The best little boy there ever was - Near Henderson, Montana

The previous day’s encounter with the crazy woman was still fresh on my mind. It wasn’t that her behavior had scared me or anything, it was more so the dread that since we had stopped our ride at her smoothie shop, we were going to have to start there again and possibly run into her once more. This wasn’t exactly high on my list of things to do, but we didn’t really have a choice if we wanted to keep our continuous path from the Pacific Ocean. In order to minimize the risk of seeing her again, we started bright and early before the stand would most likely open and we parked a ways down the trail so that our car wouldn’t be visible to her. I didn’t need her losing her mind and slashing my tires or anything while Zilla and I were out for the day.

As luck would have it, our plan worked quite well and we were able to ride by the smoothie stand in peace. Though I did make sure to wave to the security cameras in the event that she might be watching the tape later and need a friendly hello. I mean seriously, what the heck is wrong with people that they become so volatile so quickly over something so small. (At any rate, it looks like the stand has since gone out of business. Gee…I wonder why….)

For the most part, we had a very quiet day ahead of us. There were no other cyclists out, which seems to be the norm for most of the places we visit. Also, we tended to be far enough from the interstate that we didn’t see it at all and the passing cars only made a minimal amount of noise. It was quiet enough too that we saw a bit of wildlife including ground squirrels and chipmunks, a spruce grouse or two, and a golden eagle!

We did however run into a fair amount of vehicle traffic. Apparently, the Route of the Olympian is open to ATV’s, four-wheelers, UTV’s, and anything else that felt like riding on it. Thankfully, all of the riders were very respectful of us and would slow down so as not to kick a bunch of dirt and dust on us and some even going so far as to set down their beers and wave at us as they drove by. I made sure to keep mental note of which ones I’d seen the beers in as I figured we’d probably run into them later on their way home and that they might not be driving as well as they previously had….

One particular driver of note pulled over next to Zilla and I and started asking me about our trip and what we were doing, etc. A while later, he and his wife ultimately gave me their phone number and told me to give them a call in 70 miles or so when we were closer to their house and said they’d gladly put Zilla and I up for the night. This was a far cry from the crazy woman from the previous day! I graciously thanked the couple and told them that Zilla and I would definitely look them up down the road!

As the day got later and the temperatures started to drop a bit, Zilla and I were again passed by the group with the beers. Thankfully, I’d remembered what they looked like so I was able to get Zilla and me as far to the side as possible when they passed, which they again did at a safe distance and speed. A short while later, a man and dog came by on an ATV and stopped to chat. Mike and his dog Buddy were out for the more or less daily ride. Buddy has a box on the back of the ATV that he’s able to sit in, but he’s also free to get out and run through the woods at his leisure as Mike rides along. He even showed me a couple videos of Buddy living the dream, trouncing through the forest. After chatting for a bit, Mike gave me his phone number and said that he lived near by would love to have Zilla and me over for dinner which we gladly accepted!

The remainder of the ride was fairly uneventful. Zilla and I decided to put in a few extra miles to make the next day a little shorter as we had an 11 hour car ride to contend with after so I thought it made sense to make as many miles today as we could. After that, we headed over to Mike’s house for a well earned, homecooked meal! Mike and his wife Kelly made dinner for both Zilla and me, which was very thoughtful of them! They then offered to let me take a shower as well which was awesome as it had been a couple days.

When I got out of the shower, Mike and Kelly were kind enough to offer Zilla and me a place to stay for the night which was wonderful and unexpected and I thanked them for that amazing opportunity as well. Then, a short time later, they were slipping something into my hand and when I looked down, they told me that they were very touched by what Zilla and I were doing and that they wanted to make a donation to Pedals4Paws. Their endless stream of kindness became too much for me to handle and I started crying and thanking them as best I could for everything they were doing to help Zilla and me and for helping me honor Captain’s memory. We then stayed up late into the night sharing stories and talking about life. I even briefly got to meet their son and granddaughter before Zilla and I turned in for the evening in our very own travel trailer!

The next morning, Mike and Kelly were up early and making Zilla and me breakfast before we even knew what was going on. After that, Mike invited me out to his house sized garage where he offered to help me do a little maintenance on Zilla’s bike trailer as in his previous life, Mike had spent an entire career doing repair work for a large corporation and still had all of his tools and the skills necessary to fix things, so something as small as my trailer was an easy job. With the repairs complete, we headed back to the house where Kelly handed me a couple snacks for the trail and a small cloth bag that had a halo wearing cartoon dog and cat looking at a rainbow printed on it. Opening the bag, I saw that it contained a very specialized deck of cards. A social worker by trade, Kelly had a friend who created the Rainbow Bridge Pet Loss Deck which is a deck of 52 cards with wonderful artwork on one side and then tips to help you navigate through the grief of losing a beloved pet on the other. As Kelly had lost a pet, her friend Mindy Meiering had gifted her a limited-edition version of the Rainbow Bridge Pet Loss Deck but seeing how much I was struggling with the passing of Captain Fantastic, Kelly thought that I should have the deck to help me with my much fresher grief journey.

To say that I was blown away by the kindness and compassion that Mike and Kelly had shown Zilla and me as complete strangers whom they hadn’t even known for 24 hours would be an understatement. And then to contrast their extreme kindness with the woman at the smoothie shop from the previous day, it was about as polar opposite as you could possibly get and it restored my faith in humankind that, on the whole and when dealing in one on one situations, people tend to be helpful and kind, regardless of political leanings, religious proclivities, etc. When Zilla and I left their home, I knew that Kelly and Mike were the type of people that we could legitimately now call friends and that we could easily stop by any time we were in the area and I’m sure they would be happy to see us.

Zilla and I then said our goodbyes, thanked them both again for their insane hospitality, and went to finish out our last ride for the year. Winter was quickly approaching in Montana so we would have to hold off our adventure until the following year when the snows had melted. But we still had time for one last jaunt along the St. Regis River to the end of the Route of the Olympian where we would then take the backroads into the little town of St. Regis and celebrate our achievements with one of their famous huckleberry milkshakes; and we did just that! We didn’t hang out there long though as across the street was a dog park which I decided would be the perfect place for Zilla and I to share our milkshake and to let him run around for a bit enjoying the remainder of our time together in Montana before the long drive home and the even longer winter wait until we could resume our journey along the Great American Rail Trail.

To the Other

From One Extreme