Excerpt from Travel Journal:
8 July, 2024 Day 16
47 miles today, 824 Miles for the trip.
East Glacier, MT - Cut Bank, MT

Decided to make a short day today to Cut Bank. Made really good time. Left East Glacier around 10:00am and got to Cut Bank around 2:00pm.

Riding was generally easy with a little hill thrown in for good measure.

It got really hot as the sun got higher.

Met a guy named Seth. He’s riding his motor bike to Alaska. Had a long chat with him while I was waiting for my laundry. Try to make it a habit to wash my clothes as often as I can. My riding clothes were starting to get really bad.

9 July, 2024 Day 17
116 miles today, 940 Miles for the trip.
Cut Bank, MT - Great Falls, MT

Decided to push a big day all the way to Great Falls and take a rest day there.

Left early, 7:30am to take advantage of the cool morning weather but by 9:00am it was hot already.

When I did the mileage calculation, I came up with 109 miles and thought if it was pretty flat I would be doable.

Didn’t account for the heat and it made the ride harder than I realized. Stopped at every store I came across to resupply with water and ice cream, but I miscalculated my distance for the day and when 109 miles ticked by, there was no Great Falls.

Started feeling the miles at around 80 miles, but I figured I could hold out and push another 30 to the end. Great Falls was actually another 17 miles down the road and I ran out of water before I got there.

Stopped at Wendy’s before the hotel to get some food and liquids.

Lesson learned, no 100+ mile days in this heat.

Resting here tomorrow.