Day 16

Miles: 89

Mileage from start: 1,349

Breakfast at Sandy’s Stagecoach Inn and B&B was egg and veggie bake, waffles and venison sausages. The conversation and accommodations were great. 

We could tell before we started that today was going to be harder than the last couple of days. The wind had changed overnight and now was coming from the east. Sandy said winds from the east meant rain, but the skies were clear so we just went for it. 

Each pedal stroke was a challenge and by midday I was tired. Richard pulled most of the day, which means he is even more tired than I am. 

We ate lunch in Saco from the Pac N’ Save; strawberries, blackberries, salt and pepper chips, gummy peaches and some milk. While we ate, the mosquitoes ate us. 

The whole region is irrigated off the Milk River and so standing water abounds. The lady at the grocery store said they have to spray for mosquitoes everyday just so they can go outside. 

We’ve been told twice that we “should be past the bugs” by now, but I don’t believe it yet. 

It was warm enough today to start in just shorts and jersey top. When we stopped for a break at 5 p.m. we where warm and had been for hours. (The colder weather we’d had for the last week was unseasonable, Sandy said.)

We are often approached as we ride by people asking about the trip. They want to know how long we bike each day (80-100 miles); where we started (Seattle); where we’re going (Maine); how long it will take us to get to Maine (about 2 months).

It’s like thruhiking. You almost answer on autopilot. But when we were approached today by an older gentleman he asked a new question for us: have you seen the weather forecast? 

He kindly told us a huge storm was coming out of the west and we might want to get where we’re going to be out of it. 

We took his advice and moved as quickly as we could — into the headwind — toward Glasgow, about 15 miles away. While our original goal was a town another 15 miles past Glasgow, the efforts of the headwind and the imposing weather behind us made us rethink our goal. 

We got a west-facing room at a hotel and watched the storm blow over us. The baseball-sized hail predicted was more like golf ball-sized, but still, it was nice to be indoors and not asking our lightweight tent to take on that storm.