Day 8 - Plains & Trains

We are biking Montana Hwy 2 which follows the Great Northern Railway completed in 1893.  Today I counted 9 Burlington Northern trains: the average train consists of two engines & 120 cars; one was a passenger train.  I try to get the train engineers to toot their train whistles as I cycle past.  I had a slight tailwind, no major (or even minor) hills, and minimal traffic for all 120 miles which made it a very happy biking day.  Thoughts for the day:

1. Shade is at a premium on the Montana plains - the wheat fields aren't tall enough, and the trees are sparse.  Kathryn found a two story building in Chester which provided the only shady lunch spot within 40 miles.
2. As I rode under I-15 (my home interstate along with H-3), I realized we could jump in the car and after 950 miles straight south we could be 2 miles from our home.  We kept on riding east.
3. Montana wheat is critical to help feed the world - I read that 80% of Montana wheat is exported to Asia.