Actually, the theme of the trip doesn’t matter. Our Facebook “Like Us and Share Your Experience” contest is a computerized random pick for the winner. We’d like to share our first winner’s submission though and it’s a great one. Paul Lloyd Davies shared the following story when he entered our Facebook contest.
“I can’t think of a better way to experience baseball in Central Montana than a bicycle ride across Great Falls to Centene Stadium to see the Voyagers play each summer.
I can ride right up to the stadium and lock my bicycle to the rack just outside the entrance to the stadium on the south bluff of the Missouri River. Oh, sure, some evenings, so many other bicyclists have beat me to the stadium I have to go searching for a sturdy steel sign pole.
For the next few hours, I get lost in the people-watching, sky-watching, and the occaisional attention to some on-field activity, lamenting the fact the stadium lacks a JumboTron where I could see a replay of what I missed while my attention wandered to people, storms, and changing light.
After the game, I slide my bicycle light onto the handlebars, click closed the strap on my bicycle helmet, and glide past the long line of motor vehicles trying to get out of the parking lot – that is if I haven’t just sat back in the stadium to enjoy some additional people-watching while the motor vehicle drivers curse the traffic jam.
The ride home tops the evening.
As I roll through the neighborhoods between the stadium and home, I bask in the quiet that is enveloping the city.
I soak in the aromas of flower gardens, vegetable gardens, barbecues; bits of conversations from people enjoying the cooler air of early night; and the rising humidity in the darkness outside the cone of light cast by the bicycle’s single headlight. The bats are swooping to and fro, picking off the mosquitoes. An occaisional great-horned owl calls from an evergreen. The sounds of internal combustion engines and radial tires on concrete and asphalt are replaced by the ‘swishhhhhh’ of my two-wheeled human-powered vehicle.
Before I know it, I’m home, ready to drift off to sleep and dream of my next trip to the ballpark.”
Paul “liked” us on Central Montana’s Facebook page and then shared one of his favorite experiences. He wins two hoodie sweatshirts from the popular Sip N Dip at the O’Haire Motor Inn in Great Falls and a $25 food or beverage credit there.
Thanks to the Sip N Dip and O’Haire Motor Inn for their donation and to Paul for taking time to share his story.
Our Facebook contest runs for nine more weeks. Share your ideal Montana vacation for a chance to win one of our featured prizes.