the only town along the way.  At the little closed up town of Vida I sat and ate my lunch on the bench in front of the post office, which was closed, like the bar and grill and everything else except the  Cenex gas and garage.  Once again the guys at the local Cenex came through with water, but they gave me a bit of a hard time about being a cyclist.   Kind of that country macho thing that I've gotten a few times before.  A local medical delivery guy who stopped by the Cenex told me that there were two cyclists headed north, and to watch out for them.

Abandoned school

An abandoned church

Endless prairie

 

About ten miles out of town, over more hills, I ran into the two cyclists, MJ and Kory, two recent college grads who were riding to promote sustainability.  Their blog, Spokes of Green, is here http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=1&doc_id=12434&v=1a.  We chatted a bit about the rigors of the road and what was coming up on both our routes.  It was nice to chat, but after they left, I sure felt lonely.  Since Ben has gone back to Berkeley, it's been really lonely day after day, and there aren't many people in the towns I visit to make connections with.

The hills went on and on, and I finally got to Circle, which is another declining Montana prairie town, but with a little more life than most of the others I've seen.  It's clearly getting a little bit of spillover work and money from the oil boom, which is about 50 miles to the east.  The motel was at the edge of town, and boy did it look sad and decrepit.  Rather than check in right away, I rode into town to take a look around, and examine the food options.  I picked up some snacks and breakfast food at the local supermarket, which had the usual collection of processed foods, but I scored a 'white cake with peach sauce' that looked pretty good. 

 

 

Circle MT outskirts

One of 6 or 7 meth billboards I saw today

I looked around town at the dining options and spied a new looking place, and thought I'd go there for dinner.  I went back to the motel and sadly the motel has not made any new investment, despite having more business from the oil boom.  While it was clean, it had old musty carpet, and old fixtures.  My friend Lani messaged me that she had stayed there, and thankfully I didn't get her room with the inch of light under the door!

I went to the new fancy place in town for dinner, but when I got there, I found mostly the same old Montana meat and fried food menu, but I did have a 'Cobb' sandwich, which was a grilled chicken breast with bacon and avocado.  It was tasty, but I'm really quite sick of eating french fries.  It's off to bed early tonight, as I'm hoping that I can muster the energy to have a longer day, and finally get out of Montana.