August 6: Havre, Montana

     If you are looking for an exciting blog report today you just might have to find somebody else's blog.  I might suggest www.iBike4Them.org.  That is the blog of a rider who stopped me near Gildford.  Apparently he feels compelled to stop every bike rider he sees because he said he's talked to something like 1200 of them since he left Bar Harbor, Maine.  His name is Mike and he is riding the entire Adventure Cycling Northern Tier route across the nation to support three of his favorite charities.  He handed me his card.  I don't know if he was expecting a donation on the spot, but he didn't get one.
     I commented that he wasn't carrying much gear for a cross-country bike trip and he let on that his wife was supporting him, driving a 23-foot RV that he gets to sleep in every night.  I can't honestly say if I thought of that arrangement with disdain or with envy.
     He said he will mention me on his blog.  In return, I just mentioned him on mine.

     I hadn't seen much wildlife lately--absolutely nothing in Glacier, if you don't count squirrels.  But finally this afternoon I saw six pronghorn antelope.  Two of them were pretty close to the highway.  When I rolled up, they ran back about 30 yard to join the other four.  At that point they all kind of acted like the stupid cows.  They just stared.  And stared.   And stared.  And stared.  And stared.  And stared.  Come to think of it, I just sat there and stared at them too.  I was the first to back down and I pedalled away.

     A headline from the front page of today's Great Falls Tribune:

            Rising Sun Camp Area Closed Due to Bears

     According to the story, on Sunday morning a small subadult black bear approached and laid on a corner of a tent that was occupied by campers.  A couple of weeks ago, a bear, believed to be the same one, snatched a pillow from a sleeping camper, and in another incident, a bear rummaged through some clothing left by the lake.
     Personally, I would have LOVED to see a bear wandering around the campground and I find it quite surprising that the bear didn't investigate my tent when I was there a few days ago.  Even though I religiously put all my food in the bear-proof containers, I am sure all of my clothing had to be emitting some nice odors after four days of bike riding and camping.