Day 14 Trouble (Cormac)

We get about 30 miles of gorgeous Montana miles behind us, before, I run over a rock the size of my fist while going 35 mph. My tire goes flat and my rim has an indentation that you could fit a dime into.

We hitchhike 8 miles into Libby, with a guy who turns out to be a little sketchy (one sketchy guy among all the ones that we have run into isn't so bad). He takes us to a discount store that obviously wouldnt have what we want, and then offers to cart us all over town. We dont think that he is harmful necessarily, but we think that he is going to want money for his trouble. So we thank him, but it takes some insistince for him to drive off without us.

As it turns out, there really isn't anywhere in Libby that he could have driven us that would have been helpful. Ace Hardware actually had some wheels, but none that would fit, and the sportstore has nothing but mountain bikes.

Lindsey, meets an older fellow named larry while hanging out outside of Ace (Larry's wife works at ace), and Larry, offers to drive us to Troy, where there is a small bike shop (a guy, a garage and a few tools). Larry gets this guy's number, and luck enough, he has what we want.

Larry offers to take us to Troy, and we gratefully accept. Along the way, we have about the best and most interesting conversation we have had on this trip. It turns out that about half of the people in Libby are affected by Asbestos poisoning due to a local mine. Larry is one of them, so was Larry's dad, who also happened to be the head of the union in charge of working that mind. The way Larry described his father's attempt to shut down his own mine (putting his own union out of work) put tears in all of our eyes. "It's killing our families," Larry's father would say. But the workers didnt want to listen. It took years to close down that mine (well after Larry's dad died).

Larry also shared a story about how one of his kids got him to quit smoking, first by trying to lecture him for two hours, and then threatening to start smoking and keep on smoking until Larry quit.

Larry waited for us, while Dennis "The Mennis" bent my wheel back in to shape (he had a wheel that would fit, but admitted that it was too low a quality for the weight I was hauling).

We drove back, and Larry talked about his experiences of God, and how he, in his own quiet way, was rescued from PTSD and Alcolohism, by his budding faith. We never mentioned once we were ministers.

Lindsey and I parted ways with Larry and set up a tent in a little park right in the middle of Libby, MT. It cost 5$, and it is the first time we had to pay for a campsight in a very long time (it turns out that our experience of paying 14$ for a campsite was an aberation... for anyone curious any United States Forest Service campground is free... and they are usually lovely and well cared for... though often without showers, and sometimes without water altogether.)

One benefit of camping in the middle of town is that we can buy grogeries that might go bad... so we cook up veggie sausages for dinner and eggs for breakfast... we also invest in a little oven tray turned campstove, as we are a little tired of getting all of our hot food by boiling 2 cups of water in our jet boil. We also invest in some non-instant coffee and coffee filters. Our tastes seem to be getting a little richer, and our bags a little heavier.