7/6-Another Fine Example of It Always Works Out!

Not gonna lie, I was a little nervous about today. The distance was pretty daunting. I left Cooney Lake at 6:30.

I don’t usually see sunrises

It was about a mile back to the route (sure seemed longer than that yesterday). It was rolling pavement to Joliet. 

Good morning shadow!

See the deer?

And now for some turkeys

My plan was to stock up on water and a few more snacks in Joliet. 

Even though it was only 8:00, I had a chocolate milk. I added two liters of water to my collection. I don’t think I mentioned this before, but when I was riding from Phillipsburg, I found a Titan strap (like a Voile strap) on the side of the road. I only had one extra strap. I needed a second one to carry two extra liters. The road provides!

Everything loaded, I made my way back to the route. The road went to gravel (I’d already had one section of gravel). I encountered my first road grader of the day. The gravel was quite thick on the ungraded side, so I moved over to the graded side. 

A bit smoother

I finished that gravel as I came into Edgar (I think that’s the name of the town), home of “Fordhenge”.

I talked with the artist’s wife, Sheri. Her husband has created this memorial garden of old Fords. Each tree has been planted in memory of one of his car friends who have passed away. It was quite interesting, and still a work in progress. 

Back to it, because those miles weren’t going to ride themselves! Also back to gravel. The wind was really becoming a factor, and not in a good way. The gravel was less than optimum. Very thick and loose. There was a fair amount of traffic. And yet another road grader. He passed me twice. 

So much dust!

I rode with the buff up almost the entire day

I only had one climb today, but it was 5.27 miles long! The crosswind was making it hard to stay in the track on the gravel. It got to the point where it was easier to walk…sorta.

I “finished” the climb, but there wasn’t much of a descent until later. Coming down in the wind was almost as bad as going up. There were times when I didn’t have to brake because the wind was braking for me! 

It wasn’t until I got more into a canyon that the wind was a little better. And I was also back on pavement. 

It looks like the rocks are in pieces

Ah, the Pryor town dump

Realizing that there was no way I was going to make it to Hardin, I pulled into Chief Plenty Coups State Park. I was hoping they might let me camp here (or maybe I could hitch a ride to Hardin with someone). When I pulled up to the museum, there was a young woman, and an older woman sitting at the picnic table. I asked the young gal if she worked there. She did. I asked if it would be possible for me to camp here beings there was no way I was going to make it to Hardin (another 55 miles). She said they didn’t allow camping, but Bernie, the older woman, owned the property across the road. Bernie said I could camp by the creek on her property! 

This gave me time to check out the state park and museum. 

Chief Plenty Coups museum

His home

He ran a store. This is how he kept track of who owed what

The Chief

A special room in his house

Notice the wall coverings

Becca, the younger woman, let me bring Wanda inside the museum while I was wandering the park. She even gave me some bear spray for my camping tonight!

We had a great chat as there weren’t any other people at the park. She might even end up in Washington!

Okay, I’m going to upload this post (there’s service here at the park), then head over to check out my campsite at Bernie’s. See, it always works out!