From the Windy Plains to a Jewel of a B&B

     On Friday and Saturday, we cycled from Cut Bank, MT to Chester, MT. Though we crossed the Continental Divide only a day earlier, ending a week of passing through forests and towering mountains capped with snow, the terrain is now remarkably different: flat and treeless. Another striking feature is the howling wind, which ranges from moderate to strong. When it's behind us, we fly along at over 20 mph, but when it comes in from the side it's a struggle to keep going in a straight line. Fortunately, we haven't yet experienced a headwind, which would make travelling very difficult.
     On Saturday, we arrived in Chester and checked in at the Great Northern B&B. What a great place it is! We have our own little "home", adjacent to the owners' house, with a living room, kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom equipped with a steam shower (combination of steambath & shower). The owners' main business is music: Philip Aaberg is an accomplished pianist who performs around the world, a Harvard graduate who "weaves strains of blues and bluegrass as well as rock and new music throughout his melodic tapestries" [from his label's website: sweetgrassmusic.com]. Together with his wife, Patty, he runs Sweetgrass Music, which has a recording studio in their home and an office a few blocks away.

Taking advantage of the howling winds (these were part of a huge wind farm, consisting of hundreds of windmills)

Long, flat road -- quite a difference from the mountains of two days earlier

Great Northern B&B -- our "home" is on the right and beside it is the owners' home with the recording studio in the round metal structure

The Sweetgrass Music office