Montana is almost behind us. The North Dakota border is a mere 25 miles to the east of us. This is the fourth consecutive day of 100+ miles ridden, although today was a mere 103 miles. The temperatures climbed into the low 90s today with zero clouds in the sky, but a fairly mild headwind kept me comfortable all day. It wasn't until I stopped riding I realized how hot it was.
Montana is huge - almost 700 miles wide; wide enough to take up an entire time zone. The mountainous west side is radically different than central/eastern side, which reminds me of central/western Nebraska. But it's all Big Sky Country.
I once read, (in a book that I can't remember the title or author), that major milestone in the history of the settlement of the West was the introduction of the phonograph to the area. Before the phonograph's introduction western settlers suffered from a high rate of insanity and suicide. the culprit: constant silence punctuated only by the wind. The phonograph gave settlers the ability to hear something other than the constant wind. As a result, the insanity and suicide rate dropped.
PeterB and I spoke tonight about how our minds are beginning to wander in strange ways during the course of the days in the saddle lately. I find myself going over trivial subjects over and over in my mind until I forget why I was thinking about the subject in the first place. Furthermore, I'm beginning to remember people and events that I've completely forgotten. My mind seems to be engaging in a long-overdue mental spring cleaning as a way to counteract the constant sound of the wind and chain spinning beneath me. And it's weird. Liberating in a way, but weird.
We've been wrestling with some bad mosquitoes for the past few days. We've heard that they're particularly bad up the road. It looks like a DEET bath in morning is in order.
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