Day 16: Havre to Malta, Mont.

Bongu from Malta! Today we continued our slog through Montana, with another long day, bringing our 3-day total mileage to nearly 300 miles. Conditions were fairly similar to the last two days: lots of dry fields, low traffic, riding mostly on varied shoulder on highway 2, and winds at our back. Today we found another factor which motivates us to ride faster: persistent swarms of mosquitos. As we rode on a brief byway off of highway 2, we stopped momentarily and immediately realized that there were dozens of mosquitos swarming us. These conditions have continued through tonight. Every time we stopped, or even just started to slow down, the mosquitos would descend on us and start biting. They can also apparently chase you if you’re climbing up a hill at less than 10mph.

The scenery has not been dramatically different, and we lucked out again by having significant thunderstorms at our back, but not getting more than a few drops of rain on us. No real lunch stops today as the few (read: 2) restaurants we passed were both closed on Sunday. We are beginning to get into our diet of gas station food for multiple meals a day. Thankfully there have been Alberton’s stores in most of the towns, where we can stock up on some produce, and where the “Master O’Rourke Phone Number” works for our rewards discounts.

Here in Malta, we enjoyed the dinosaur museum, where “Leonardo” was unearthed. It was a surprising treasure of fossils for such a small town, part of the “Montana Dinosaur Trail.” It was ranked #1 of 5 top things to do in Malta, Mont. on tripadvisor. And I do wonder what the other four things are. Because of the bugs, and the three exhausting days of biking, I think we’ll mostly be staying in tonight.

Tomorrow we’ll continue our European tour and head to Glasgow, Montana. A “short” 70 miles from here.

By the numbers:
Miles traveled: 93
Average moving speed: 14.9mph
Total climbing: 594 feet
Hostess products consumed: 2
Billboards for the dinosaur museum passed: 3
Max fluid ounces of beer served in a Montana brewery: 48
Daily average miles over the last 7 days: 76
Daily average miles over the last three: 97

 Excited to see some trees again today.

Stopped for lunch in Harlem, eating gas station burritos. What you can’t see in this photo is that I’m being slowly devoured by blood sucking flies.

This is not a real dinosaur.

This is what we’ve been doing for most of the day.

Found a shady trail to DQ.

On a bypass from highway 2 through the Fort Belknap Reservation.