"My sister actually lives in Vineland, NJ. We're from South Carolina. I've been with him since '95 and we've just been traveling and making it work as we go."

At the park, gusts of wind sent ripples through my little tent that more resembles a coffin than anything else. This rippling effect was what startled me awake. It was around 9:00 and I ended up leaving the safety of my shelter around 10:00. It was noticeably colder than day's past and the forecast's premonition of a cold front seemed to be true. Although, I'm not altogether sure that this cold front is going to end. I think autumn has come and summer has been whisked through the back door. We'll see if this proves true or not.

Against my better judgement, Josh and I decided to go to a bar in town before doing our measly 25 mile day. At the bar, I had a brief discussion with Lori, the bartender, about the history of Shelby. One glaring historical moment seems to highlight the town's past.

 The 1923 Independence Day boxing match of Jack Dempsey vs. Tommy Gibbons. The town was known before the early 20th century for being an intersection of the railroads. It was one of the few places for water and also developed a rather "rough and tumble" bunch of inhabitants. By the early 1900's, Shelby was no longer the big city it once was... until they discovered the vast amounts of oil and gas beneath the soil. Anxious to put their town on the map, they put almost all of their hard-earned cash ($300,000) into one gigantic event, a prizefight between Jack Dempsey and Tommy Gibbons. A week before the event, there was word that the fight was an absolute disaster. The railroads, which had previously promised to discount customers for the fight went back on their deal. The only route for people to reach the little town of Shelby was by horse or carriage off old dirt roads. When the day of the fight came, a meager 7,000 people went to the newly built wooden stadium, designed to hold 50,000. Shelby couldn't pay off the construction workers or Dempsey or Gibbons and it bankrupted the town. It never recovered. 

Three beers later, a shot of whiskey, and a new take on the town, we were out venturing westward toward the next town of Cut Bank. We were aware that the winds would be strong but nothing could have really prepared us. We should've waited until we reached Cut Bank to celebrate with drinks. 

I don't know how to break the 25 miles into small intervals of occurrences but the entire thing was hell. The winds howled and blew, keeping our pace at a slow 5 mph. It took me 3 and a half hours to get there, Josh 4 hours, and Matt over 7 hours. Josh received his 8th day straight with a flat tire, which is just an old, sad joke at this point. How he can still be in such good spirits with that occurring every day is beyond me but it is very impressive. I've only had a few flats but they're so demoralizing and frustrating to deal with that they can almost ruin a day if you allow it to. Josh hasn't yet allowed this to happen. In fact, as we usually tend to do to  deal with stressful situations, we laugh about them. 

We all met up in a McDonald"s and drowned our sorrows with soda, ice cream, and other terrible processed foods. The temperature has dropped down to around 45* and we all decided to split another motel. At this rate, we're all pretty much going for broke. My budget for the trip has been dramatically annihilated and I've stopped stressing out about it. Josh seems to be pretty laissez-faire about it and I don't want to be a downer about it so, to hell with it. If there's a time and place to spend money, it would be in every other town and state across the country. I'm certainly getting my moneys worth. And yes, if this sounds like I'm trying to convince myself, you are absolutely right.

Tomorrow, we're waking up around 6 o'clock, getting breakfast here, and heading north into Canada to Cardston, Alberta. It's a 70 mile venture without any food or water but it doesn't really worry me. I did 70 miles through the burning Nevada desert last year and had more than enough supplies with me. Split between the three of us, there shouldn't be any trouble. But we'll overdo things just to be safe.

With that said, I won't have any connection in Canada for a day or so, so the blog will be on a standstill for a jiffy until I either find Wi-Fi or a computer.

Until then, adios.