Day 24 - To Billings and Grace UMC
I knew that leaving for Billings would be difficult, given the difficulties of getting to Custer and the pains I had been experiencing for days and so Billings was already planned to be a rest stop for me. I genuinely needed two full days to try and heal this open sore which has caused me no end to pains.
Setting out from Custer was later than I had hoped for the simple fact that the air temperature had dropped from the 90s to the 50s overnight and by 10am was the first time it would top 60 that day. I’m cautious riding in the 50’s because the one day in which I got serious hypothermia in 2011 was on a day with 50 degree temps and steady rain.
Admittedly I now have the appropriate equipment to prevent that situation. Namely waterproof pants that fit, and a rainjacket with merino wool underlayer and socks for added heat retention. So I could have set out earlier, I just didn’t see the need as Billings was only 67 miles away and the temps would be largely pleasant.
You know what’s not pleasant? Starting the day with a flat tire… again. So dismounted the tire and fixed the issue and then spent thirty minutes getting the tire back inflated because the local gas station did not have an air hose like most do.
While I was doing this My wife let me know that a local UMC pastor in Billings was willing to host me in the parsonage and gave me her information. So I called and talked with pastor Amy and let her know I was having a rough last few days, but I was going to try my best to make all the miles on my own. She offered to come pick me up, but I thought it best if I make the miles, especially given that she drives a smaller car.
The road from Custer was basically a long, low, uphill punctuated by two larger hills. One towards the beginning and a second right before entering Billings and after crossing a small river.
The country was gradually becoming more and more scrubby pineland on the buttes and farms and pastures on the bottomlands at their feet.
Always the Yellowstone river was a nearby companion, having cut its way through these striated yellow buttes for millenia, leaving behind fertile, but arid floodplains on either side. Occasionally it would actively kiss one of the looming buttes which would then be carved with vertical cliff faces towards the bend. Mostly, however, the yellostone meandered, a blue green stripe across white, gray and yellow rocks, only a few feet deep in most places.
As the day wore on I would occasionally pass by buttes that stood out like sentinels inn the landscape with proud rock faces looming above their sloped bases.
Besides the river the only other notable things were wildlife:
An Osprey chick sat stop a purpose built aerie for raptor nests. It may look like a telephone or power pole, but there is a circular base at the top to allow large birds of prey to nest. Given that there was a reservoir nearby, and the unusual crest I later would determine the chick was indeed an Osprey.
Not two miles down the road I think I spied the chick’s parent in a dead tree searching for prey.
Here, let’s zoom in on that:
As it got to be around 2pm I was starting to lose energy, having covered around 30 miles it was time for a mid day break. My bike was also less than half charge. So I stopped for three hours in a small town.
I let pastor Amy know that I would probably be there around 7pm because I still had around 30 miles to go and the bike needed charging.
When I got back outside at 5pm I noted that the bike didn’t charge as much as I had hoped, probably because the charger was in direct sunlight causing it to charge more slowly as a protection against overheating. Something I will note and not repeat in the future.
I started making miles, and while the terrain was not terribly difficult the wind had shifted and was blowing mostly at me. That and the shoulder had suddenly disappeared. I was now in far more densely trafficked areas of the exurbs of Billings with trucks and cars (legally) passing me at 70mph fairly closely. Most people were very considerate and either waited or went by as far in the other lane as they could. I only recall two trucks that seemed to absolutely not care and passed within two feet of me.
Luckily when I got closer to Billings there were other options and so I departed my planned route and took less trafficked roads in. At 6:30pm I found myself at a Cenex gas station, baked by the sun and needing a rest and a charge. My bike was at critical levels due to the headwind. So I rested for 30 minutes there and called my wife and texted pastor Amy to let her know that I was close, but my battery might die delaying me.
Finally, around 7pm I reached Billings proper. But like all cities they take more time to cross than the open country, and so even though I only had 6 more miles to go, it was slow going.
Amy and the parsonage were in North Billings, a few miles from the city center, tucked under a prominent butte. The neighborhoods here look like they are mostly 50s and 60s construction. Low houses, mostly one floor making the sort of 60s style dream home image of yesteryear.
At one point I crossed a very built up area just at the northern tip of the city center, just under the northern butte.
After another grueling mile or two my battery finally faltered. With two miles to go and a large hill in my way I had to walk my bike and trailer up and then granny gear it to the parrsonage.
Pastor Amy greeted me outside and we shuttled my stuff into the garage and got the bike charging (because we learn our lessons, don’t we folks?).
She let me know that I would have the run of the parsonage because she was house-sitting for a couple in the church who had dogs that needed attention. She showed me the laundry and the shower and we talked about different things and found a lot of common ground.
While she isn’t a cyclist, she is a self described “reincarnated otter”, and we joked that her stole should be decorated by the patches of all the parks she’s been to in her travels.
After conversing with her for a bit she left out and I took some well needed rest.
Saturday had me doing necessary repairs to the bike. Getting tools so I can finally fix the issue with my pedal, and to remove the other crank arm to access the oversized front gear and replace it with a smaller one. Going from 52 teeth to 44 teeth means more power and less speed. But I’m just about to hit the Rockies, so it’s time.
That evening Amy asked if I wanted to get some dinner and we went out on the town. We tried to get to the REI but it closed before we got there at 8pm. As before with so many other UMC clergy and laiety it’s clear she’s my people.
We had an excellent evening of conversation and food and then again went our separate ways until Sunday morning.
I went in and attended their 10am service at Grace UMC and got to hear and see Amy preach. Her message was on the light that’s within us and how sharing our light—our gifts, kindness, presence—it doesn’t consume our light, rather it lights up those around us.
It was wonderful to see a few of the kids challenge this light inside saying “It's not light inside you”, which gave her an opportunity to bring her point howme that this light is invisible and metaphorical. But moreso it was refreshing to see a pastor not only invite that challenge, but make it a poignant part of the overall lesson. She allowed the youth to be who they were without attempting to silence or “correct” them. She would later press home to me her three primary goals with youth, bound in questions:
Were you safe?
Did you have fun? (Not coerced)
Did you have an experience with God?
So much of our human experience is bound up in our experience of safety. For me it’s lodging and a source of power. When we feel unsafe and then safety is offered to us unexpectedly, we genuinely feel the heart of Grace — unwarranted favor.
I watched a video from another pastor today Rev. Joeseph Yoo, and he made the point that Grace, in its very nature is unfair. I did not deserve the safety of Amy’s home, yet it was offered.
Some of you are not Christian, and by no means do I hold that against you. We come to our own truth in different ways — yet I think this is a beautiful principle that can expand beyond the walls of a Church, or christianity. I see it deeply in the statement ”From each according to their ability, to each according to their need”. It is an admonition that in doing what is right and good we seek no repayment. It is an unfair transaction, it is grace.
That is what my time in Billings was. Two days and three nights of grace.
