 You are always ready to go. Aren't you I? Am impressed look who's up and ready. Good morning. Yeah, good morning You excited to have a great day? Give it to me. I'm lucky I got on my tent Drop it in my hand, and we're not playing. It's really nice to wake up to the sound of the birds And you know I like camping alone in nature I like my alone time, but it sure is fun waking up to a playful dog And my friend John It's so cool. I kind of forgot through the night like oh, yeah, I'm not alone today Mira made me feel right away that I was not alone this morning waking me up. She's a good alarm clock Buenos dias, John How you doing bud? Oh, wow. Yeah, that's right. We met in mexico We got to see speak in the spanish and you're from you know an area that looks kind of like this, right? You're just from the canmore Banff area. Yeah can more Banff Calgary It's sort of a lot like montana shares a lot of the geology and uh And the people too the the the culture is very similar. Yeah Yeah, it's good. And how the americans been treating you canadian canadian man Oh It's it's been awesome. I mean so many Friendly people interesting people Yeah, you uh Yeah, the americans you americans are very friendly Yeah, yeah, yeah, but we do like our guns You do like the guns you hear the guns going off in the in the uh in the bushes from time to time By the way, I don't have a gun people ask me a lot if I travel with a gun for protection. No, I don't travel with a gun Just bear spray You don't even have a stove True, I don't have a stove. I don't have a gun our birds heads are falling off We got the team back together again No crashes No flat ease. No whammies. Whoo. Let's do it mera I'm having a hard time keeping up with mera. Oh, it feels good to be riding with my Baja buddies again It's good to be hanging with you guys again Ah Here we are riding bikes. It's like It's like we've just been doing this continually since january You have been Yeah, I took like a four month break. Yeah, but you've been doing other stuff That's true. So go on leave the way I won't be far behind John might be pedaling with a dog and you might think that that would make you slower But it doesn't make john slower that dude can hammer on a bicycle We are now rolling into the tiny town of ovando monterra population about 50 dogs over 100 Look at this cute little town I really love small town america It's one of my favorite things about Riding bikes in the middle of nowhere is exploring little places like this You know, this is the whole town right here not a whole lot to it, but It just has a charm to it that puts a smile on my face for sure. This is really neat They are all set and ready for cyclists. They have charging stations. They have a bathroom. They have wi-fi They let you camp out here for no cost I like towns like this that embrace bike tourism. Thank you ovando I'm not exactly sure what this is, but check it out. You can go into this little Piney house. This may have been the world's first RV Look at that. It even has stove full on stove in here Ha you can sleep up here Got your nice oil lamp. Wow This is really cool. They rent out this teepee for $5 a night and it comes with Cots and books and Even bug spray and for evening entertainment. There is a horseshoe Thing what do you call them pitch field? And this is the jail that I've heard about You can actually stay In this jail. How cool is that? And this jail is from 1890 Fascinating that they've put up so much infrastructure for bike tourists And it looks like a pretty informal setup. You don't even really have to Check in with somebody you write your name on a list and and put five dollars in the can Okay, that's enough touristing around The metropolis of ovando. I've got a plate of pancakes waiting for me over here at the stray bullet John's already eating and uh, it's I can't wait. I love pancakes. Look at that stack of pancakes Is that Canadian bacon? No No, but it'll do so it seems like ovando really embraces cyclists. I'm seeing all the teepees and the jail and everything We love the cyclists. Yeah, we miss them for good for business and spend a ton of money and Great people. Yeah, and so how many on a normal day come through here? Oh, I at least 25 30 really And they sleep in these little places and then they come and buy food for me I've had during the race. I've had some people sleeping on my porch when I get here. So And what's it been like this year? Terrible terrible. Usually there's 20 or so bikes in town in the morning and now there's maybe one or two a week Yeah, it is that hard for you guys. Do you expect you need that money? We need that money. We're missing a big time. Yeah, it's a big hit. There's probably 1200 cyclists that come through, you know What is our 250 with the race? Wow just independently throughout the year people doing that So that's a big hit. That is a big hit. Um So I've gotten a little bit of flak for doing this people are like, oh, you shouldn't be traveling during covid These small towns don't want you. What do you say to that? I say that's ridiculous We welcome you with open arms and there's no cleaner way to be out, right? Yeah, you're out in the wilderness and exercising and We love it. At least Dovando loves it. You need to come back here next year when things are open and buy lots of pancakes, right? Pancakes are a big hit Thank you so much. Have a good one. We'll see you next year. Good luck. We'll bring the bring the cyclists back This was a great great stop Got refueled with some pancakes got to meet a nice local And uh, I definitely want to come back here and sleep in the jail, right right there down Do you want to sleep in a jail? Do you want to sleep in a jail? Yeah, you want to sleep in the jail, don't you? I'm really enjoying this ranch land for sure And all these puffy clouds up in the sky The road we're on is like your quintessential wild west american road Fence along the side Golden fields of grass flowing in the wind We are now heading up huckleberry pass and all these ATVs and jeeps are dusting us out so I'm wearing my mask again You know what makes it easier to climb a steep hill? Having a dog running beside you. How many miles a day do you think she runs? So on any given day, I try and keep it Below 12 miles a day, but if it's heavily single track Then it could be as many as 20 So at this point, she's a super fit dog and just keep track of how her paws are doing and You know what her energy levels are like before and after the ride And then just adjust accordingly so sometimes I'll choose a little bit different route or keeper in the box longer than I normally would Just to let her rest How about you when do you rest? I love my mirror hugs in the middle of a big steep hill Good to see you. You're doing great So while we were there enjoying our ice cream these two young dudes came up to us said no way You're riding the great divide cool. You want to camp in my yard? You can take a shower at my house too. All right These are our new friends. What's up guys? Devin Devin Tyson it's his birthday today 33 33 nice to meet you guys. So you invite other riders to your house, huh? Yeah, and continental divide hikers and stuff. That's so cool. I don't know. It's just a house Why do you like hosting hosting us people because I love I love traveling personally And then if I can't travel then you bring the travelers, you know the travelers hang out. Yeah, and there's the world right there Yeah, it's all messy last year uh mean tyson spent 50 days in southeast asia. I'm happy to help. Yeah, it means a lot man. I appreciate it. Yeah Are you so happy rolling around in the grass? I only have pine cones today, but you want it there you go Pine cones are better. They're safer. So john you've been on the road pretty much For a year riding your bike all over the place. How's your body feeling after biking every single day? Feels great You're like mirror. You need to be run every day. Yeah, it agrees. Yeah. I mean you see different things every day You're getting exercise every day I mean what's not to love about it. Yeah, so Yeah, and it's probably anywhere from Five to eight hours every day, which sounds like a lot, but you adapt. Yeah. Yeah What's been your favorite part of your of all your journeys? I guess it's two things one is the the people that I meet and Those those people their reaction to Mira. Yeah, that's been the fun part You know, you're just a cyclist riding through And then they notice the dog on the back of the bike or they hurt. She's running beside me And their eyes light up. So there's dog lovers or there's cyclists. They just find that curious and and Yeah, though that part's been Terrific. Yeah. And so you're you're Canadian. You've traveled a lot in America now. What are some of the differences you see? Yeah, so that So I guess let me start out first by the the similarities. So it's obviously the same language Uh, we call our currency the same thing um There's a shared history all the all those parts um But there are definitely some differences Uh, the first thing you notice when you come across the border are the no trespassing signs That's something that we don't see Nearly as much in Canada. There's the odd one But I think it has to do with the liability of the owner. So There's those kind of things and that can be frustrating if you're trying to find a route Through a place and you want to stay on dirt. Um, but yeah, I respect that and then The number of gunshots that I hear in the forest That's a big difference or the amount of brass that I see at you know On a on a logging spur road or those kind of things. I mean bullet casings. Yeah, exactly bullet casings for Pistols or rifles or shotguns those kind of things um, and that's you know that I sort of Knew that um But the thing that's uh That's similar and the thing that I really appreciate about Americans At least in my experience is the warmth of the individuals So, you know, we're we're in a little town here in in, uh, I guess we're still in northern Montana and You know, we're just two dusty cyclists sitting down on a sidewalk beside a gas station eating ice cream and a local fellow offers us hospitality of showers and laundry and a spot to pitch our tents And charge our our items. So that kind of stuff is really amazing or The rancher in Wyoming when we were starting out and we're going through the winter time. There was a winter storm He came out of his ranch property saw the only tracks on the road were a bicycle and dog Prince beside it He turned the opposite way from town to check on us to see if we were lost or See if we were okay And then in the same piece of road the sheriff's deputy came by to check on us Offered us a ride to the to the county, which is also the state line in that case So that that warmth and that that generosity of people in the u.s It's maybe not different than canada, but it's it's been my impression of the u.s. And the news aside Yeah, let's talk about that. So if you watch the news in the united states It paints kind of a a scary picture a dark picture a very dark picture. Yeah What do you say to that? Okay, so There are obviously great truths In that news coverage We're seeing things You can see things with your own eyes without the interpretation of a third party of some commentator And those things are deeply troubling on a on a human level um And angry A lot of emotions come out of those Rage is sometimes one of them an impotent rage It's not my country to to do or to say anything other than Give my opinion when asked for possibly Um and then now with covet too the numbers Around that are and the and the trending is really concerning as a traveler through here But not all the country is the same and And yeah, my experience is only my experience and my interaction with people whether they Have a different skin color than myself Or the same skin color Is all that I can sort of work with But that news coverage Is is is up is a You know, it's a it's a snippet of the u.s. Just like what we see in mexico The mexican people are wonderful and warm and the countryside feels very safe But there are Extremely violent crimes that occur there. There's no doubt about that so, um I guess the question is what do I think about the news coverage? Yeah, there's a lot of pain yet to come and The positive in that is that it's being dealt with there's more pain to go through in that history Than has been then you've passed already. So like this is just the start of it in my opinion And and in a positive light. I'm seeing canadians look at our history Uh You know taking that opportunity. So I think that This trend in office and often the u.s. Is a trend setting nation and I think that that looking at how how we treat Other individuals that we class rightly or wrongly in different groups And trying to to create a structure where those are a fair and honest And um and loving uh interactions I I think is a positive thing. We're seeing that around the world So my hope is that that american leadership and people I take this opportunity to to evaluate and heal and and address the wrongs that have happened And know that you will be a better nation and a better world like the the u.s. Can be that essential leadership country by by taking that path as opposed to the strong resistance and State-sponsored violence. That's you know, everyone is hoping for A good resolution. What do you think about traveling in the united states? Last time I saw you was mexico That's pretty good Mira is using a jedi mine trick right now and she's like you will throw me this pine cones If I wait long enough and I look cute enough. Is that right? She gives me this look all day And she kind of stares at me. She's like, are you gonna throw a stick or a pine cone? Because I'd really like you to All right, you've waited long enough. Okay