Plentywood, MT

We awoke this morning at six am just like any other day. As we stepped outside into the parking lot of the Cottonwood Inn, the sun was already shinning and even then the air was warm. The smell of Mr. Stoner's eggs on the Coleman stove were wafting through the air and the infamous mosquitos were already landing on our legs, so bug spray was quickly applied. We were quick to hit the sticky, hot pavement and begin our 110 mile day along Route to for what seemed like the millionth day.
In our first thirty mile stretch we were already beginning to feel the hints of boredom, so we began straying from our usual pace lines, and were riding two abreast. The shoulder was big, so we thought this would be perfectly acceptable, despite the middle fingers we received from multiple pick ups. Anyway, we were all settled into the rythmn of riding when all of a sudden the sound of sirens jolted us back into reality. Yes, that's right sirens. We were pulled over by the Montana State Troopers. Sirens, lights, and all. We all pulled over, and beared ourselves for the worst. He stepped out of his vehicle, surrounded by stirred up dust, and began to explain to us how Montana State law clearly defines that cyclists must ride below the speed of the cars, and single file as close to the white line as possible. "I wouldn't want any of you to get run over". As soon as he saw Mr. Richardson, and realized we weren't just a bunch of routy kids horsing around, he changed his tune and asked us a few questions. Luckily we escaped without a scratch, but it was a close call.
The temperatures were in the nineties and the roads were flat and straight. Ellie and I continued our chatting in the back of the lines which seems to pass the time quite well. The group even experimented with a new game, the name game. If I wasn't so exhausted I would go into detail, but five miles from the finish we hit a very unpleasant surprises: HILLS. After miles, and miles of flat open land these hills appeared out of nowhere, and were not welcomed by us. We schlept up them (Ellie and I keeping eachother motivated), and eventually arrived in Culbertson, MT. Mr. Stoner had parked the trailer right infront of an ice cream shop, which couldn't have been planned better. There we hooked up with Mrs. Stoner's sister and headed by car up north of our route for a rest day in Plentywood, the Stoner's original hometowns.
The ride was about forty five minutes, and almost everyone enjoyed a nice nap. For some reason the landscape was too interesting to me as the other Mrs. Stoner (Brendon's aunt) explained all of the farming. I learned about Elevators, Silohs, Dry land, irrigation, and much much more. Who knew farming had so much terminology! I thought I was in a different country. The two sisters were reminiscing about times in their highschool days, and the stories were just too interesting to fall asleep to, but the stories were cut short by our arrival at the hotel.
After we had all gotten cleaned up, we headed for dinner at Randy's (two blocks from our hotel) Brendon's grandmother, and some other members of the Stoner family joined us, and we enjoyed a "family" dinner. As you ight have seen from the pictures, we enjoyed a LARGE dinner.
Mr. Stoner challenged Parker and Renzo to the Randy Burger (although he did not order one himself). This burger was twenty ounces of lean ground beef, slathered in mayo, and topped with lettuce, tomato and onion. Even the bun fit over the entire burger!!! To our surprise they both finished the ENTIRE burger before they slurped down their mountain dews. All before nine o'clock.
Now we've all retired to our rooms and are slowly headed for bed. Sweet dreams!