Day 11, August 5: jackalope sighting

Roundup, MT to Forsyth, MT http://cyclemeter.com/85ef50859d8f1e5c/Cycle-20150805-0533

Distance: 105.5 miles

Riding time: 7:21

Average speed: 14.3 mph
Maximum speed: 30.4 mph

Weather: 55° when I started at about 5:30 AM and high in the low 90s in the late afternoon. Winds were modestly supportive to absent: no tailwinds but the crosswinds helped rather than hindered my progress. For the final 15 miles or so a 6 to 8 mph wind blew in my face.

Terrain: uphill 1980, downhill 2674. The route profile below looks a bit flat because it covers so much ground – more than 100 miles. The profile shows a low point at about the 38-mile mark. This is where I crossed the Musselshell River and then began a gradual 20-mile climb. That was the last of the Musselshell river for me. At Melstone it turned north to where it would eventually join the Missouri River.

Navigation was simple-I would follow US 12 for the whole day. 

The route began in Roundup on the left and ended 105.5 miles later in Forsyth on the right. This picture is a screen capture of the Raven Map of Montana.

For the second day in a row the Weather Underground app showed the possibility of rain in the early to mid afternoon. I began riding shortly after dawn and saw the sunrise a few miles east of Roundup.

Musselshell Valley sunrise.

A few miles east of Roundup there is not much wind evident in the Musselshell River's still water.

Someone told me that beekeeping is a thriving business in Montana. I did see apiaries from time to time. The factors that have been killing off bees, such as overuse of pesticides and herbicides as well as destruction of habitat favorable to bees, don't occur as much in Montana. Some Montana beekeepers take their bees to pollinate plants in California.

Apiary and sedimentary rock bluff.

Services for this day's 100+ mile ride were available only in Melstone and Ingobar.  Melstone's population was 96 in 2010. There is concern about meth in Melstone. 

Warning sign about meth. I think the brown element represents quicksand.

Apart from Milstone and Ingomar there are a whole lot of wide-open spaces and two tiny towns, Sumatra and Vananda, each with one or two occupied houses.

The road, rangeland, and sky stretch on forever in this scene near Ingomar.

This is all of Sumatra, Montana. Like Melstone, Ingomar, and Vananda, it is on the former Milwaukee Road line.

Jersey Lilly's Bar and Cafe in Ingomar, MT. Ingomar's population of 14 cannot support the bar and cafe, and the stretch of US 12 for dozens of miles on either side of Ingomar doesn't have much traffic but Jersey Lilly's has stayed in business because of the its good reputation.

Jersey Lilly's bean soup is highly regarded. The soup comes in its own pot and with a large bowl of freshly made croutons and with fresh salsa (the photo also shows a one half chef salad).

Jersey Lilly's has a stuffed and mounted jackalope, i.e., a jackrabbit with antelope horns (see the Wikipedia entry on Jackalopes for more information). The bar/cafe also has a smoking moose.

Jackalope taxidermy mount at Jersey Lilly's.

Moose with cigarette at Jersey Lilly's.

Vananda began as a station stop on the Milwaukee Road in 1908. Very little of the town remains. As lostandfoundmontana.com points out, the town suffered the fate of many railroad-based homestead towns. The tough arid land was difficult to successfully farm in 160-acre plots.

Vananda's long empty three-story school house.

Vananda's bank was moved to Forsyth. 

Vananda's bank's new home. The mural behind it is shown in a photo below. 

This plaque tells the story of Vananda's bank.

Here is a closer look at the mural behind Vananda's former bank. The mural nicely captures the blue green color of sagebrush,
which is common in the area.

Two more scenes from the final leg of the journey are below.

This stretch of US 12 is very lightly traveled but some burned grass at the side of the road shows how much litter has accumulated over the years.

Iconic metal silhouette at a ranch entrance. Karen Hammel told me that horses are not used so much by ranchers these day. Nowadays the four wheeler is used for ranch chores.

I faced 6 to 8 mph headwinds for the final 15 miles or so. With significant effort I averaged about 11 miles an hour. The same effort with 6 to 8 mph tailwinds would allow me to average about 17 or 18 mph. At least I didn't encounter any rain except for a few drops near Ingomar.

The day ends in Forsyth. It is along I 94 and has enjoyed economic stability over the decades. A sign of its earlier prosperity is its handsome county courthouse built in 1913.

Rosebud County Courthouse.