MAKING HAY

My mom always told me that God knew every hair on my head, and she also told me that there are no identical snowflakes. I filed both of them under "improbable",and after a dozen winters in Minnesota I'm pretty sure there are identical snowflakes in my front yard if I only had the resources to study them carefully. My dad, on the other hand, frequently tells me that God answers all our prayers. I remember him telling me this during an especially dark time for our family, and when I whipped my head in his direction to see if he was out of his mind, he responded, "The answer is sometimes "NO!!!", but the prayer still gets answered". When he cracked up, it made me crack up too. So this morning in Havre, I tiptoed out the door of the El Toro Inn to see what the answer to the tailwind prayer was going to be---and I saw the American flag flapping straight EAST and knew that it was a big fat "YES!" for the Giddyupgirlz today.

We hopped into the jetstream and zoomed along at almost three times the speed we've been going---taking an 89 mile bite out of the HI LINE! We thought we might stop in Harlem, but we got that 42 miles in before noon and decided to hang on for another 47. I didn't have a big enough gear to crank for some of it, and I loved every bit of it. If I had kept a blog as a second grader, I guess I would have gotten that EAZY BAKE OVEN sooner and would have become the world's best 40W light bulb chef! Thanks to everyone who put in a good word for a tailwind across Montana.

So while we were making hay, the local farmers are chomping at the bit to get baling, too. It was the first dry day in Montana in quite some time, and the farmers need to get into the fields---We see farmland in all directions, with the Bear Paw mountains off in the distance, and those trains running along our left. Malta, where we are tonight, is a train town---over 29 times a day they come through. And, right now there is a Tie Gang and a Steel Gang in town---120 men working on the tracks and having a good time too! Today the Empire Builder going East whistled me, but I missed seeing the West bound. Don't know how we missed each other.

Although Malta is famous for its dinosaurs, I'm interested in Kid Curry. On July 3, 1901 he staged an early Independence Day celebration by holding up the Great Northern just outside of town. He blew up the safe and made an abrupt exit, getting away with all the dough. I stop at all the Historical Markers, and get a kick out of the narratives. I can't get the train robbery out of my mind--- what a Western Drama that must have been.

Last thing-- I am writing this entry in the study at Rosemary's house. I met her on the street when I rolled into town. I asked her if she could give me directions to a motel, and next thing I knew she was offering me a glass of water, free tickets to the dinosaur field station in town, and use of her computer! While I have been here, I've met her family, and her friends who are over to play dominoes. She is keeping me hydrated with iced tea, has given me tips on the route to Glasgow tomorrow and all kinds of hospitality and kindness. I cannot adequately describe how I feel when I meet an angel like her on the route. I like to think that I treat people the way I want to be treated, but I don't think I would ever be as good to a stranger as Rosemary has been to me. And, her son David is an AMTRAK fan, and when I told him I lived in St Cloud, he immediately told me that AMTRAK goes through my town, the time it arrives, and the time it gets to Minneapolis. Neat family out here on the HI LINE. I'm eating it up with a spoon. More from Glasgow, another 72 miles down the road. Giddyup!