Everyone slept well last night even though there a few fireworks going off during the night. Wade and I were up at 5:00am to get the coffee going, and get the breakfast and lunch stuff out. When I bought my little ‘Mom Approved’ lunch kit it came with two little snap containers. I didn’t need them and gave them away. Wade took one and transports his daily dose of  ‘Goldfish crackers’ in it. He calls it his aquarium!!!

We rolled out of Cut Bank and the downtown area was so empty at 7:30am you could have rolled a bowling ball down the middle of the street. Of course it was the 4th of July.

Cut Bank’s economy seems to be based on liquor, bars and ‘casinos’. They have 11 casinos in a town of about 3,000!!!

But they also have some great murals spread around town . . .

. . . and as you may know they have the record for the ‘coldest spot in the nation’. It was –40 here last winter!!!

Soon we were out and down the road heading 68 miles to Chester, our home for the night. Cooler temps in the morning and a slightly overcast sky made for great riding conditions!!!

Oh yes, it’s not ALL  about oil in Montana . . .

. . . as I pedaled on I wonder why a rancher would have put such a skinny scarecrow out in his field, but in closer inspection realized it was Rod. Truly a man , outstanding in his field’ !!!

As we rolled in Shelby, MT it was easy to see they were ready to celebrate the 4th . . .

. . . of course we pulled into the first place we came to for coffee, Gatorade and apple fritters . . .

While we stood outside and ate, we chatted with Miranda who was cleaning the Exon Station Complex Casino windows. We learned all about the casino business . . . ends up it is run by the state. What was really amazing is how she could hold her coffee and cigarette in one hand and use the window cleaners and cloth with the other!!! Ambidextrous!!!!

Shelby at 9:00am looked a lot like Cut Bank. . .

. . . but the fired department had all their trucks out on display and the truck bays filled with picnic tables for the free community barbeque this afternoon!!

Interesting local advertising slant on quitting smoking and chewing . . .

After about two hours we were looking for a place to have a little lunch and get out of the sun. We rolled up to this ‘fixer upper’ along the road that offered some shade under the awning . . .

. . . might be a good deal for someone, but the current owner is their own worst enemy, ‘Looks worse than it is’!!!!

. . .  believe it or not the outdoor phone still worked but Rod could not dial out and could only connect to the ‘local operator’. Who knew they still have such a thing!!!!

We rode 72 miles today on Hwy 2 which has rail tracks running alongside all the way to Chester. Every little town along the way has one of these . . .

. . . it is a VERY busy line for BNSF and at 11 miles an hour, you can see them switching and making up the trains as we rolled along. Most have about 75 cars. It’s common to see trains waiting on siding before they get the word that it is OK to proceed, once the oncoming train has passed . . .

. . . and Amtrak shares the rail line too. Same train we took out to Washington almost a month ago . . . my how time flies!!

GREAT graffiti on he railcars parked on the sidings. Some of the painters are GREAT artists. Maybe they can put their talents into a career!!! Even political commentary about the Trumpster!!!

in the middle of this train were two cars from the Wisconsin Central. They are a LONG way from home. Headed to Madison???

On the road near a rail downhill was this brake shoe. You can see the rail bed where the red arrow points. Good thing we were not riding on the road when that ‘hot shoe’ flew off the car!!!

Rod bought some chalk and has been leaving messages along the ride all day!!!

We finally reached Chester, after a 30 mile headwind from Shelby, and are staying at the Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church. Very nice of the Pastor to let us stay inside, in air conditioning, and away from the noise there is sure to erupt tonight from fireworks . . .

. . . oh, yeah, we sort of take over anyplace to use . . .

. . . we have the run of the place with sleeping upstairs and down, and two full kitchens.

It would be great if some of the local ‘church ladies’ showed up and cook up some viddles for us in these Nescos!!!

My little nest even comes with a swimming pool!!

Lots of action in the upstairs kitchen . . .

. . . as chef’s Allen and Mike N. do the nightly cooking tonight.

Corvin and Bernie battle it out before dinner.

Great dinner tonight AGAIN celebrating the 4th of July.  Fried chicken, salad, baked beans, corn on the cob and ICE CREAM for dessert.

Hot again tomorrow so we are moving breakfast up to 6:15am in order to get an early start!!!