Three Forks Montana
I was off the interstate and heaqded northwest on the two-lane highway 212. The lady at the visitors center promised me the weather would cool as I drove across the state. In fact Billings was only supposed to get to 99. I was not encouraged. I slowed as I went through the small town of Alzada. As I reached the edge of town and started to accelerate to my usual 60 mph in the high winds a big turkey came flying out of the ditch right in front of my car. I swerved into the other lane trying to miss him. He just barely clipped the upper right of my windshield and I heard him roll across the top of my car. Feathers flew everywhere. A big 18-wheeler was not far behind me so I kept on trucking. I assumed the turkey was lost, but I was not sure if he had hit my bike or not. He was a big turkey. At least 20 pounds with the red thing that hangs down from there neck and white tips oin its feathers.
As I was regaining my composure all the traffic in front of me stopped. There was road construction and we had to wait for a flagger car to arrive. I could see it pulling up with traffic from the opposite direction in the distance. Rather than jumping out and checking my bike, I decided to write down what had happended in my journal. Just as the flagger car di his u-turn I noticed my bike which normally sits fairly perpendicular to my car was at almost a 60 degree angle leaning backwards. I didn't think I had time to get out and doanything about it without holding up the line of tractor trailders and other cars behind me so I decided to chance it.
We drove for four miles at an average speed of aboutg 15 mph over a bumpy road with many stop and starts. Finally we reached the end, buit there was no where to pull off I was forced to accelerate to 60mph to keep from being run over from behind. I just hoped my bike and rack would hold. They did. When I pulled off to fix it, the kickstand of my bike was on top of my trunk lid and had left a 8-inch scrape in the paint. I normally load the bike with the kickstand down and have it rest against the back of the trunk because psychologically I think it is more stable. I don 't know if it really is or not. The turkey must have hit the bike hard enough to make the bike lean back to where the stand was now on top of the trunk. It was quite a force.
I travelled on. Near Hardin, just south of Billings, I refused to pay the outrageous $10 entry fee at the little big horn national monmument just to go stare at a bunch of hot, humid, rolling, grassy hills just like the ones I had been staring at for the last two days.
Billings was no cooler than Rapid City and it was still in the plains with a lot of wind. I had hoped for something in the mountains. I decided to push myself and my car and try to make it to Three Forks, Montanna and the headwaters of the Missouri, River. The KOA sounded interesting there and there were two state parks if I needed them.
Immediately thunderstorm clouds started to gather on the horizon ahead. By 2:30 I could see sporadic lightning ahead. By 3 pm the wind had become violently gusty and I pulled off at the nearest exit to check my straps and give my car, my bike, and myself a rest. There were no services, but two bikers (harley davidson motorcycle types) had taken shelter under the overpass. I continued on and stopped at the next rest area a few miles down the road to find it filled with RV trailers and bikers waiting out the storm. I made through to clear skies without incident. Another smaller storm passed, and I was in blue skies again. The landscape had turned to greener rolling hills with smatterings of pine forests. I was encouraged.
I pulled off at the Headwaters State Park in Three Forks around 5 pm even though I had made up my mind I would stay at the KOA because I needed a shower so bad. I pulled in to a flat plain with mosquito infested marshes surrounding a dozen campsites with no shade and the hot afternoon sun beating down. I immediately left, trying to remember what I thought the term headwater meant. I guess I thought it would be some spectacular waterfall or something.
I easily found the KOA. Itwas run by a couple from Bay City, Oregon. The site the proprietor picked out for me had a wonderful view of a range of snow covered mountains in the far off distance. I uploaded entry 14 and hit the showers. I started to go to the other State Park 20 miles away, but the wind was so bad I turned around. I was camped in a nice grassy area with great shade. The wind was the only let down. It was at a constant 40 mph from the west until the sun went down.
I started to ride my bike the 4 miles into town, but the wind made the ride miserable so I retuned to type up this journal entry. I guess sometimes it sounds like all I do is drive and type up journal entries. I don't feel that weay though. For the most part the driving has not been strenuous and has passed quickly. I always try to ride my bike when I get to camp and see the sites if there are any.
I have not even thought about where I go next. I think I'll probably end up on the west coast monday or tuesday. I think I want to find a place to rent for July, then do some work on my writing or software development. I need to do more research. I am thinking I should just write a story or two and self-publish them, then I could tell people I am a writer and just need a part time job while I work on my next project. Meanwhile I would have to lower my standard of living to prevent using up the nest egg.
I know there are people that are self-publishing, and I don't think it would be too hard to do. But I would need to research it more. On the other hand my critical self saysd that self-publishing is for losers. Its for people who don't know there craft well enough and are not willing to put out the effort to learn it well enough to convince professional publishers to publish their work.On the other hand it would be a way to get my feet wet and see what I can do. I won't hold myself to any of these plans. I have to decide where I will be tomorrow.