Day 9: The momentum against TransCanada’s toxic tar sands pipeline continues to build inside the beltway. Politico today reported that U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wrote a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton voicing a range of concerns about the environmental impacts of Keystone XL: http://tinyurl.com/6lxm29j.
Meanwhile, in communities along the proposed pipeline route, we continue making new friends who are helping in various ways. Last night, Darlene Brown, owner of the Beaver Valley Haven campground where we stayed, was kind enough to store the trike in her garage overnight and recharge its battery. The morning was spent rolling past the gorgeous buttes of eastern Montana towards Baker, where Ron met up with me 10 miles outside of town on his road bike to pedal with me back into town. Once there, stopped into the office of the Fallon County Times and stumbled onto Lawler’s Coffee Shop, where we ended up setting up shop for the afternoon, fine-tuning the route. Despite the coffee shop not being officially opened for another eight days, the owner, Connie Moore, and Jessica Wagner generously served us free gourmet coffee drinks in exchange for our being tasting guinea pigs. Let me just say they’ve got it down. Got a motel room to get cleaned up and to do some more route planning, which is coming together nicely. Hope to have a route map loaded onto the website soon. More good conversations today with local residents about Keystone XL. Logged a total of 47 miles on the day.