We had some excitement last night when Caroline’s father called and told us there was a HUGE wind blow coming in 1 hour. We batten down all the hatches, except for Corvin, who did not put on his rain fly until it finally hit (wish I had caught it on video as he and four others scurried around in 50 mile an hour winds to keep his tent and stuff from blowing away, while they tried to put on the rainfly!!!). The fifty mile an hour winds lasted for about a half hour, there was no rain and then it was completely still . . .

you can see evidence of the wind power . . .

. . this morning the same thing happened. Scattered showers were expected until 8:00am so we delayed our departure until then. Within 15 minutes everyone had their tents and gear down and packed!!! Mad scramble. Once again . . . big winds but no rain on us!!

. . . the winds coming to full power his morning.

. . . on the way out of Caroline we passed this sign that had guided us to her place yesterday. It was blown down in one the the two windstorms we experienced!!!

As we Steamboat Dry Goods, we headed south for the first time in WEEKS and were leaving the Ft Peck Indian Reservation as we crossed the Missouri River.

Adjacent the road is this National Landmark bridge that is the last example of a riveted Pennsylvania through truss bridge left in Montana.

It was officially dedicated in 1930 and over 15,0000 people attended the dedication.

We are now officially biking on the BLM Big Sky Back Country Byway . . .

We traveled 50 miles from Wolf Point to Circle today, south on Hwy 13. We were hoping the wind would have shifted to northerly but it stayed from the west . . . and strong 15-20 mph. So . . . we had a strong side wind that tended to gust and blow us into the traffic lane. Here is the gang heading up one of the ‘Prairie Rollers’ we experienced all day today!!

. . . and here is what a lot of the traffic was on the road today. Contacted farming equipment being moved from one farm to another. It’s a little disconcerting when one tops a hill the same time you do!!!!

This may not look like much but it is a baseball field in rural Vida . . . Montana style. It wouldn’t pass muster in the Midwest. Where is the green grass????

Our half way point today was Vida, where we were planning to replenish our water and maybe get a snack. Unfortunately, the only commercial business in town, the bar/restaurant did not open until 11:00am. It was 10:00am. So we sat in the shade of the building and ate gorp and drank water!!!

We have ridden by LOTS of one room school houses in Montana. This is probably one of the better preserved ones. Used until 1966!!!

We have lots of farmers who plant windreaks in WI but out here, farmers think BIG. . . it is Big Sky country, of course. This chap has a windbreak that takes up about 40 acres!!!

. . .and here is a good example of what we biked through today, for 50 miles. Lots of wheat fields, a few houses and ranches, and not much else . . .

But by early afternoon we were in Circle,MT our home for the night . . .

. About 5 of us wheeled into the Cenex for cold drinks. I drank a quart of chocolate milk (2%, though)!!! Connie rested her hooves in the shade. Quite a ride today fighting the westerly wind. If it had only been about 20-30 degree’s more to the north it would have REALLY helped us!!

We are staying at the Circle School complex tonight. Nice grassy area with a gazebo and we have access to the showers and bathrooms all night . . .nice.

Britting, the Elementary School Secretary and Sandy, ‘a para who wears many hats for the school district’, were super helpful and made us feel at home!!!

We had some heavy weather tonight. Some of the folks moved their camp into the school buildings.

We dodge the bullet. This storm ended up having 60 mile an hour winds and silver dollar hail 11 miles east of us!!!!