day 40: chester, MT

after many trials and tribulations, we have again gained access to the miraculous interwebs. i imagine i will spend some of the afternoon's ride reflecting on my gmail inbox as a kind of "home in motion," which is to say, accessible anywhere. as we keep pedaling and the scenery keeps changing, i am feeling more and more connected to my bike as some sort of silent companion, and i'm surprised to find a similar sense of security in the digital world.

in an earlier post, i mentioned that the wind was at our backs through the entire state of south dakota, and i'm tempted to believe that thanks are due to the brothers of the blue cloud abbey and their prayers. with gratitude, i must however report that their spiritual jurisdiction does not extend into the northern territory. we have been facing a headwind since crossing the border.

in montana, the locals refer to this meteorological phenomenon as "the breezes" or, more impersonally, "it's supposed to blow all week." the latter is charming for its multiple levels of meaning, the former for its understatement. one local, after informing us that we were riding the wrong way, conspiratorially intoned that some weeks prior, the breezes had thrown 4 rail cars off the track. this was a valuable reorientation of perspective for us: riding 8 mph over 70 miles suddenly seemed less like an emotional thrashing and more like a tentative victory over the elements. it was also terrifying. three days ago i was riding too closely behind tom when the wind blew him into my front wheel; i went down and now have some nice scrapes on my left knee: the wind's wounds. lately i have been trying to deal with the wind's power by imagining its indifference towards us. it helps in develop my own indifference towards it. the wind doesn't care which way we're going, so we might as well go.