With absolutely no plans or chores for our rainy rest day, our movie and television series exploration continued. We watched all of season 1 of Modern Love, a series based on the New York Times' love column. After the first episode, I had tears streaming down my face, and Charlie was also choked up. I’ve been pleasantly surprised and thankful that the tears that I’ve shed on this trip are due to blithe enjoyment. I did not cry again during the series but would highly recommend watching it!
After reminding myself that my legs work after laying around all morning, Charlie and I headed to basketball open gym at the junior high. Playing basketball with a spherical ball (rather than the lumpy ball we carry around) and without wind gusts is soooo enjoyable. Although Charlie and I will be sad when our journey comes to an end, we are both seriously looking forward to hitting the court on a regular basis.
We had dinner at the VanDyke’s neighbors’ house. We chatted with Isaac’s fellow teachers, who were looking forward to the end of the school year this week. It is interesting that the two families we stayed with in Wyoming are connected to education. We have been impressed with the Wyoming public school system because of how modern the buildings are relative to the other town buildings, how attainable scholarships are for many students, and how kind the teachers, principals, and administration are.
We woke up early this morning because we had an 85 mile ride upon uncharted territory: the interstate. It was very hard for me to motivate this morning; we are so far into the trip, but I also feel incredibly far from the end. I told Charlie that I’m feeling a bit complacent with our progress, yet he feels completely differently. He talked me through how the rest of our trip will look and how we are closer to Seattle than I feel. This is just one of the many reasons why I am so thankful to have Charlie with me; he helps me abjure any doubt of our abilities.
The weather continued to improve as the day wore on. Charlie and I were loving our time on I-90. The gradual hills, stunning greenery of Montana, and warm weather allowed us to fly. Unfortunately I got another flat tire in the middle of a massive hill; I just can’t catch a break. We quickly fixed it though, probably our most efficient repair yet! We stopped sparingly outside of the flat given that we did not have to deal with any wind and had pleasant views.
We made it 85 miles to Hardin in 6.5 hours of riding, nearly 13 miles per hour: our fastest day since Day 1! Upon our arrival, we had no idea where we would be sleeping this evening. We tried to find a church that would host us, but we did not have any luck. Rather than illegally camp in the town park, we opted for a motel. Both of us are pooped but as always looking forward to another day of riding tomorrow.
-Maddie
Total miles: 2389
States remaining: 3