Joplin to Havre to Harlem, MT
The next morning we four started out early to join Rick and Tim in Havre. We looked for a place to eat breakfast along the way, but found nothing until we pulled into Havre, 34 miles later. We ate breakfast across from Rick and Tim’s motel at the 4B’s café. Then we all went to a bike store, a small hole in the wall with—disappointment—no bike shorts for sale. I had given a pair of my shorts to Diane so was limping along alternating only two pair. The Okie boys and the Louisiana guys joined us at the bike shop, and the eleven of us completely overwhelmed the bike store owner.
The road out of Havre was the worst we had encountered. No usable shoulder, tons of traffic, rude drivers, and lots of semi trucks. But we made it to Chinook for lunch and eventually covered the next 21 miles to Harlem. All of this riding is out in the wide-open without shade. This openness actually scares me because there is no place to hide from the sun. Heat quickly debilitates me.
 |
| A shorn Tim and Kevin at the Harlem city park working on replacing a tube in a flat tire Kevin experienced today |
 |
| Setting up camp |
 |
| Setting up our tents in the little area beside City Hall; The sign on the side of City Hall bldg is illegible but says "Welcome to Harlem; Bicyclists Camp Here" Those are my shoes (first things off) and sleeping bag on the picnic table |
 |
| Deed done |
We used the pool’s showers, and they left the front door open so that we’d have access to City Hall’s bathrooms all night. Across the street was a convenient Laundromat and the tent area was shaded and even had a grill. I proposed that we go together for the evening meal since the supermarket was so close. We could cook steaks on the grill and have a salad. After some more brainstorming, we walked to the grocery store and returned with everything we needed: Charcoal, 2 T-Bone steaks, brats, corn on the cob to roast, baking potatoes, aluminum foil, 2 bags of Caesar salad mixes, chips and salsa, some beer, and Rick bought champagne to celebrate our first thousand miles.
Tim describes best what happened next: I thought my stove fuel, HEET or methanol, would work fine to start the charcoal. Kevin and I burned through 3 ozs of it. Kevin wasn’t convinced that the charcoal had caught so he got Susan’s fuel can that holds white gas for her stove and started to douse the charcoal with it. It ignited in a whoosh! Kevin dropped the flame-engulfed fuel can and it rolled into the gravel parking lot pouring out puddles of flaming fuel. Then he attempted to stomp out the flames, but found out that fuel sticks to your shoe, so he danced even more until the fuel burned off his sandal. The puddles of burning fuel attracted the attention of some of the children swimming in the pool. Questions and answers floated back and forth through the chain-link fence while we watched the fuel burn off over the next several minutes. Kevin put some ice on his ankle and admired his freshly fire-shorn leg.
 |
| A spot in the parking lot where the fuel can burned out; Kevin now had a shorn leg to go with his shorn pate |
I emptied the plastic shoebox that I use to hold my lunch food and kitchen things, and used it as a "bowl" in which to make the Caesar salad. We ate chips, salsa, and drank another 6-pack of beer while things cooked and roasted. Then we feasted on the best camp meal ever. To top the evening off, Bill U. volunteered to be the beer bitch and ran to the grocery for more beer. One beer is plenty for me. Combine that with a glass of champagne, and I was in the tent sawing wood at dusk.
 |
| Best meal and coming together of the trip; note the laundromat across the street. This site was perfect: bathrooms, pool, showers, laundromat, grill, and a supermarket a block away |
Tune in tomorrow for another day on the road.
