Day 22: Glasgow, MT to Wolf Point, MT

A bit of a cold front is passing through the area.  The official low was 52 degrees and the high is forecast to be 61 degrees.  Along with the low temperatures, there is a strong wind blowing east.  First thing this morning it was blowing at 22 mph with gusts up to 35 mph, and it seems to have stayed that way through early afternoon.

Look what the wind blew in...
(the view wasn't this clear through rain splattered glasses).

Needless to say, it was possible to set a fast pace for the day, but by the time we hit the road it was 48 degrees with mist/light rain.  We decided to leapfrog every 7 miles, which worked out to a stop about every 20 minutes.  That was about the point at which my glasses were getting too beaded up with rain/mist to be able to see very well, and just about the point where I needed to get warmed back up for a bit.

Over the 48 miles or so of riding today I averaged 23.4 mph, an average that probably would have been at least 25 mph if a narrow shoulder and stiff crosswind hadn't slowed my progress for the last ten miles or so.  For one stretch of nearly 3 miles I was maintaining a pace above 30 mph in my highest gear.  Even most of the places where I had a quartering wind I was able to keep it around 23 to 25 mph.

So it took a little more than two hours to do today's riding.  We're camping just west of Wolf Point at Homestead Motel and RV Park ($25, water and power).  I'm hunkered down in the camper with the ceramic heater stoked up and I just now powered up the heated mattress pad.  I suspect with the stiff winds that it'll take both to keep us comfortable here, though with Alea's additional body heat the ceramic heater might be sufficient.

The low tonight is forecast to be just 37 degrees, though it will warm up to 73 degrees tomorrow in Circle, MT.  After that, it looks as though summer weather will be back, with highs in the mid-80s to low 90s.  The winds tomorrow are forecast to be light and mainly out of the west and northwest, which should work well with our mostly southerly route.

We're going to take advantage of the unseasonable cool temperatures to see the 4 pm matinee showing of Trainwreck at the local theater.  It'll be the longest time that we've left Lana alone in the van, but she should do fine.