Turns out the six riders I encountered yesterday, are the bigger part of the group that Richard and Scott started with. Jeff, who organized the group by placing an ad in the ACA newsletter, is familiar with cycling in parts of Wisconsin and gave me some tips for when I have to leave the ACA maps in Minneapolis, as the ACA maps don’t cover central or southern Wisconsin. They do have a route that just skirts Hayward, though. I had dinner with Jeff’s group at a tavern just down the road. They were a nice bunch of fellows, but I’m glad I’m traveling alone, I can set my own pace and schedule. I stopped by as they were having breakfast in the morning and got this picture to remember them by. I should take more pictures with the people I meet.

There is a lot of “sameness” to the scenery around here. Here is a pretty typical view from earlier today.

These flowers lined the road. In some places there were whole fields of them. It’s interesting to me how the scenery flows by when you are traveling by bike. It’s a bit like watching the scenery go by when you are at 35000 feet and looking out the window of a jetliner. The difference is the amount of detail you see, tiny shards of glass, bugs scurrying across the pavement, the flowers and weeds poking through cracks in the pavement. I watch the cows follow me with their heads as I slowly pedal past.

Jeff’s group rode to Lewistown today, about a distance of 45 miles. The riding weather was good so I pushed on after lunch. A crosswind picked up in the afternoon, which combined with the distance I had already covered made the last 15 miles hard. I made it to Grass Range, which has a convenience store/truck stop, with a place for camping in back. It appears like it’s going to be breezy night here out on the prairie and there is a storm brewing.

Distance today was 77 miles, for a grand total of 1071. Lewistown is considered at the center of Montana, so now I am over half way across this state.