Pippus Brother Bike Trip (Part 3): A little help from our friends

When I last left you, Lenny and I were in Deer Lodge, Montana.  He had a completely worn out "corded" back tire and it looked like our trip was about to get worse than it already had been (and it has been plenty "worse" to that point already).

Now, before I go any further, I want to let you in on a "Canadian Secret".  It is one that no Canadian will confess to, but it is true none-the-less......

We sometimes think poorly of Americans.

I don't know exactly why that is (after all, we are not all that different), but if I had to guess I would say it has at least something to do with "the little brother syndrome".  The US is so big and so much more powerful and has so much more clout on the world stage that it is easy for Canadians to sort of look down our noses at them and (like the jealous little brother of the high school football hero) say "Bah, they aren't so great!"

But I have two stories that would dispel that myth.

First, Lenny and I limped our way on back from Deer Lodge to Butte.  A 45 minute trip that took us an hour and a half because we decided to stay off the interstate and just ride the frontage roads (lower speeds = less damage when the tire blows out).  Eventually, we had to get back on the interstate to get through the last pass, so we decided to risk it..... then when we got up the ramp and on the interstate we ran right into road construction and we were only allowed to do 35 mph.  Perfect!  Just like we planned it.  :)

Into Butte and over to "Redline Sports" the next morning.  Here we found the nicest, most helpful people I have ever seen in a bike shop.  No attitude.  No speech about letting the tire get that bald.  No complaining about having to fit us into their schedule.  Nothing but nice, helpful and good.... expensive .... but nice, helpful and good.

That afternoon, we found some of the nicest roads of our trip.  A winding, twisty, switch-backy road from Butte to Virginia City.  Super fun!  We looked around in Nevada and Virginia City (two sort of "Historic towns") and then we headed off to West Yellowstone.

Now the map that we had (a buddy of Lenny's who rides down in the States all the time made up a map telling us which roads were worth riding and where to get gas) did not show any gas stops for a while, so as we were leaving Ennis I said to Lenny, "Maybe we ought to get gas here" (In fact I said it twice).

He replied, "Bah!  There has to be something long the way".

There wasn't!

An hour later, it was cold (7 degrees), it was raining (hard) and we were standing on the side of the highway looking at a map and fork in the road trying to decide which way may be the closest to the nearest gas station.

Lenny walked back to look at a highway sign and as he was standing there a truck stopped.  Lenny talked to the driver for a bit and then got in the passenger's side!  They drove to me and he said, "This lady lives up the road.  She is going to give us some gas".

Now, when Sari retold this story in the staff room at her school, one of the ladies (a biker herself) came to her later and said, "I heard a story one time about a lady who would get bikers to follow her to her farm and then she would kill them and bury their bikes!!  They were never seen again!"

Somehow, that did not make Sari feel better about us two dim-wits riding around in Montana unsupervised.

Anyway, this lady was super sweet!  She introduced us to her husband and then, true to her word, she filled up Lenny's bike.  The only problem was that the handle on her gas hose would not shut off.... so she not only filled the tank but overflowed it so that gas was pouring all over the hot engine.  I thought to myself, "Lenny's bike catching on fire and burning down would be the perfect end to this trip" but nothing happened.

Then the guy offered to fill my bike too. When I told him that I thought I had enough he said, "Well why worry about it?" and filled it too.

We pulled out our wallets and asked her what we owed her and she said, "Nothing!  I won't let you give me anything.  You just pay it forward and do something for someone else sometime".   Then she gave each of us a big hug (I think she may have even patted us on the head in a "There, there, you stupid boys!  Go and have fun now" sort of way) and sent us on our way.

As I rode off in the cold and rain, I could not get the smile off my face!  It was the nicest thing to be in trouble and just to have someone step up and say "I will help you!"   It was great!!!  Southern hospitality in middle Montana.

Eventually we made it to West Yellowstone, but it was raining even harder and it was even colder, so we headed off to Idaho (and that is where the story will continue tomorrow).

But the moral of today's story is this..... there are some really good people in the world!

Or...... The time to buy fuel is when you see fuel!!

Or..... Lenny and I need to re-evaluate our decision making process (or lack thereof).