Day 25, Glendive to Circle, MT

Monday June 22, 2020, 55 miles (89 km) - Total so far: 1,407 miles (2,264 km)

A perfect day, really.

I knew I only had about 50 miles. Intel from the lady at the welcome center at Wilbeaux had said it was somewhat level. I awoke at 5:30, left the hotel an hour later, got a breakfast sandwich to go at a gas station, was at a grocery when it opened to get more tuna packets and bars. On the road by 7:15.

It was level, some noticeable up. Train tracks stretched to my left. I think they use them for parking because for about 30 miles cars were parked. A long stretch of them. I made Lindsay by 9:30 , a very small place but was able to use a bathroom at Ag place.

I kept going. The sky was a perfect blue bowl turned over top of me. Big Sky Country. You can see for miles, rolling grasslands. After I left the tracks there was more climbing, but reciprocated with downs. I made it to Circle, really just a circle on the prairie, by 12:30. It seemed too early to stop. Tomorrow's ride is 66 miles, I could get a jump on it--except: absolutely nothing again until Jordan. I'd rather eat, rest up, leave in the a.m. with breakfast sandwiches and 5 bottles of water. It seems risky to set out when even stealth camping might invite a bear or other unwelcome wildlife.

Upon entering Circle there was a concrete dinosaur, a kind of mascot. Presumably the land around here offers up dino bones. Had lunch at the Lunch Box Cafe., a healthy wrap option. And, then circled back to the park next to the community pool. I'm set up with shower, water, and electricity.

Tomorrow I hear will be hilly. At the grocery a woman said it gets hillier the further west you go.

**Essentially, the geological history of the part of the continental plate that now makes up Montana made it likely that dinosaurs (and other plants and animals) who died there had their bones preserved in the manner that leads to fossilization.