Happy Father's Day from North Dakota!

Our friends, the Nelsons (Claire, Pastor Matt, Diane, and Andrew)

Over the Divide...all downhill from here : )

The mountains of Glacier National Park

A big milestone!
Our 1,250 mile celebration

Recumbent tourist, Phil, in Wolf Point, MT

Flower in the Draper's garden

Jenny and the Drapers at the spillway of Ft. Peck Dam

Roadside Coffee Break...great service.

Bainville (or Baynville), Montana

Into North Dakota...finally!

Happy Father's Day to our dads, grand-dads, and all the other wonderful fathers we know! And greetings from North Dakota! Our last update was from Chinook, MT. A lot has happened since then. We actually made our way out of Montana! That is one huge state. I kept saying to people "When we were in Montana" when referring to Missoula or Columbia Falls and then catching myself because we were STILL in Montana. So, crossing that state line (and into the central time zone, ugh, losing another hour of sleep) was a great excitement!

After arriving in Chinook we found our way to a City park where we were able to shower and camp for free. I got to chat with some of the local kids who had been playing at the swimming pool next door. Then we made our way into our tent early to have dinner in the tent because the mosquitos were bad and it was just starting to rain. Scott, a sometimes messy eater, decided that he should be that careful all the time about trying not to make a mess and we also determined that eating in the tent would not be a good thing to do in bear country ;)

Thursday we rode from Chinook to Hinsdale, which was 112 miles, even though we had prepared for only 87 miles. We left at 6am and were originally going to go to Sleeping Buffalo Hot Springs, which is the big thing in that part of the state. It would be an 87 mile ride. However, we were less than excited to stay there. It was not very clean and the hot springs were not much warmer than bath water. So, we continued another 11 miles to Saco and that town didn't have much either. The only place to camp was a small spot of grass between the highway and the railroad tracks.

Scott, being the knight that he is swept his princess back on our trusty steed and continued down the road. It was another 14 miles into Hinsdale and, although we were weary and the road was long, we made the best of it and actually enjoyed that last bit. I reminded myself and Scott that it was better than sitting in a cubicle on a Thursday afternoon ;) We even had some time to create a new song...watch for the upcoming album release.

Arriving in Hinsdale we had intentions of camping, but we met a woman named Jean as we passed the post office who was on the council of the local Lutheran church and offered that we stay in the basement for the night since the mosquitos were usually so bad. We were very thankful and gladly took her up on her offer. It was a blessing to be indoors and have a real bathroom and kitchen. We also got to meet Pastor Troy who was a hoot. We had a good discussion and thanked him for his hospitality. Although it was one of our longest days it was one of the best because we both really felt like we were in agreement about our decisions and were able to keep a good attitude in the face of uncertainty and challenge. God has continued to prove his guidance and care for us.

Friday we left by 6 am again and rode 30 miles to Glasgow just in time for the post office to open so we could pick up our next resupply box. Thank you Mom and Dad! Then we rode 48 more miles to Wolf Point where we had a contact with Pastor George Draper and his wife Gerry. We got in before noon and met a westbound recumbent tourist as well as the other local Lutheran Pastor who is also an avid tourist. We chatted with them for a while and had some lunch before making our way over to the Drapers. They are a wonderful couple and were so very generous and hospitable to us. They let us shower and do laundry and then took us for a drive out to Fort Peck to see the 5 mile long earth-filled dam and spillway. We went to the interpretive center and then they took us out for dinner at the historic Fort Peck Hotel. We could not thank them enough for all they did for us. They even stopped along the road the next day on their way to Williston to give Scott some hot coffee.

Yesterday morning we left at 7am to begin the 97 mile ride to Williston North Dakota. It was a long hard day of hilly riding into the wind (I thought that wasn't supposted to happen until we started heading west ;) Once we arrived in Williston we decided to get our second hotel and dinner out of the trip. We enjoyed it a lot! Last night and this morning it has been raining and thundering so we are going to church this morning and then may try to make a few more miles if the rain breaks. We hope to be in Minot, ND within the next two days.

Happy Father's day again and God's blessings to all of you!

Scott and Jenny