About five minutes before I reached Circle, MT last night, Wed., 5-29, another cyclist pulled up next to me and introduced himself. His name was Merlin, and he had biked here from his home in central Ohio. He mentioned that he too had bumped into Alex, the cyclist from Seattle I saw the day before, and Alex had told him about me.

It turned out Merlin was looking for a place to stay, so we both pulled up at the Travelers Inn, the only motel in town. I was exhausted, having spent a long day biking 50 miles against a stiff headwind. I had a reservation, but Merlin did not, and the manager told him she didn’t have any extra rooms because a large contingent of guests was due to show up that night to attend a funeral the next day. She told Merlin he was free to pitch his tent out back, but that a thunderstorm was predicted later in the evening. The manager also said she could give me a larger room with two double beds, and so I told Merlin he could stay in my room for the night. After all, he had biked 77 miles that day, and I had only biked 50, and he was leaving in the morning for a long ride the next day, while I was going to stay in Circle an extra day to rest up before two long back-to-back days (67 and 78 miles, respectively) starting tomorrow (Friday, 5-31). This seemed like the right thing to do.

Since we were now roommates at the motel, I got to know Merlin a little bit better. He is Amish and 27 years old. The oldest of 10 children in his family, nine boys and one girl, he continues to live at home with his parents and recently started a new business producing maple syrup. He is on his way to California and will stay with Amish families where he can find them along the way. He said he would probably bike home from California but that he would also be able to take a train if necessary.

Merlin seemed very interested in my trip and said he was hoping I would write a book about it because being Amish, he doesn’t use the internet and so wouldn’t be able to look at my blog posts. Here is a photo I took of Merlin last night, after he ate dinner at the Cenex station next door to the motel.

And here is a photo of Merlin as he was getting ready to leave for Jordan, MT this morning around 7 a.m. He is carrying only 40 lbs. of stuff compared to my 50-60 lbs.

Merlin decided to stop at the Cenex for some breakfast before hitting the road.

It turned out that the room next to mine was occupied by Shayne, who is the son of Kenny, the gentleman whose funeral service was today. Shayne knocked on my door last night and said he and his wife were driving to a restaurant on the other side of town for dinner and he would be happy to bring back some food for me if I’d like. How kind of him! I politely declined and ended up eating at the Cenex just like Merlin had done.

I chatted some more with Shayne this morning. Though he now lives in Billings, he spent his early life in Circle before enlisting in the Army when he was 18. When he was growing up, he said the town was much more vibrant–with about 1,000 residents as opposed to about 600 today. He said his dad was well known in town and he expected about half the town to show up at his funeral. His dad was 84.

Shayne was in the Army over 30 years and served in Operation Desert Storm. His time in the service took him to a number of interesting places around the world. In talking with the Museum Curator at the McCone County Museum later in the day (see below), I learned that McCone County, where Circle is located, is known for its high rate of military service. He said that during the Vietnam War, McCone County had the highest per capita number of enlistments of any county in the country. Shayne is now retired from the military and is the co-founder of a new business venture in the microbrewery industry.

This afternoon, I toured the McCone County Museum, which has a very large collection of all kinds of artifacts, many of which came from families of the pioneers who homesteaded in the area. There is a collection of rancher memorabilia which features this Code of the Cow Country that I thought was interesting.

Outside the museum is a collection of eight stone dinosaurs, which I believe were also made by Orville Quick, who I wrote about in yesterday’s post. They include a t-rex attacking a triceratops.

I had a nice chat about the museum collection and lots of other interesting topics with Herb, the Museum Curator. Herb moved here four-and-a-half years ago to be near his daughter and son-in-law, who had recently relocated to the area. Here is a photo of Herb, behind the counter at the museum.

In the course of our conversation, Herb and I realized that his son-in-law Frank is someone I used to work with. Small world! Frank, who is now the General Manager of an agricultural cooperative in Circle, called me about an hour ago to say hello. It was great to catch up with him and hear the latest about a number of former colleagues.

Circle may be a small town, and my stay here has been brief, but I’ve not been lacking for friends to help make me feel right at home.