7.6.17. Stanford to Lewistown (46 miles)

Over the past three days, I was unsure if my throat was sore from the dry air or if I was experiencing a cold. This morning, I could definitely say that it was the latter. Fortunately, we were only riding 46 miles, which was manageable with this bug. In my experiences, waking up and the first hour of being awake are the toughest parts of battling a cold. So long as I could get through that, I was confident that I could ride our route today. The first 30 minutes of riding were tough, but things became more manageable after this. We stopped in Moccasin, the first shade we had encountered since leaving Stanford. This place, Moccasin, had definitely seen better days. From a distance, it looked like a sizeable town for Montana. However, upon arriving it appeared that for every home or structure that was lived in/in use was matched by an abandoned or dilapidated structure. We both wondered what had pulled and subsequently pushed people away from here. From here, we rode on to Eddie's Corner, the only facilities we would encounter before Lewistown on this 46 mile ride. From here we rode on to Lewistown. Give or take six miles beyond Eddie's Corner, I was waved down by a car diving west along the highway. This turned out to be a friend of Garrett's that was driving to Missoula with her sister and father. We had a pleasant tinge chatting for about 20 minutes on the shoulder of the road. About five miles before Lewiston, I hit a piece of blown radial tire along the shoulder of the road. You see, the wiring from shredded tires are often times sharp enough to puncture the tube underneath the tire. A slow leak of the front tire ensued, but I opted to ride until we stopped for lunch in Lewistown. After lunch we explored the historic downtown and later settled in at our motel. Campgrounds in this part of Montana are few and far between (literally). Later this evening, we went to a restaurant recommended by Garrett's friend. The food and service were great. From here, I retired early hoping that a good night's sleep would ease this had cold.