What a difference a day makes

Thursday, July 10
Circle, MT to Glendive, MT
49 Miles
Average speed 12.8
I added to yesterday's blog so please re-read.

The Cenex was our breakfast spot and we talked to a farmer who had a "small spread of only 6000 acres".
We got on our way late because of a thunderstorm.  We heard a Montanan say in tones of complete disbelief " what about all this rain!" It has rained twice in two weeks and it seems to us to be more showers than heavy rain but is a lot for this area.
We found out that the terrain was so much easier than the day before. The elevation chart I had seen the night before looked a lot more scary. The first 14 miles was a climb but it was a gentle grade with no downhills where you lose all the elevation you just gained. Then at 14 miles there was a "divide", a gentle switchback getting us up to the final 3300 feet (from the 2500 feet at Circle, MT). Then we had 35 miles of a gentle grade which was almost all downhill! Oh yeah, this is what heaven will be like on the other side of the great divide!
We stopped for a break in the little town of Lindsay, MT which is the first place we have been treated like "biker trash." It began when we went into the only place that was open for business, the Farm Union service station.  Dale noticed one guy roll his eyes when he came in. They didn't greet us or say anything other than the bare minimum response to a question or to tell us what something cost. This is really different than the way we have usually been treated all the way through the states. We bought several bottles of lemonade and iced tea and got out of there preferring the hot sun to the surly attitude. Too bad for them. Almost without exception other shopkeepers have been pleasant and interested in what we are doing.

We booked ourselves into a motel because Dave has had swelling in the ankle which is the same leg where he has has a cramp in his calf. He will see a doctor in Glendive on Friday. Meanwhile he will elevate and ice it. There are three new motels here because we hear that the oil boom is starting to spread to Dickinson, and points west and they are doing some new Bakken oil permits in this area in Montana. Hmm. 

We will be on Interstate 94 for short stretches as we travel towards North Dakota because there are no other alternative roads. Not looking forward to that but there are large shoulders. 
I've included a picture of what the elevation chart looked like for the trip into Glendive. The reality was so different from what the chart would seem to show.