Yes, by late afternoon here in Miles City the thermometers were claiming a range of 102 to 104. We do, however, appear to learn a bit from experience. We got off to a nice, early start and got here by about 2:00. The temperature was still in the low 90s.
The first stretch today was mostly open fields with an occasional glimpse of the Yellowstone River. After about 10 miles we began to see more rolling hills, more cliffs, more trees, and at the top of the longest climb (maybe a mile and not very steep - but it was one that kept twisting and turning and fooling you into thinking it was about done) a colony of prairie dogs. Ok, I know they are considered pests, but they are cute. They make me think of those wonderful Little House books that I must have read ten times when I was in grammar school. They help me realize I have really traveled someplace new.
We regrouped at the town of Rosebud. Rumor had it that the town actually had services. There was the Longhorn Bar and Steakhouse that claimed to have seafood too. It was about 10:30 in the morning so it won no votes. Otherwise, there was a post office that did not appear to be open, and the ruins of a brick building, and a tiny frame building that had a handwritten sign claiming it was a music hall. We rode on.
Stephanie found us a spot for lunch in the shade. Hurray! After lunch our route took us on the freeway pretty much all the way here. In the end only Stephanie and I felt it was worth the trouble of riding on the interstate. Actually, it was pretty nice. The shoulders are huge and the traffic is light. Almost every vehicle pulled into tbe left lane to pass us. There were stretches where I 94 was silent. We stopped briefly a couple of times to swalllow Gatorade. I know it is hot when I actually look forward to swallowing that stuff.
Then on to our lovely air conditioned room, the hotel pool, the guest laundry, the Made in Montana shop and a very good, very big dinner.
Tomorrow we lose Kitty and Stephanie and Ben. Something about rejoining the real world.
Everyone who has traveled with us has been great! We don't know how to thank Aline, Willie, and Kitty, Stephanie and Ben enough for all the help they have given and all the fun we have had together.
Now we are off on our own for a while. I have read lots of stories written by people who camp & carry everything coast to coast. This trip has been so easy by comparison. Now we will get a bit closer to that experience for a while.
It is only about a week until we fly to Vermont for the family wedding so we will ease into it gently.
Miles today: 46
Total so far: 1412
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Heat
The prediction was for a day in the low 80s, followed today by a hotter one. I was a bit surprsed when I went outside first thing yesterday that I didn't want any extra layers. It was nice not to worry about cold. It took us a while to get started. We were 5 miles out on the unpaved road with many cattleguards so we rode in the car to the main road. It took two shifts to get all of us and all The bikes out so it was 10:30 when we actually hopped on the bikes & rolled out.
The first thing we encountered was a cattle guard. Then one more. There were cows on the road between them. The cows are surprisingly nervous about bikes. Even when they are safely behind their fences and at some distance they watch us anxiously until one or two of us pass, then they turn & run for safer ground. The pattern is more complex when they are right in front of you. They have to decide which way is safer. Democracy in action? They headed in two directions, then reconvened to vote, and most of them changed sides. And headed in both directions, but many of them in a different direction than they had first chosen.
The rest of the ride to our appointed lunch spot was quick and easy. Rolling hills but more down than up, so we got there fast. Nice scenery, very little traffic. Ben was out in front & had a close encounter with a doe & fawn, but he braked in time to get a good look.
I started feeling the heat a bit as we stood around eating. There was no place to pull over in shade. When we set out I was really slow and a bit worried. If that was the effect of 80 degrees, how would hotter days be? There are bound to be some. Our afternoon route was very flat, too. No effort required.
About five miles out, Bruce began to have trouble with his tire rubbing against the brake. We found some shade & stopped to look it over. Fortunately, the wheel was fine. Unfortunately, the tire was not. It had a big bulge on one spot. I hoped it would be caused by the tube. No such luck. He tried a new tube & nothing changed. So lucky we still have our friendly support! He pumped up to a lower pressure & loosened the brakes a bit & we rode the couple of miles that remained to our next planned meeting with Ben in the car. Bruce then took the car to the next town large enough to have a bike shop and got two new tires.
The rest of us kept pedaling. About 20 miles to go. I felt better after sitting in the shade while we figured out the tire thing, but I was also happy to have something I never thought I would want: a headwind. A slightly cool breeze, maybe 5 mph. I turned around & rode back at one point. Kitty was a bit behind & I just wanted to be sure all was well. As soon as I turned, it felt about ten degrees hotter. We really took our time and made a couple of stops in shady spots. There weren't many.
We finally arrived in Forsyth and headed straight for the Dairy Queen. We sat happily absorbing lemonade, iced tea, ice cream - almost everything looked good - and set out for our B&B. It was across the train tracks. The gate went down just as we got to it, so we got one more chance to stand in the sun as a very long train ambled by. We could see the bank sign that showed time and temperature. It was 95.
A change of plans:
We will definitely head for Bismarck instead of Minot. The place we were to stay in Minot is flooded out and sone roads are closed. I will send itinerary changes out in the next day or so.
Miles Tuesday: 51
Total so far: 1366
The first thing we encountered was a cattle guard. Then one more. There were cows on the road between them. The cows are surprisingly nervous about bikes. Even when they are safely behind their fences and at some distance they watch us anxiously until one or two of us pass, then they turn & run for safer ground. The pattern is more complex when they are right in front of you. They have to decide which way is safer. Democracy in action? They headed in two directions, then reconvened to vote, and most of them changed sides. And headed in both directions, but many of them in a different direction than they had first chosen.
The rest of the ride to our appointed lunch spot was quick and easy. Rolling hills but more down than up, so we got there fast. Nice scenery, very little traffic. Ben was out in front & had a close encounter with a doe & fawn, but he braked in time to get a good look.
I started feeling the heat a bit as we stood around eating. There was no place to pull over in shade. When we set out I was really slow and a bit worried. If that was the effect of 80 degrees, how would hotter days be? There are bound to be some. Our afternoon route was very flat, too. No effort required.
About five miles out, Bruce began to have trouble with his tire rubbing against the brake. We found some shade & stopped to look it over. Fortunately, the wheel was fine. Unfortunately, the tire was not. It had a big bulge on one spot. I hoped it would be caused by the tube. No such luck. He tried a new tube & nothing changed. So lucky we still have our friendly support! He pumped up to a lower pressure & loosened the brakes a bit & we rode the couple of miles that remained to our next planned meeting with Ben in the car. Bruce then took the car to the next town large enough to have a bike shop and got two new tires.
The rest of us kept pedaling. About 20 miles to go. I felt better after sitting in the shade while we figured out the tire thing, but I was also happy to have something I never thought I would want: a headwind. A slightly cool breeze, maybe 5 mph. I turned around & rode back at one point. Kitty was a bit behind & I just wanted to be sure all was well. As soon as I turned, it felt about ten degrees hotter. We really took our time and made a couple of stops in shady spots. There weren't many.
We finally arrived in Forsyth and headed straight for the Dairy Queen. We sat happily absorbing lemonade, iced tea, ice cream - almost everything looked good - and set out for our B&B. It was across the train tracks. The gate went down just as we got to it, so we got one more chance to stand in the sun as a very long train ambled by. We could see the bank sign that showed time and temperature. It was 95.
A change of plans:
We will definitely head for Bismarck instead of Minot. The place we were to stay in Minot is flooded out and sone roads are closed. I will send itinerary changes out in the next day or so.
Miles Tuesday: 51
Total so far: 1366
Monday, June 27, 2011
So many great days!
It really is hard to believe that there can be one incredible day after another. The scenery changes constantly. Everyone we meet is interesting and helpful. There are surprises around every bend in the road.
Of course it doesn't hurt that the weather continues to be almost perfect. 70s again today, with a bit of a headwind - never enough to be very annoying. Today also gave us company. Four of us - Bruce, Stephanie, Ben and I, headed out of Billings together. Kitty was in the car. She joined us with a wonderful assortment of lunch treats 40 miles out, then Bruce & Stephanie hopped in the car and Kitty rode the next 40. At around 65 miles, Bruce & Stephanie came by to check & Bruce got back on the bike. At about 70, Ben hopped in the car. So we had companions and a day-long game of musical chairs, not to mention an endless supply of treats. Ben, by the way, told me that before today, his longest bike ride had been 25 miles. That was the warm up ride they took yesterday. Wow.
The terrain was lovely. We are definitely back in western movie scenery. Plenty of buttes and weird rock formations, endless pastures, cows and horses everywhere, and the occasional pronghorn antelope. We took Highway 87 to Hardin. I strongly recommend that route if you ever plan to ride in the area. It is very smooth and alrhough there is no shoulder there is also very little traffic. You pretty much have a scenic road to yourself.
What am I saying??? Have I really forgotten so fast? What about the planes that were using it to take off and land? I guess we didn't have it entirely to ourselves. Kitty actually thought she must have imagined the plane. She was not on her bike at the time. If she had been, she would have known they were real. Just how close to your helmet have you ever had a plane fly? I almost stopped to see if it left any scratches!
I think they were crop dusters. Fortunately they were nice enough not to spray anything near us.
And I guess the fact that they use the road as their runway just shows how traffic-free that road is.
After Hardin, we turned onto Route 384, another huge success. It is hilly but never steep and it just goes deeper and deeper into that western scenery.
We ended up at the Horse Creek B&B, where our host, Jim, was kind enough to let us use his barbecue so we could have dinner. We are quite a distance (in bike miles) from any dinner places. He sat with us and gave us a lot of history of the area. The place is quite remote and in a beautiful setting. He had built a couple of teepees; Ben is occupying one tonight.
Every night is so different. This trip is reminding me over and over how strong my habits had become, and how good it is to break out of them now and then.
Miles today 86
Total so far 1315
Of course it doesn't hurt that the weather continues to be almost perfect. 70s again today, with a bit of a headwind - never enough to be very annoying. Today also gave us company. Four of us - Bruce, Stephanie, Ben and I, headed out of Billings together. Kitty was in the car. She joined us with a wonderful assortment of lunch treats 40 miles out, then Bruce & Stephanie hopped in the car and Kitty rode the next 40. At around 65 miles, Bruce & Stephanie came by to check & Bruce got back on the bike. At about 70, Ben hopped in the car. So we had companions and a day-long game of musical chairs, not to mention an endless supply of treats. Ben, by the way, told me that before today, his longest bike ride had been 25 miles. That was the warm up ride they took yesterday. Wow.
The terrain was lovely. We are definitely back in western movie scenery. Plenty of buttes and weird rock formations, endless pastures, cows and horses everywhere, and the occasional pronghorn antelope. We took Highway 87 to Hardin. I strongly recommend that route if you ever plan to ride in the area. It is very smooth and alrhough there is no shoulder there is also very little traffic. You pretty much have a scenic road to yourself.
What am I saying??? Have I really forgotten so fast? What about the planes that were using it to take off and land? I guess we didn't have it entirely to ourselves. Kitty actually thought she must have imagined the plane. She was not on her bike at the time. If she had been, she would have known they were real. Just how close to your helmet have you ever had a plane fly? I almost stopped to see if it left any scratches!
I think they were crop dusters. Fortunately they were nice enough not to spray anything near us.
And I guess the fact that they use the road as their runway just shows how traffic-free that road is.
After Hardin, we turned onto Route 384, another huge success. It is hilly but never steep and it just goes deeper and deeper into that western scenery.
We ended up at the Horse Creek B&B, where our host, Jim, was kind enough to let us use his barbecue so we could have dinner. We are quite a distance (in bike miles) from any dinner places. He sat with us and gave us a lot of history of the area. The place is quite remote and in a beautiful setting. He had built a couple of teepees; Ben is occupying one tonight.
Every night is so different. This trip is reminding me over and over how strong my habits had become, and how good it is to break out of them now and then.
Miles today 86
Total so far 1315
Sunday, June 26, 2011
All sorts of stuff
We had a great breakfast at the wonderful B&B and headed out in the car for Columbus, where Bruce & Willie had picked me up Friday. We didn't rush - only 40 miles to Billings, where we have a rest day. We had scheduled massage appointments for late afternoon.
The weather was perfect again. The temperatures reached the high 70s and the clouds were light and far apart. The frontage road took us a little farther from the freeway and we saw all sorts of wildflowers. Once we reached Park City, we had to choose whether we wanted to get food there or ride on to Laurel for lunch. This was decidedly not the Park City we often hear of in Utah. This one has two places to get food, and both are gas station convenience stores. Laurel was a bit farther, though, and wouldn't space the meals as well. We pulled into one of the gas stations & found two cyclists. We got talking - bicycles do make that happen - and learned they were local riders out for a Saturday spin. They offered to show us the scenic route to Laurel, so we ended up riding with them and having lunch with them at the cafe they like. Very nice. We traded names & emails.
We ended up pushing the time a bit. We thought it would be less than ten miles after lunch; turns out that was the city limit, and Billings is fairly spread out. Also, we chatted a bit too long & didn't leave lunch until about 2:00. We then had almot 20 miles with medium headwinds to ride. Willie (hurray, Willie!) had us all checked in, though, so we made it.
We are sorry that Willie is on her way home now. We will really miss all her help. Well, actually, we will just plain miss her. Let's do this again before long, Willie!
Kitty, Stephanie and Ben have arrived to join us for a few days, so we do have a little more supported time. They all plan to ride with us part of the time, which will be lots of fun. Ben has not ridden these distances before but is hoping to ride the entire 88 miles tomorrow. He recently ran a half marathon & has always been an enthusiastic athlete. He will probably breeze through. Actually, we'd better get him his own maps. I expect he will be out of sight within minutes. Kitty and Stephanie plan to take on more moderate rides. Bruce is considering doing some of the driving.
Today, our Billings rest day, we are making alternative plans in case we can't go to Minot. As we are looking at those ideas we are realizing that the alternate route would do away once and for all - no, cancel that expression, nothing on this trip is nearly that certain - would most likely eliminate our worries about having to ride all the way from Williston to Minot. Bismarck, here we come?
Miles Saturday 48
Total so far 1229
The weather was perfect again. The temperatures reached the high 70s and the clouds were light and far apart. The frontage road took us a little farther from the freeway and we saw all sorts of wildflowers. Once we reached Park City, we had to choose whether we wanted to get food there or ride on to Laurel for lunch. This was decidedly not the Park City we often hear of in Utah. This one has two places to get food, and both are gas station convenience stores. Laurel was a bit farther, though, and wouldn't space the meals as well. We pulled into one of the gas stations & found two cyclists. We got talking - bicycles do make that happen - and learned they were local riders out for a Saturday spin. They offered to show us the scenic route to Laurel, so we ended up riding with them and having lunch with them at the cafe they like. Very nice. We traded names & emails.
We ended up pushing the time a bit. We thought it would be less than ten miles after lunch; turns out that was the city limit, and Billings is fairly spread out. Also, we chatted a bit too long & didn't leave lunch until about 2:00. We then had almot 20 miles with medium headwinds to ride. Willie (hurray, Willie!) had us all checked in, though, so we made it.
We are sorry that Willie is on her way home now. We will really miss all her help. Well, actually, we will just plain miss her. Let's do this again before long, Willie!
Kitty, Stephanie and Ben have arrived to join us for a few days, so we do have a little more supported time. They all plan to ride with us part of the time, which will be lots of fun. Ben has not ridden these distances before but is hoping to ride the entire 88 miles tomorrow. He recently ran a half marathon & has always been an enthusiastic athlete. He will probably breeze through. Actually, we'd better get him his own maps. I expect he will be out of sight within minutes. Kitty and Stephanie plan to take on more moderate rides. Bruce is considering doing some of the driving.
Today, our Billings rest day, we are making alternative plans in case we can't go to Minot. As we are looking at those ideas we are realizing that the alternate route would do away once and for all - no, cancel that expression, nothing on this trip is nearly that certain - would most likely eliminate our worries about having to ride all the way from Williston to Minot. Bismarck, here we come?
Miles Saturday 48
Total so far 1229
Saturday, June 25, 2011
A Rough Day
In a way. Mostly it was just fine. But did you know??? Montana has so many cows - at least this reason is my best guess - that it needs cattle guards on the entry and exit ramps, all of them that we saw, of I-90. Have you ever ridden over a cattle guard? It is not my idea of fun. Several sections of Friday's route were on I-90. I have no pride. I just kept getting off and walking cautiously across them. Just to make it a little more entertaining for passing motorists, the spaces between the bars are sort of big, or maybe my feet just aren't up to Big Sky standards. I had to place each foot ever so carefully to keep it from falling between the bars, all while balancing my skinny tires so they wouldn't fall between the bars. Got to do that about 8 times.
I managed to avoid 2, and in a way that has made Bruce very happy. He is one of many to have a problem with my unblemished driving record, so he is ever so pleased to be able to report that, when we realized we had gotten off one exit early, I turned right around and went back up the ramp THE WRONG WAY!
I guess we all have our wild moments.
We had lunch at the Grand Hotel in Big Timber. We were walking down the main street peering at one option, a bar & restaurant, when a pleasant woman came up and pointed to the Grand Hotel. She said we would prefer it, and while looking directly at the place we'd been considering, added, "You're not the type!" We never determined if she was right about that - never even looked inside. We just headed across the street & had a very good lunch & found ourselves talking to a few people who overheard us answering the where-are-you-riding question. We managed to pick up some useful local information.
When we headed out, some stormy clouds had materialized. We appeared to be heading straight for one massive cloud with what looked like a firehose level of water pouring down from it. It offered a lightning flash just to keep things interesting. But either we are fast or the cloud moved in a good direction or the road wound aroung helpfully, and before long it was off to the side. Now approaching us was a massive black cloud that seemed to be sitting right on the ground, and not too far away. Nonetheless, we had to stop to see the little prairie dog park. The prairie dogs were nice enough to pop right out and stare and sqeak and even to do a little dance-like display for us, so the threatening cloud had not advanced all that far when we moved on. We tried to keep moving to avoid it. We succeeded again.
Willie came by a little later to tell us that the night's B&B was really great. Bruce was tired & chose to hop in with her and spend a little extra time there. I was still having fun so I went ahead and rode some extra miles. They ended up being some of the best of the whole day. Although I felt a few drops it never reached the point where the rain gear came out. In fact, the only time it really opened up & poured was right after we all got back for the night and took chairs on the great porch. Then we had a short, spectacular and nearby thunderstorm. Then we had a great night's sleep.
Bunkhouse B&B, Reed Point. It may not be available long; our hosts are thinking of selling the house they live in noe and moving into the space we got. If you happen to be headed this way soon, it is really great.
Friday miles 76
Total so far 1181
I managed to avoid 2, and in a way that has made Bruce very happy. He is one of many to have a problem with my unblemished driving record, so he is ever so pleased to be able to report that, when we realized we had gotten off one exit early, I turned right around and went back up the ramp THE WRONG WAY!
I guess we all have our wild moments.
We had lunch at the Grand Hotel in Big Timber. We were walking down the main street peering at one option, a bar & restaurant, when a pleasant woman came up and pointed to the Grand Hotel. She said we would prefer it, and while looking directly at the place we'd been considering, added, "You're not the type!" We never determined if she was right about that - never even looked inside. We just headed across the street & had a very good lunch & found ourselves talking to a few people who overheard us answering the where-are-you-riding question. We managed to pick up some useful local information.
When we headed out, some stormy clouds had materialized. We appeared to be heading straight for one massive cloud with what looked like a firehose level of water pouring down from it. It offered a lightning flash just to keep things interesting. But either we are fast or the cloud moved in a good direction or the road wound aroung helpfully, and before long it was off to the side. Now approaching us was a massive black cloud that seemed to be sitting right on the ground, and not too far away. Nonetheless, we had to stop to see the little prairie dog park. The prairie dogs were nice enough to pop right out and stare and sqeak and even to do a little dance-like display for us, so the threatening cloud had not advanced all that far when we moved on. We tried to keep moving to avoid it. We succeeded again.
Willie came by a little later to tell us that the night's B&B was really great. Bruce was tired & chose to hop in with her and spend a little extra time there. I was still having fun so I went ahead and rode some extra miles. They ended up being some of the best of the whole day. Although I felt a few drops it never reached the point where the rain gear came out. In fact, the only time it really opened up & poured was right after we all got back for the night and took chairs on the great porch. Then we had a short, spectacular and nearby thunderstorm. Then we had a great night's sleep.
Bunkhouse B&B, Reed Point. It may not be available long; our hosts are thinking of selling the house they live in noe and moving into the space we got. If you happen to be headed this way soon, it is really great.
Friday miles 76
Total so far 1181
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Oh, my, oh Minot!
Aline was the first to direct us to the news. Minot, North Dakota, the place we plan to spend a couple of days, to leave our bikes for a mid-ride bike spa session (tune-up & new chains & all that), and fly from for Chris & Amy's wedding in Vermont in a couple of weeks, Minot is suffering from record level floods. The Souris - aka Mouse - River is expected to rise as much as ten feet beyond its current flood level over the next few days. Levees are already giving way; many areas are already under water. 30% of the residents have been evacuated.
We will have to figure out what we need to do. We are scheduled to arrive there in about ten days. Will the hotel be open? If so, will it really have room for us, or will it be bulging at the seams with evacuated residents and insurance adjusters? Will the airport be operating normally? Will the bike shop be open for business? At the moment I don't feel comfortable calling and expecting the people there to drop their sandbags to deal with my really rather unimportant concerns. I think we will just have to wait and see how bad it gets, and get on the phone when things have settled a bit. We are staying at a major chain hotel so can probably call their central number, and a travel agent made our flight reservations. We can certainly call her.
Meanwhile we have a map of the Dakotas and are looking at possible alternate routes just in case. But it seems that much of North Dakota is devastated by floods.
This just happens to be one of the places we were worried about. It is 125 miles from Williston, where we plan to be for the 4th of July. So far we have not been able to find a place to stay between the two. This is not likely to help. 125 miles is quite a bit more than we had hoped to ride (maybe we'd be swimming part way?) in a single day. Amy - not the bride-to-be, my cousin Amy - has gleefully reminded us of her cross country bike trip on which she decided Greyhound was preferable to riding in North Dakota. Now this.
It is almost hard to go back to the regular story, but I do want to remember this day, too. We saw a golden eagle in the first mile this morning. We saw majestic mountain ranges in all directions. We had lunch in a very nice little cafe in a nice little town called Wilsall. Willie picked Bruce up a bit early to get him to the local bike shop in time; I kept riding the last ten miles or so and beat the rain to Livingston by a very few minutes. We are sitting in a very pleasant little suite in the Murray Hotel having had a very good dinner. Thunder and lightning are giving a good show - should be through before morning. Feeling great!
Miles today - 63
Total so far - 1105
We will have to figure out what we need to do. We are scheduled to arrive there in about ten days. Will the hotel be open? If so, will it really have room for us, or will it be bulging at the seams with evacuated residents and insurance adjusters? Will the airport be operating normally? Will the bike shop be open for business? At the moment I don't feel comfortable calling and expecting the people there to drop their sandbags to deal with my really rather unimportant concerns. I think we will just have to wait and see how bad it gets, and get on the phone when things have settled a bit. We are staying at a major chain hotel so can probably call their central number, and a travel agent made our flight reservations. We can certainly call her.
Meanwhile we have a map of the Dakotas and are looking at possible alternate routes just in case. But it seems that much of North Dakota is devastated by floods.
This just happens to be one of the places we were worried about. It is 125 miles from Williston, where we plan to be for the 4th of July. So far we have not been able to find a place to stay between the two. This is not likely to help. 125 miles is quite a bit more than we had hoped to ride (maybe we'd be swimming part way?) in a single day. Amy - not the bride-to-be, my cousin Amy - has gleefully reminded us of her cross country bike trip on which she decided Greyhound was preferable to riding in North Dakota. Now this.
It is almost hard to go back to the regular story, but I do want to remember this day, too. We saw a golden eagle in the first mile this morning. We saw majestic mountain ranges in all directions. We had lunch in a very nice little cafe in a nice little town called Wilsall. Willie picked Bruce up a bit early to get him to the local bike shop in time; I kept riding the last ten miles or so and beat the rain to Livingston by a very few minutes. We are sitting in a very pleasant little suite in the Murray Hotel having had a very good dinner. Thunder and lightning are giving a good show - should be through before morning. Feeling great!
Miles today - 63
Total so far - 1105
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
1000 miles
Part of the reason the climb to Neihart was so reasonable: it was not, as we had thought, particularly close to the summit - the highest summit we will cross on our trip. Actually, it was about 8 miles & almost 2000' short of the 7300' summit.
We got up, had oatmeal with Marsha, and headed out. Once again, the climb was steady & slow for a few miles. I have to admit I was doing some mental math problems - if we still have to climb x amount and we have y miles left, the average grade will have to be x-steep? C'mon, let's get climbing here! I've gone over to a compact double & steep is not always my friend! So at about 4 miles things started to happen. It was never too bad - sort of a hybrid of Old La Honda & Kings Mountain.
We stopped for a snack at the top. Bruce took a picture of me next to the pass sign, but we still lack the technology to get it into this. Then we headed on down to - we thought - White Sulphur Springs. It's a town that appeared on Google to be a variation on the older bits of Calistoga. We didn't expect anything but another very basic place to stay. But Willie got there ahead of us and found a B&B a bit off the route. She has the car, so we went a few extra miles on tomorrow's ride, hopped in the car, and are now happily ensconced in a very comfortable place with views of a lake, mountains, and thunderheads. Tomorrow's ride may break our little streak of weather luck. Until then we are warm and happy.
Miles today 49
Total so far 1042!!!
1/4 of the ride!
We got up, had oatmeal with Marsha, and headed out. Once again, the climb was steady & slow for a few miles. I have to admit I was doing some mental math problems - if we still have to climb x amount and we have y miles left, the average grade will have to be x-steep? C'mon, let's get climbing here! I've gone over to a compact double & steep is not always my friend! So at about 4 miles things started to happen. It was never too bad - sort of a hybrid of Old La Honda & Kings Mountain.
We stopped for a snack at the top. Bruce took a picture of me next to the pass sign, but we still lack the technology to get it into this. Then we headed on down to - we thought - White Sulphur Springs. It's a town that appeared on Google to be a variation on the older bits of Calistoga. We didn't expect anything but another very basic place to stay. But Willie got there ahead of us and found a B&B a bit off the route. She has the car, so we went a few extra miles on tomorrow's ride, hopped in the car, and are now happily ensconced in a very comfortable place with views of a lake, mountains, and thunderheads. Tomorrow's ride may break our little streak of weather luck. Until then we are warm and happy.
Miles today 49
Total so far 1042!!!
1/4 of the ride!
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Autographs!
We headed out after a very nice breakfast & went to the local bike shop to get a spare tire for me now that I have had to use the one I brought. The bike shop guys gave us directions out of town & we went on, planning to stop to get some more water while we were still in the city. You see, it was already nice and warm, and we knew we would need plenty of fluids. We rode about 7 miles along city roads and didn't see so much as a convenience store. Just as we reached the very outside edge of town - and let me tell you, towns in Montana don't fade away gradually - they stop - we saw a gas station with a convenience store & went in.
Well, we made quite a hit there. This was in a city, but the guy inside was fascinated by our plan. And some other local guys were interested, so interested that one of them asked us for autographs. He made it clear that he was entirely serious, too. Even went in to get paper and a pen. Ok, so he is probably even better known at the local pub. His buddies said somewhat apologetically that he was a real character. But in one tiny bit of Montana, we are famous.
Moving on. We checked our map and were happy to see that Belt and Monarch are more or less evenly spaced along the route. Food opportunities! But when we reached Belt, well we didn't reach it. It was a few miles off the road so we turned away regretfully and headed towards Monarch. We had heard from some people at the B&B that Monarch is lovely - named for the butterflies that stop to rest there each year. The bike shop guys had acknowledged cautiously that we would see a convenience store there.
First, though, we made the turn that was to take us up the mountains. The ride was lovely - Bruce's favorite so far. We stopped to have peanut butter sandwiches so we weren't hungry. We followed Belt Creek into more forest and cliffs. Along the way we saw something that has been surprisingly rare so far: another guy on a bike. He was pulled off and talking on the phone so we stopped to ask if he was ok. Yes, all was well - he was calling home - Belgium! We talked very briefly & found we were headed in the same direction for at least a few days, but we have not seen him again.
The ride up Belt Creek was yet another beautiful one. It didn't do anywhere near the steep climbing we had anticipated. In fact it was pretty flat for a while. Eventually it headed up but that just meant even better views. Then it plummeted down to Monarch. Bruce was ready to scrap the rest of the day to hike there, but he settled for a cheeseburger on a sunny deck looking out at the river, the rocky slopes, the trees. Monarch will never be celebrated for its food. You can almost ignore its limits, though, in a setting like that. We asked about the butterflies - the young woman who served the food said she'd never heard of them - didn't think there were any in the area. Oh, well. Rural legend?
We finished the ride to Neihart, the land of snow in June. We could not have picked a better day. The climb was gentle and the weather was ideal. The town - well, we didn't have to sleep outside. Bob's Bar and Motel. Very basic. There was a paper in the window of the "office" telling us which rooms were ours. There were keys in the doors. The restaurant showed no signs of opening any time soon.
It's not a bad town, though. There's a sign as you enter: "Our little town is like heaven to us; please don't drive like hell through it." There is the Neihart Store - actually, when you get close you can see the little sign placed between those words. It's the Neihart inconvenience Store. Willie had already gone in and chatted with Marsha, the proprietor. A very nice woman - she actually had quite a good assortment for sale, and she offered to provide oatmeal if we came over for breakfast.
Then we headed out for dinner. Willie had scouted out the area and found The Lazy Doe back in Monarch. Let's just say it's aptly named. She'd been told it was open until 11. We arrived at about 7:05 only to be told by the bartender the the food service ended at 7. He then cackled as he announced, "Ya gotta be tough to make it out West!"
We drove all the way back to Belt, found a basic dinner, and headedback to Neihart to sleep.
62 miles
total so far 993
Well, we made quite a hit there. This was in a city, but the guy inside was fascinated by our plan. And some other local guys were interested, so interested that one of them asked us for autographs. He made it clear that he was entirely serious, too. Even went in to get paper and a pen. Ok, so he is probably even better known at the local pub. His buddies said somewhat apologetically that he was a real character. But in one tiny bit of Montana, we are famous.
Moving on. We checked our map and were happy to see that Belt and Monarch are more or less evenly spaced along the route. Food opportunities! But when we reached Belt, well we didn't reach it. It was a few miles off the road so we turned away regretfully and headed towards Monarch. We had heard from some people at the B&B that Monarch is lovely - named for the butterflies that stop to rest there each year. The bike shop guys had acknowledged cautiously that we would see a convenience store there.
First, though, we made the turn that was to take us up the mountains. The ride was lovely - Bruce's favorite so far. We stopped to have peanut butter sandwiches so we weren't hungry. We followed Belt Creek into more forest and cliffs. Along the way we saw something that has been surprisingly rare so far: another guy on a bike. He was pulled off and talking on the phone so we stopped to ask if he was ok. Yes, all was well - he was calling home - Belgium! We talked very briefly & found we were headed in the same direction for at least a few days, but we have not seen him again.
The ride up Belt Creek was yet another beautiful one. It didn't do anywhere near the steep climbing we had anticipated. In fact it was pretty flat for a while. Eventually it headed up but that just meant even better views. Then it plummeted down to Monarch. Bruce was ready to scrap the rest of the day to hike there, but he settled for a cheeseburger on a sunny deck looking out at the river, the rocky slopes, the trees. Monarch will never be celebrated for its food. You can almost ignore its limits, though, in a setting like that. We asked about the butterflies - the young woman who served the food said she'd never heard of them - didn't think there were any in the area. Oh, well. Rural legend?
We finished the ride to Neihart, the land of snow in June. We could not have picked a better day. The climb was gentle and the weather was ideal. The town - well, we didn't have to sleep outside. Bob's Bar and Motel. Very basic. There was a paper in the window of the "office" telling us which rooms were ours. There were keys in the doors. The restaurant showed no signs of opening any time soon.
It's not a bad town, though. There's a sign as you enter: "Our little town is like heaven to us; please don't drive like hell through it." There is the Neihart Store - actually, when you get close you can see the little sign placed between those words. It's the Neihart inconvenience Store. Willie had already gone in and chatted with Marsha, the proprietor. A very nice woman - she actually had quite a good assortment for sale, and she offered to provide oatmeal if we came over for breakfast.
Then we headed out for dinner. Willie had scouted out the area and found The Lazy Doe back in Monarch. Let's just say it's aptly named. She'd been told it was open until 11. We arrived at about 7:05 only to be told by the bartender the the food service ended at 7. He then cackled as he announced, "Ya gotta be tough to make it out West!"
We drove all the way back to Belt, found a basic dinner, and headedback to Neihart to sleep.
62 miles
total so far 993
Monday, June 20, 2011
Going back for the missing miles
We are delighted to have Willie here with us. We decided to go back to Choteau (rhymes with Toto - it's been tough getting local pronunciations right) and ride the distance we missed thanks to my tire problem. Willie could drive us up there & go on to explore Montana. I was sort of sorry we were not going to get to ride the side roads to the ranch, but then Bruce realized he had forgotten his helmet there. We had to go back!
3+ miles of unpaved road. Who needs fat tires??? I am getting used to all sorts of new ideas. And there are lots of ways to be unpaved. Hard and pretty flat with little of last year's gravel remaining did not present much of a challenge. Cattle guards, on the other hand - these were mostly made of round piping with plenty of space between the bars. I was not prepared to ride over - thought I might lose a tooth or two from the jarring - but walking wasn't a perfect choice, either. My feet won't reach two bars at once (on these particular ones - usually not a problem) and the round ones didn't much want to allow me to stand securely on my cleats. Bruce hauled my bike across and I eventually made it over, too. I think there were at least 7.
Once we reached the paved section we began to descend. We couldn't even see that we were going downhill, but the fact that we were going about 20mph almost without pedaling was a hint. Out to the main road - the one where it's a big deal if cars pass you from both directions at the same tine. We had about 58 miles to go. The road had seemed pretty flat from the car. Amazing how your eyes can fool you. It was a gentle descent again, almost all the way. This was by far the easiest 78 miles I have ever ridden.
Besides all that fun, we had good ice cream in Choteau, we stopped in Fairfield where a very nice woman reopened the little flower and coffee shop she was just closing so Bruce could have a mocha, and we stopped several times to look at all the incredible water birds on Freeze Out Lake. I don't know the story behind the name. I do know it is an area that is protected (at least part of the year - there were signs that talked about hunting, too) for those birds. Lots of white pelicans, terns, ducks, I could have stayed for hours.
Only I would have been pretty anemic by the time I left. I gave quite a bit of blood to the local mosquitoes. Yes, it took a few weeks, but they have found me. I don't really want to count all the bites. We stopped after dinner to pick up some anti-itch stuff.
The "waterfowl management" area reminded me of something we saw just after we first crossed into Montana, a sign that said, "Caution - Game Crossing." I commented that at home it would have read, "Caution - Wildlife Crossing" even if it happened to be in a hunting area. Sure enough, as we have moved into more heavily tourist-dependent parts of the state, the signs have become PC again.
The weather warmed up a bunch. No rain all day and temperatures reached the low 70s. It's supposed to get even better. Good thing, because tomorrow is the day we climb to Neihart, the place in the Little Belt Mountains; the place that will take us almost to the highest pass of our whole trip; the place I've been talking about so much - the one that averages 6" of snow in June. Those weather guys better be right this time.
12 miles yesterday; 79 today.
Total so far 931.
3+ miles of unpaved road. Who needs fat tires??? I am getting used to all sorts of new ideas. And there are lots of ways to be unpaved. Hard and pretty flat with little of last year's gravel remaining did not present much of a challenge. Cattle guards, on the other hand - these were mostly made of round piping with plenty of space between the bars. I was not prepared to ride over - thought I might lose a tooth or two from the jarring - but walking wasn't a perfect choice, either. My feet won't reach two bars at once (on these particular ones - usually not a problem) and the round ones didn't much want to allow me to stand securely on my cleats. Bruce hauled my bike across and I eventually made it over, too. I think there were at least 7.
Once we reached the paved section we began to descend. We couldn't even see that we were going downhill, but the fact that we were going about 20mph almost without pedaling was a hint. Out to the main road - the one where it's a big deal if cars pass you from both directions at the same tine. We had about 58 miles to go. The road had seemed pretty flat from the car. Amazing how your eyes can fool you. It was a gentle descent again, almost all the way. This was by far the easiest 78 miles I have ever ridden.
Besides all that fun, we had good ice cream in Choteau, we stopped in Fairfield where a very nice woman reopened the little flower and coffee shop she was just closing so Bruce could have a mocha, and we stopped several times to look at all the incredible water birds on Freeze Out Lake. I don't know the story behind the name. I do know it is an area that is protected (at least part of the year - there were signs that talked about hunting, too) for those birds. Lots of white pelicans, terns, ducks, I could have stayed for hours.
Only I would have been pretty anemic by the time I left. I gave quite a bit of blood to the local mosquitoes. Yes, it took a few weeks, but they have found me. I don't really want to count all the bites. We stopped after dinner to pick up some anti-itch stuff.
The "waterfowl management" area reminded me of something we saw just after we first crossed into Montana, a sign that said, "Caution - Game Crossing." I commented that at home it would have read, "Caution - Wildlife Crossing" even if it happened to be in a hunting area. Sure enough, as we have moved into more heavily tourist-dependent parts of the state, the signs have become PC again.
The weather warmed up a bunch. No rain all day and temperatures reached the low 70s. It's supposed to get even better. Good thing, because tomorrow is the day we climb to Neihart, the place in the Little Belt Mountains; the place that will take us almost to the highest pass of our whole trip; the place I've been talking about so much - the one that averages 6" of snow in June. Those weather guys better be right this time.
12 miles yesterday; 79 today.
Total so far 931.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
What if?
What if we only spend one night in Livingston?
What if we pick up a spare day by riding Highway 87 instead of Highway 89?
What if we ride from Great Falls to Choteau & ask Willie to come pick us up?
What if we ride the right numbet of miles but skip that little stretch from Choteau to. . .
Stop right there! I am determined to ride a continuous route!
That tire was really pretty bad. Bruce felt strongly that we should not even try to ride our planned route today. There was a high probability of rain; he pictured us standing along the road, 10 miles from the nearest town (meaning food, warmth, and cell service) trying to figure out how to get any farther when it gave out. He was pretty sure it would give out. So we spent a bunch of yesterday evening tossing around ideas. Fortunately, it was easy to grab a ride to Great Falls with the other people leaving the ranch.
We finally decided we would at least do that, then replace the tire with the one I had left in the duffel Aline had dropped off for us here. Then we would look at all sorts of weather forecasts and search deep within ourselves for the perfect answer. Or something.
It didn't rain a drop and it got considerably warmer. I was seriously tempted to ride north. The winds were all wrong, though, and we were excited to meet Willie (our new support crew - she and Aline did it together on the Blue Ridge last year, and they are heroic enough to help us even when they don't have each other's company). There may also have been just the tiniest bit of inertia.
We changed the tire. We decided to check out the Great Falls bike trail that shows on the map the B&B guy gave us. We decided to move all the reservations through Livingston back a day and to spend only one day there. Bruce made all the calls and we found time to talk to Lillian, too.
Do you know what river runs through Great Falls? I should have, but I didn't. So it came as a great surprise to find that the bike trail meanders along the Missouri River. That really feels like a huge landmark.
It is a big river, even this far north. It should not have been much of a surprise to come up on a Great (big water)Falls, either. Riding is strengthening our legs, but apparently not our brains. Anyway, we now understand where this little city got its name, and once we connected with Willie we all spent a couple of hours at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center, and we should be seriously embarrassed if we ever feel challenged again by our circumstances.
We saw a short film about their portage past the local falls. There are five; we only rode past one. It took them two weeks to go 18 miles. There was one exhibit that invited us to pull on a rope. There was a meter that went up as you tugged. At the top was 20, which represents the effort those explorers put out hauling their stuff up the hills. I thought I was fairly strong & I could scarcely get it to 6.
Anyhow, we liked the exhibit very well. Bruce managed to identify one of his mystery wildflowers. We got some great history lessons to mull over as we proceed. And we got to ride a great big 12 miles at a pace that felt like doing almost nothing, and we had a nice dinner, and Bruce found a new camera.
Tomorrow we will be driven back to the ranch (uh, Bruce forgot his helmet there) and will get to do the whole day we planned originally - just 24 hours later. It includes some roads I would have been very sorry not to see more closely.
What if we pick up a spare day by riding Highway 87 instead of Highway 89?
What if we ride from Great Falls to Choteau & ask Willie to come pick us up?
What if we ride the right numbet of miles but skip that little stretch from Choteau to. . .
Stop right there! I am determined to ride a continuous route!
That tire was really pretty bad. Bruce felt strongly that we should not even try to ride our planned route today. There was a high probability of rain; he pictured us standing along the road, 10 miles from the nearest town (meaning food, warmth, and cell service) trying to figure out how to get any farther when it gave out. He was pretty sure it would give out. So we spent a bunch of yesterday evening tossing around ideas. Fortunately, it was easy to grab a ride to Great Falls with the other people leaving the ranch.
We finally decided we would at least do that, then replace the tire with the one I had left in the duffel Aline had dropped off for us here. Then we would look at all sorts of weather forecasts and search deep within ourselves for the perfect answer. Or something.
It didn't rain a drop and it got considerably warmer. I was seriously tempted to ride north. The winds were all wrong, though, and we were excited to meet Willie (our new support crew - she and Aline did it together on the Blue Ridge last year, and they are heroic enough to help us even when they don't have each other's company). There may also have been just the tiniest bit of inertia.
We changed the tire. We decided to check out the Great Falls bike trail that shows on the map the B&B guy gave us. We decided to move all the reservations through Livingston back a day and to spend only one day there. Bruce made all the calls and we found time to talk to Lillian, too.
Do you know what river runs through Great Falls? I should have, but I didn't. So it came as a great surprise to find that the bike trail meanders along the Missouri River. That really feels like a huge landmark.
It is a big river, even this far north. It should not have been much of a surprise to come up on a Great (big water)Falls, either. Riding is strengthening our legs, but apparently not our brains. Anyway, we now understand where this little city got its name, and once we connected with Willie we all spent a couple of hours at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center, and we should be seriously embarrassed if we ever feel challenged again by our circumstances.
We saw a short film about their portage past the local falls. There are five; we only rode past one. It took them two weeks to go 18 miles. There was one exhibit that invited us to pull on a rope. There was a meter that went up as you tugged. At the top was 20, which represents the effort those explorers put out hauling their stuff up the hills. I thought I was fairly strong & I could scarcely get it to 6.
Anyhow, we liked the exhibit very well. Bruce managed to identify one of his mystery wildflowers. We got some great history lessons to mull over as we proceed. And we got to ride a great big 12 miles at a pace that felt like doing almost nothing, and we had a nice dinner, and Bruce found a new camera.
Tomorrow we will be driven back to the ranch (uh, Bruce forgot his helmet there) and will get to do the whole day we planned originally - just 24 hours later. It includes some roads I would have been very sorry not to see more closely.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Bumps in the road
It was one of the darkest clouds I have ever seen, and it was just west of us when we went in for breakfast. The prevailing wind, and it was very much with us, was blowing the storm right towards us. There was a rainbow in front of it, but it promised a very wet day.
It didn't keep that promise. No, that turned out to be no bump in the road at all.
We set out for our second day of hiking with a few others. We walked along the river where we would be sheltered from the wind. It was an easy walk with lots of wildflowers and pleasant company. We stopped by the river for lunch, where Bruce wandered a few steps to take a picture, then came back and perched on a fallen log over the water to eat. Shortly after that, we saw him searching around. Then he & another guy were looking hard in the rushing water. Then they were trying to reach something down in the river. This was NOT water you would want to fall in. They finally plucked something out. A rock. A rock shaped sort of like the camera Bruce had misplaced. Once we knew what the problem was, we all searched diligently. No camera. It must have fallen from his pocket and been swept downstream. A definite bump in the road.
Even so, we really enjoyed the walk. We came back to rest and pack and make a few organizational phone calls. Bruce went out for one more little walk. Well, actually, he went out with his phone to take a few more pictures. I thought I would go ahead and take a look at my tires. Ouch. My rear tire is falling apart just as fast as it can. It has several places where the tread is trying to separate from the rest of the tire, and several where the tread seems to be worn out & frayed. I have checked it often on the trip and really can't imagine what is going on. Is it a defective tire? These tires are the type I have been using for several years now and they have been really great. Could it be stressed by the load on the rear wheel now that I have ridden loaded? Hard to imagine that, seeing that I have ridden all of 35 miles loaded, and that the load is only slightly greater than what I took on the training rides, and that even with the full load, there is not that much weight on the back. I mean, if I add my weight plus the weight of the bike plus all I carried, it is still less than the average weight of a smallish bike racer without bike or baggage. Hmm. A bump in the road that may have been caused by another bump in the road.
I guess we will limp into Great Falls tomorrow - no fast descents for me - and I will change to the tire I have waiting for me there and buy a just-in-case spare at the local bike shop. Fortunately they do have a 650 in stock.
The chance of rain is very high tomorrow. The next day is the one that takes us to 7300' - the one where we cross a pass that averages 6" of snow in June. You can't even imagine how much we have heard about how cold this June has been all over Montana. We are postponing a final decision until tomorrow evening. Think sun. Think warm sun.
Thank you.
It didn't keep that promise. No, that turned out to be no bump in the road at all.
We set out for our second day of hiking with a few others. We walked along the river where we would be sheltered from the wind. It was an easy walk with lots of wildflowers and pleasant company. We stopped by the river for lunch, where Bruce wandered a few steps to take a picture, then came back and perched on a fallen log over the water to eat. Shortly after that, we saw him searching around. Then he & another guy were looking hard in the rushing water. Then they were trying to reach something down in the river. This was NOT water you would want to fall in. They finally plucked something out. A rock. A rock shaped sort of like the camera Bruce had misplaced. Once we knew what the problem was, we all searched diligently. No camera. It must have fallen from his pocket and been swept downstream. A definite bump in the road.
Even so, we really enjoyed the walk. We came back to rest and pack and make a few organizational phone calls. Bruce went out for one more little walk. Well, actually, he went out with his phone to take a few more pictures. I thought I would go ahead and take a look at my tires. Ouch. My rear tire is falling apart just as fast as it can. It has several places where the tread is trying to separate from the rest of the tire, and several where the tread seems to be worn out & frayed. I have checked it often on the trip and really can't imagine what is going on. Is it a defective tire? These tires are the type I have been using for several years now and they have been really great. Could it be stressed by the load on the rear wheel now that I have ridden loaded? Hard to imagine that, seeing that I have ridden all of 35 miles loaded, and that the load is only slightly greater than what I took on the training rides, and that even with the full load, there is not that much weight on the back. I mean, if I add my weight plus the weight of the bike plus all I carried, it is still less than the average weight of a smallish bike racer without bike or baggage. Hmm. A bump in the road that may have been caused by another bump in the road.
I guess we will limp into Great Falls tomorrow - no fast descents for me - and I will change to the tire I have waiting for me there and buy a just-in-case spare at the local bike shop. Fortunately they do have a 650 in stock.
The chance of rain is very high tomorrow. The next day is the one that takes us to 7300' - the one where we cross a pass that averages 6" of snow in June. You can't even imagine how much we have heard about how cold this June has been all over Montana. We are postponing a final decision until tomorrow evening. Think sun. Think warm sun.
Thank you.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Got WiFi
We saw so many great birds on the way to the ranch! There was even an owl that got flushed out of its daytime hideaway by a crow. Lots of ducks in perfect summer plumage, a phalarope (look it up!), plenty of hawks. When we got to town we sat happily over lunch while the ranch van came to drive us in. They were worried about the ride in because it was uphill (not much, actually) and because the last few miles aren't paved. Didn't look bad at all. I am pretty sure we will ride out.
Meanwhile we are in a pretty cool place. (Well, actually it is quite a cold place, too.) There are only a few other guests here. One couple is from the Bay Area. One woman is from Bainbridge Island and knows my cousins quite well. Talk about a small world.
The location is amazing. We are along a fork of the Teton River, which rushes by our room. We look at snowy mountains, stark rocky cliffs, conifer forests and deciduous riverbank tree clusters. We are not supposed to walk far without bear spray - grizzlies and black bears. On today's hike we saw evidence (some paw/hoof prints, some housing, some, uh, products of digestion) of both types of bear, moose, deer, beavers and a probable badger. We actually saw ground squirrels and a mule deer and all sorts of cool birds. Fields of wildflowers, too. Bruce was giddily trying to write them all down and remember them and - oh, yeah - take time to enjoy the views. The place is owned & run by the Nature Conservancy. It could hardly find a better way to promote its mission. We walked for a couple of miles and found ourselves looking over a 700' cliff at a huge view that included buttes, valleys, rivers, fields, even 2 distant mountain ranges. The naturalist said they were about 100 miles away. Big sky indeed.
They even served vegetables, many and varied, with dinner.
No miles ridden, but yesterday we did 33. Total to date: 840 - not sure where I got the 791 but it was wrong.
Meanwhile we are in a pretty cool place. (Well, actually it is quite a cold place, too.) There are only a few other guests here. One couple is from the Bay Area. One woman is from Bainbridge Island and knows my cousins quite well. Talk about a small world.
The location is amazing. We are along a fork of the Teton River, which rushes by our room. We look at snowy mountains, stark rocky cliffs, conifer forests and deciduous riverbank tree clusters. We are not supposed to walk far without bear spray - grizzlies and black bears. On today's hike we saw evidence (some paw/hoof prints, some housing, some, uh, products of digestion) of both types of bear, moose, deer, beavers and a probable badger. We actually saw ground squirrels and a mule deer and all sorts of cool birds. Fields of wildflowers, too. Bruce was giddily trying to write them all down and remember them and - oh, yeah - take time to enjoy the views. The place is owned & run by the Nature Conservancy. It could hardly find a better way to promote its mission. We walked for a couple of miles and found ourselves looking over a 700' cliff at a huge view that included buttes, valleys, rivers, fields, even 2 distant mountain ranges. The naturalist said they were about 100 miles away. Big sky indeed.
They even served vegetables, many and varied, with dinner.
No miles ridden, but yesterday we did 33. Total to date: 840 - not sure where I got the 791 but it was wrong.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Away for a bit
This morning we head to the Pine Butte Guest Ranch & we may not be able to post anything. I am hoping to have a great list of birds & wildlife when we get back. There are naturalists there.
We spent last night in Dupuyer, a tiny town with a very nice B&B and a pretty decent cafe. Now we are headed off to Choteau & are hoping the very strong winds will stay behind us!
We spent last night in Dupuyer, a tiny town with a very nice B&B and a pretty decent cafe. Now we are headed off to Choteau & are hoping the very strong winds will stay behind us!
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Big, big sky
Down from the mountains. Everything is wide, wide open. Not flat. Big, endless rolling hills. We could see:
About 4 different weather systems (and we managed to outride one & were lucky enough to ride right between two others);
A cow - on my side of the fence;
A horse - on my side of the fence until it spotted me. Then it bolted back to the other side and scared all its horse-buddies into mini-stampede;
Two dogs - guess what? - on our side of the fence. We were at a nice river crossing & were thinking of stopping for lunch, but when I saw two good-sized dogs bearing down on us purposefully I decided we might find a better spot. They followed. Never a bark or a threat. Turned out they just thought it might be fun to follow us for a bit. We were climbing one of the rollers so there was no way we could leave them behind. I got off to walk in hopes of boring them. Nope. They followed us for a couple of miles, taking occasional side trips into the fields or the ditches or across the street. Finally we managed to outpace them on a descent. They were great dogs - wish we could have taken them all the way;
Lots of little ground squirrels.
Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam - yes, we saw our first little herd of buffalo this morning, too, the shape clear against the (big) sky;
And the skies are not cloudy all day- we're going to have to work on that one. Our hostess at today's B&B tells us their normal annual rainfall is 11". Last week they had 10". Yikes.
51 miles today;
791 so far (I think)
About 4 different weather systems (and we managed to outride one & were lucky enough to ride right between two others);
A cow - on my side of the fence;
A horse - on my side of the fence until it spotted me. Then it bolted back to the other side and scared all its horse-buddies into mini-stampede;
Two dogs - guess what? - on our side of the fence. We were at a nice river crossing & were thinking of stopping for lunch, but when I saw two good-sized dogs bearing down on us purposefully I decided we might find a better spot. They followed. Never a bark or a threat. Turned out they just thought it might be fun to follow us for a bit. We were climbing one of the rollers so there was no way we could leave them behind. I got off to walk in hopes of boring them. Nope. They followed us for a couple of miles, taking occasional side trips into the fields or the ditches or across the street. Finally we managed to outpace them on a descent. They were great dogs - wish we could have taken them all the way;
Lots of little ground squirrels.
Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam - yes, we saw our first little herd of buffalo this morning, too, the shape clear against the (big) sky;
And the skies are not cloudy all day- we're going to have to work on that one. Our hostess at today's B&B tells us their normal annual rainfall is 11". Last week they had 10". Yikes.
51 miles today;
791 so far (I think)
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Continental Divide
It rained on our rest day. It was one of those days when you wake up to a uniformly gray sky and the rain falls gently but steadily, on and on. So we looked out and felt warm and comfortable and knew we got to stay that way. We went to the LBS (local bike shop) and picked up a few things we were missing. We got new supplies of the fruit & cookies we like to take along as we ride. We drove over to West Glacier & went to the visitor center to ask questions, then we took a short, gentle walk, went back to Whitefish and had a great dinner. Tupelo Grill in Whitefish - we liked it so well we went two nights in a row.
Before we left I went around moaning about how I'd have to be eating at fast food places all the time. It had not really sunk in exactly how small these towns are, and how far apart. Towns that measure their populations in hundreds, and often not too many of those, don't support a McDonalds or any other of the chains we see on every corner. It's been a mixed bag. There was the great little pantry place in Clark's Fork, but there was also the little cafe along the south edge of Glacier where Bruce walked away from most of a slice of supposed huckleberry pie and I couldn't even drink the lemonade.
If there's a common theme, it is a dedicated avoidance of anything green. Well, anything you would want to be green when you eat it. There was a green spot on a hamburger bun one place - better not pursue that memory too far. I keep thinking back to the only bit I remember from a movie I saw several years ago. Steve Martin is in a witness protectio program and has been shipped off to some benign suburban location to start a new life. He hits the grocery store but is not pleased with the selection. "Where's the arugula???" he demands in a Jersey boy accent. The clerk looks bewildered. "It's a vegetable," he tells her disdainfully. I doubt that line got a laugh in many of the towns we have visited.
But then we got to Whitefish. The perfect place to find the variety we are used to.
How did I get so far from today's ride?
Bruce thinks it was the best so far. Or at least, the last 60 miles or so. It took us about 20 to get near Glacier, but once we reached it we skirted the southern edge the rest of the day.
Highlights:
- it rained lightly and we didn't even care! I think we have figured out those layers. The rain was only happening part of the time, too.
- we met some nice people on our quest for lunch - the first place was only serving breakfast but Bruce found a favorite drink at the little store; the second place had a roughly even number of open and closed signs hanging in various places, so we tried the door. It was unlocked but the guy said he was closed. He'd been counting on the dry day we had expected to do a water system project, but he was happy to sell Bruce a bottled ice tea. The third place was closed, too, but a lady came bustling out in case we wanted a room at the motel next door.
Finally we reached The Halfway House where we had quite a good lunch, got an amazing look at a rufous hummingbird, and had the opportunity to hear the owner explain the political system at length to a neighbor who had dropped by. Fortunately, we were only outside observers & were able to leave when ready.
We then reached the point where we could try to imagine just what the climb to Maria's Pass would be like, and how we would spot the change in the direction the rivers were flowing. The pass is along the continental divide. In a few feet we went from a spot that sends all its water to western shores to one that aims for the Gulf Coast. It felt like quite a landmark.
We were also happy to discover that the winds were behaving precisely as promised; they nearly blew us over the pass and shot us down the other side.
The road that descends to East Glacier is in pretty lousy condition, so the ride down was not as much fun as we hoped, but the clouds pretty much went away & we have no conplaints about our destination.
One random note - I made my first-ever duct tape repair by wrapping a little piece of tape around the damaged wire cading on the PowerTap. It has worked just fine ever since.
Before we left I went around moaning about how I'd have to be eating at fast food places all the time. It had not really sunk in exactly how small these towns are, and how far apart. Towns that measure their populations in hundreds, and often not too many of those, don't support a McDonalds or any other of the chains we see on every corner. It's been a mixed bag. There was the great little pantry place in Clark's Fork, but there was also the little cafe along the south edge of Glacier where Bruce walked away from most of a slice of supposed huckleberry pie and I couldn't even drink the lemonade.
If there's a common theme, it is a dedicated avoidance of anything green. Well, anything you would want to be green when you eat it. There was a green spot on a hamburger bun one place - better not pursue that memory too far. I keep thinking back to the only bit I remember from a movie I saw several years ago. Steve Martin is in a witness protectio program and has been shipped off to some benign suburban location to start a new life. He hits the grocery store but is not pleased with the selection. "Where's the arugula???" he demands in a Jersey boy accent. The clerk looks bewildered. "It's a vegetable," he tells her disdainfully. I doubt that line got a laugh in many of the towns we have visited.
But then we got to Whitefish. The perfect place to find the variety we are used to.
How did I get so far from today's ride?
Bruce thinks it was the best so far. Or at least, the last 60 miles or so. It took us about 20 to get near Glacier, but once we reached it we skirted the southern edge the rest of the day.
Highlights:
- it rained lightly and we didn't even care! I think we have figured out those layers. The rain was only happening part of the time, too.
- we met some nice people on our quest for lunch - the first place was only serving breakfast but Bruce found a favorite drink at the little store; the second place had a roughly even number of open and closed signs hanging in various places, so we tried the door. It was unlocked but the guy said he was closed. He'd been counting on the dry day we had expected to do a water system project, but he was happy to sell Bruce a bottled ice tea. The third place was closed, too, but a lady came bustling out in case we wanted a room at the motel next door.
Finally we reached The Halfway House where we had quite a good lunch, got an amazing look at a rufous hummingbird, and had the opportunity to hear the owner explain the political system at length to a neighbor who had dropped by. Fortunately, we were only outside observers & were able to leave when ready.
We then reached the point where we could try to imagine just what the climb to Maria's Pass would be like, and how we would spot the change in the direction the rivers were flowing. The pass is along the continental divide. In a few feet we went from a spot that sends all its water to western shores to one that aims for the Gulf Coast. It felt like quite a landmark.
We were also happy to discover that the winds were behaving precisely as promised; they nearly blew us over the pass and shot us down the other side.
The road that descends to East Glacier is in pretty lousy condition, so the ride down was not as much fun as we hoped, but the clouds pretty much went away & we have no conplaints about our destination.
One random note - I made my first-ever duct tape repair by wrapping a little piece of tape around the damaged wire cading on the PowerTap. It has worked just fine ever since.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Just sitting around
It feels pretty good, too.
We figured out that rest day really needs to mean rest. At least until we get used to this riding every day stuff.
Not that today is a rest day. But Bruce and Aline kindly drove me & my bike out to where I left off yesterday and sent me on my way. They headed over to Glacier and are not back yet.
When we got up the sky looked pretty dark & ominous, but by the time we got in the car it was much better. No rain on the way over. The first several miles were on a shoulder-free stretch of Rte 2, but this is Montana. It's a big deal when cars pass in both directions at the same time. It was mostly down hill and entirely scenic. Then there's a bike path that wanders through marshlands for over 10 miles and takes you right into Kalispell and drops you about two blocks from where I wanted to be: the first Baskin-Robbins I have seen since we left. Then onto Rte 93 that takes you onto its nice wide shoulder, lulls you for a bit, then throws an almost concealed drain cover at you just as the pick-up truck behind you decides to pull towards you & turn right in front of you.
Can't all be perfect, I guess.
I made it through & felt good and ready to push - adrenaline is a wonderful thing - which lasted right through the time when I noticed the big gray clouds looming up on the left. I outran them! Adrenaline & down hill - what a combination! Only about 20 drops caught me.
Back to our nice room. Time to read, to eat, to do the laundry, to wander around online.
Miles yesterday 67, today 38.
Total so far 674.
We figured out that rest day really needs to mean rest. At least until we get used to this riding every day stuff.
Not that today is a rest day. But Bruce and Aline kindly drove me & my bike out to where I left off yesterday and sent me on my way. They headed over to Glacier and are not back yet.
When we got up the sky looked pretty dark & ominous, but by the time we got in the car it was much better. No rain on the way over. The first several miles were on a shoulder-free stretch of Rte 2, but this is Montana. It's a big deal when cars pass in both directions at the same time. It was mostly down hill and entirely scenic. Then there's a bike path that wanders through marshlands for over 10 miles and takes you right into Kalispell and drops you about two blocks from where I wanted to be: the first Baskin-Robbins I have seen since we left. Then onto Rte 93 that takes you onto its nice wide shoulder, lulls you for a bit, then throws an almost concealed drain cover at you just as the pick-up truck behind you decides to pull towards you & turn right in front of you.
Can't all be perfect, I guess.
I made it through & felt good and ready to push - adrenaline is a wonderful thing - which lasted right through the time when I noticed the big gray clouds looming up on the left. I outran them! Adrenaline & down hill - what a combination! Only about 20 drops caught me.
Back to our nice room. Time to read, to eat, to do the laundry, to wander around online.
Miles yesterday 67, today 38.
Total so far 674.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
A sampler?
15 miles per hour sounds like a nice, leisurely pace to see the country, doesn't it?
It's not. We feel almost rushed. We spend some time each day talking over all the places we will spend some real time exploring one day. We could probably be happy spending a couple of weeks almost every place we have been. This is a truly amazing country.
People talk to you when you're on a bike. Even at home I have noticed how often I am asked for directions when I ride; out here people in cars honk & wave, people ask about our plans and offer advice, sympathy, encouragement - but no envy just yet. It's as if the two wheels remove a barrier.
Today we set out in the direction of Whitefish with no intention of getting all the way. Aline planned to meet us late in the afternoon & to drive us in. She then planned to take us back in the morning so we can complete the continuous mileage. She showed up early. She had taken a different & supposedly more scenic route & had encountered so much rain she assumed we would be happy to be rescued. As it happened we were blissfully unaware of that weather. We had some beautiful clouds but not a drop of rain.
On the other hand, not all was bliss. This is really catching up with Bruce. He has never before chosen to subject himself to more than 10 days, or to more than 50 miles a day. It really adds up. He had slowed down quite a bit yesterday just before I headed on to Libby. Today he never really had much fun. He loved the scenery. Montana is truly beautiful. But he was pretty uncomfortable. We stopped a lot. So when Aline came along he hopped in and, once again, I chose to keep going. I rode about 17 miles farther & we all drove to our very pleasant hotel. Tomorrow he and Aline will drop me back at that mile marker and I will ride the rest of the way- only about 35 miles. The two of them will go to Glacier, which is just down the road, and do something easy. The following day will be a planned rest day.
Bruce is relieved that I am comfortable doing the ride alone. I didn't tell him I spotted an ice cream shop on the way into town.
It's not. We feel almost rushed. We spend some time each day talking over all the places we will spend some real time exploring one day. We could probably be happy spending a couple of weeks almost every place we have been. This is a truly amazing country.
People talk to you when you're on a bike. Even at home I have noticed how often I am asked for directions when I ride; out here people in cars honk & wave, people ask about our plans and offer advice, sympathy, encouragement - but no envy just yet. It's as if the two wheels remove a barrier.
Today we set out in the direction of Whitefish with no intention of getting all the way. Aline planned to meet us late in the afternoon & to drive us in. She then planned to take us back in the morning so we can complete the continuous mileage. She showed up early. She had taken a different & supposedly more scenic route & had encountered so much rain she assumed we would be happy to be rescued. As it happened we were blissfully unaware of that weather. We had some beautiful clouds but not a drop of rain.
On the other hand, not all was bliss. This is really catching up with Bruce. He has never before chosen to subject himself to more than 10 days, or to more than 50 miles a day. It really adds up. He had slowed down quite a bit yesterday just before I headed on to Libby. Today he never really had much fun. He loved the scenery. Montana is truly beautiful. But he was pretty uncomfortable. We stopped a lot. So when Aline came along he hopped in and, once again, I chose to keep going. I rode about 17 miles farther & we all drove to our very pleasant hotel. Tomorrow he and Aline will drop me back at that mile marker and I will ride the rest of the way- only about 35 miles. The two of them will go to Glacier, which is just down the road, and do something easy. The following day will be a planned rest day.
Bruce is relieved that I am comfortable doing the ride alone. I didn't tell him I spotted an ice cream shop on the way into town.
One more adjustment - for now
We spent so much time planning this trip! It wasn't all wasted by any means, but if you happen to be following our itinerary you may not see quite what you expect.
Friday was supposed to be 85 miles, then we realized it was actually more like 100, so we came up with an alternate destination. We got out there and discovered that it was really quite a nice day. The predicted rain never happened, at least, no more than a few drops a couple of times. The route was flatter than it looked on the Adventure Cycling profile. We reached our third state shortly after an early lunch. The views were great. We passed more of Pend Oreille Lake, then followed the Clark Fork River for quite a while. In our new state, Montana, where we will be for a long time, we saw meadows, mountains, lakes & streams. Bruce was loving the views but he was tired. I had recovered thanks to my massage in Sandpoint, so it was all feeling great. I wasn't sure how Bruce would feel about it when I told him I felt like continuing on to Libby. We had finished 75 miles and another 25 sounded just about right. Well, he was delighted. We were going to meet Aline and he could hitch a ride in with her and shorten today's ride by 15 miles. So I rode the last 15 miles on my own and was rewarded by discovering it was almost all downhill.
I did stop about four miles in & joined Bruce & Aline at Kootenai Falls. With all that rain & snow those falls are raging! I am so glad I stopped.
The adjustment we are making came up through intermittent conversations all day and a longer discussion at dinner. Our original plan was to head north to Eureka today - lots of climbing - and go on to Whitefish for a rest day the next day. Aline has a map, though, and we can see it's shorter to head to Whitefish on Rte 2. We will ride in that direction for several hours, then Aline will pick us up, then she will bring us back Sunday morning so we can ride any remaining distance. We will stay in one room for three days, which sounds quite luxurious after changing places almost every night for ten days; we will climb a lot less; we will ride a few less miles. Overall we will make our transition into full-time cyclists a bit gentler.
A few bits & pieces about the last few days. If you happen to be in Colville, Washington, be sure to eat at Stephani's. It is not quite Cordon Bleu, but it offers good variety and some creative ideas and very thoughtful service. The B&B we stayed at in Newport was very comfortable. What made it most interesting was that the family had 15 children. Wow. The parents looked amazingly young and serene. Most of the kids are grown and out of the house. The ones still there were cheerful and pleasant. Then the Lodge at Sandpoint was wonderful. I think the room they put us in was about 900 square feet and was right on the lakeshore with a little patio where we could sit and gaze out at the water. It has a very nice restaurant, too. Yesterday we had lunch at the Clark's Fork Pantry. It looked nice, a little different from the outside, and it was different. It is a very good little bakery with all sorts of baking materials and candies, and we were served by very pleasant women who, I think, were probaby Mennonite. They wore the little hair coverings and long skirts. If it were near home I would be there regularly for the cookies!
The one thing we don't see enough of is fresh produce. Here we are wandering through farm country and there's hardly a vegetable in sight. We will have to fit more supermarket time into our days, although even tjere it can be hard to get quantities small enough to carry on the bike.
Miles yesterday: 99
So far: 569
Friday was supposed to be 85 miles, then we realized it was actually more like 100, so we came up with an alternate destination. We got out there and discovered that it was really quite a nice day. The predicted rain never happened, at least, no more than a few drops a couple of times. The route was flatter than it looked on the Adventure Cycling profile. We reached our third state shortly after an early lunch. The views were great. We passed more of Pend Oreille Lake, then followed the Clark Fork River for quite a while. In our new state, Montana, where we will be for a long time, we saw meadows, mountains, lakes & streams. Bruce was loving the views but he was tired. I had recovered thanks to my massage in Sandpoint, so it was all feeling great. I wasn't sure how Bruce would feel about it when I told him I felt like continuing on to Libby. We had finished 75 miles and another 25 sounded just about right. Well, he was delighted. We were going to meet Aline and he could hitch a ride in with her and shorten today's ride by 15 miles. So I rode the last 15 miles on my own and was rewarded by discovering it was almost all downhill.
I did stop about four miles in & joined Bruce & Aline at Kootenai Falls. With all that rain & snow those falls are raging! I am so glad I stopped.
The adjustment we are making came up through intermittent conversations all day and a longer discussion at dinner. Our original plan was to head north to Eureka today - lots of climbing - and go on to Whitefish for a rest day the next day. Aline has a map, though, and we can see it's shorter to head to Whitefish on Rte 2. We will ride in that direction for several hours, then Aline will pick us up, then she will bring us back Sunday morning so we can ride any remaining distance. We will stay in one room for three days, which sounds quite luxurious after changing places almost every night for ten days; we will climb a lot less; we will ride a few less miles. Overall we will make our transition into full-time cyclists a bit gentler.
A few bits & pieces about the last few days. If you happen to be in Colville, Washington, be sure to eat at Stephani's. It is not quite Cordon Bleu, but it offers good variety and some creative ideas and very thoughtful service. The B&B we stayed at in Newport was very comfortable. What made it most interesting was that the family had 15 children. Wow. The parents looked amazingly young and serene. Most of the kids are grown and out of the house. The ones still there were cheerful and pleasant. Then the Lodge at Sandpoint was wonderful. I think the room they put us in was about 900 square feet and was right on the lakeshore with a little patio where we could sit and gaze out at the water. It has a very nice restaurant, too. Yesterday we had lunch at the Clark's Fork Pantry. It looked nice, a little different from the outside, and it was different. It is a very good little bakery with all sorts of baking materials and candies, and we were served by very pleasant women who, I think, were probaby Mennonite. They wore the little hair coverings and long skirts. If it were near home I would be there regularly for the cookies!
The one thing we don't see enough of is fresh produce. Here we are wandering through farm country and there's hardly a vegetable in sight. We will have to fit more supermarket time into our days, although even tjere it can be hard to get quantities small enough to carry on the bike.
Miles yesterday: 99
So far: 569
Thursday, June 9, 2011
What makes an attitude adjustment look easy?
Answer: The discovery that your next destination is about 20 miles farther than you thought. And it was already a long day. And thunderstorms are supposed to roll in by afternoon.
How did Libby, Montana get to be more than 100 miles from us??? Or perhaps it would be a bit more honest to ask how we managed to decide it was only (only?) 86. Our other 85 mile day did not exactly leave us blissful.
Well, as it turns out, there's actually a much more appealing place to stay in Troy - if only they wpuld answer the phone. Then the next day gets longer, but we'll take them one at a time.
Meanwhile, we are sitting ever so happily in Sandpoint. The lodge is lovely, the laundry is done, I even got my bike computer to talk to me on our lovely short ride this morning. Our slightly improvised route even had an adventure - the type we were a bit more ready to encounter. We had actually called ahead to be sure our alternate roads are paved & had been assured they are. They are not. At least, not for a few miles. So we got to practice on an unpaved road and we just breezed through. I guess I should admit that they almost appeared to have been paved and covered with a thin layer of dirt. My sort of adventure.
We are still surrounded by lilacs and lupine. This is beautiful country. It is very, very wet, though. We took a picture yesterday that shows some shrubbery way out in the lake.
How did Libby, Montana get to be more than 100 miles from us??? Or perhaps it would be a bit more honest to ask how we managed to decide it was only (only?) 86. Our other 85 mile day did not exactly leave us blissful.
Well, as it turns out, there's actually a much more appealing place to stay in Troy - if only they wpuld answer the phone. Then the next day gets longer, but we'll take them one at a time.
Meanwhile, we are sitting ever so happily in Sandpoint. The lodge is lovely, the laundry is done, I even got my bike computer to talk to me on our lovely short ride this morning. Our slightly improvised route even had an adventure - the type we were a bit more ready to encounter. We had actually called ahead to be sure our alternate roads are paved & had been assured they are. They are not. At least, not for a few miles. So we got to practice on an unpaved road and we just breezed through. I guess I should admit that they almost appeared to have been paved and covered with a thin layer of dirt. My sort of adventure.
We are still surrounded by lilacs and lupine. This is beautiful country. It is very, very wet, though. We took a picture yesterday that shows some shrubbery way out in the lake.
Attitude Adjustments Needed
You can buy anything on Craig's List, right?
We were sort of tired anyway. It started to rain about 30 seconds before we headed out. It was light rain,though, and we could see lighter areas in the sky. Maybe it wouldn't be too bad. The forecast was for a 30% chance of showers, after all.
It kept right on raining. We had more climbing at the start than we had anticipated so the miles were not exactly melting away. My computer stopped displaying occasionally and eventually quit altogether. And it was cold, 47 degrees. (One more thing - I tried to type this last night, and the cool new program I was using decided to shut down and throw it all out just before I finished.)
We rode along feeling aggrieved, or maybe just grumpy. There was an old barn that had seen better days. It sagged in the middle. I thought a picture of it would be a good image to represent the type of day we were having but I was not about to go to all the trouble of stopping to take the picture. Then I was riding beside Bruce for a while. He made me look positively thrilled by comparison. I was afraid for a while that he would be pricing tickets to go home as soon as we reached cell service. He was tireder and colder than I was. We wanted an adventure, but we hadn't really come to grips with the reality that adventures are sometimes uncomfortable.
65 miles to go, and it's already noon. Aline came by and pulled over. We sat in the warm car and ate lunch. We scrounged through our stuff and put on as many layers as we could find. I had bike shorts, leg warmers, extra-warm long pants and waterproof pants, and wool socks, plastic bags, shoes and neoprene shoe covers. Good thing we weren't in the Arctic. Then we set out again. It was better, but it never really got easy. Big trucks provided strong drafts and muddy spray. We didn't stop for views much.
I figure there are going-there days when it's all about the journey. That's what we came for. But there are also getting-there days when all that matters is reaching the destination. Yesterday was a getting-there day.
I often find myself daydreaming of songs that would make appropriate themes for the day as I pedal along. For example, "King of the Road," or "Climb Every Mountain" (I've heard a lot of that one in my head recently).
Yesterday's? I can't think of the singer's name. He was a fairly popular comedian when I was a kid. I thought his stuff was hilarious. The song went more or less like this:
Hello Mudda, Hello Fadda,
Here I am at Camp Granada.
Camp is very entertaining
and they say we'll have some fun when it stops raining.
(Goes to a minor key)
Take me home, oh Mudda, Fadda
Take me home!
I hate Granada.
Don't leave me there
out in the forest
Where
I might
Get eaten by a bear.
And then the sun comes out and he changes his mind.
We look forward to less than 30 miles today with good weather and maybe a massage when we get there.
We were sort of tired anyway. It started to rain about 30 seconds before we headed out. It was light rain,though, and we could see lighter areas in the sky. Maybe it wouldn't be too bad. The forecast was for a 30% chance of showers, after all.
It kept right on raining. We had more climbing at the start than we had anticipated so the miles were not exactly melting away. My computer stopped displaying occasionally and eventually quit altogether. And it was cold, 47 degrees. (One more thing - I tried to type this last night, and the cool new program I was using decided to shut down and throw it all out just before I finished.)
We rode along feeling aggrieved, or maybe just grumpy. There was an old barn that had seen better days. It sagged in the middle. I thought a picture of it would be a good image to represent the type of day we were having but I was not about to go to all the trouble of stopping to take the picture. Then I was riding beside Bruce for a while. He made me look positively thrilled by comparison. I was afraid for a while that he would be pricing tickets to go home as soon as we reached cell service. He was tireder and colder than I was. We wanted an adventure, but we hadn't really come to grips with the reality that adventures are sometimes uncomfortable.
65 miles to go, and it's already noon. Aline came by and pulled over. We sat in the warm car and ate lunch. We scrounged through our stuff and put on as many layers as we could find. I had bike shorts, leg warmers, extra-warm long pants and waterproof pants, and wool socks, plastic bags, shoes and neoprene shoe covers. Good thing we weren't in the Arctic. Then we set out again. It was better, but it never really got easy. Big trucks provided strong drafts and muddy spray. We didn't stop for views much.
I figure there are going-there days when it's all about the journey. That's what we came for. But there are also getting-there days when all that matters is reaching the destination. Yesterday was a getting-there day.
I often find myself daydreaming of songs that would make appropriate themes for the day as I pedal along. For example, "King of the Road," or "Climb Every Mountain" (I've heard a lot of that one in my head recently).
Yesterday's? I can't think of the singer's name. He was a fairly popular comedian when I was a kid. I thought his stuff was hilarious. The song went more or less like this:
Hello Mudda, Hello Fadda,
Here I am at Camp Granada.
Camp is very entertaining
and they say we'll have some fun when it stops raining.
(Goes to a minor key)
Take me home, oh Mudda, Fadda
Take me home!
I hate Granada.
Don't leave me there
out in the forest
Where
I might
Get eaten by a bear.
And then the sun comes out and he changes his mind.
We look forward to less than 30 miles today with good weather and maybe a massage when we get there.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Last pass
The highest paved pass in Washington, Sherman Pass, about 5500', was on today's schedule. We headed out as usual and started climbing pretty soon. The ride up was different mostly because it was sort of cool today. We were looking forward to possible rain, possible thundershowers. None of that happened on the way up. As we got close to the top, though, we saw clouds coming down to meet the mountain tops, and big thunderheads behind the low clouds. Sure enough, we heard a distant rumble.
Only one. We got to feeling less anxious. And we got to the top with no further threat of lightning. We were just getting ready to take Bruce's picture next to the pass sign. . .
Speaking of pictures, we finally figured out how to add them. Not quite sure how to label them yet. So yesterday's pictures - I guess we don't exactly know how to get them in order, either - are of me at the Anacortes shore; the view of the snow-capped Cascades on our first day of climbing; both of us back in Anancortes; The Li'l Store, which I forgot to mention on Saturday.
It had a sign that was even less formal than the one in the picture out by the road. I didn't think it was really a store until I saw the pictured sign. We went on in and found Gatorade, candy bars, and a very talkative husband & wife who asked all about our plans and told us all about the store and the animals they had. One little kitty (rodent control specialist, we were told) almost followed us to Wauconda.
But back to this afternoon.
Just as Bruce was turning the camera on, the cloud descended on us and began to rain on us. Never too hard, but the visibility was pretty pathetic at times, and not many things take the fun out of coasting down for miles and miles the way a thorough chill does. We did not hang around to take pictures.
It eventually dried out and warmed up. We stopped for lunch (thank you, Aline!) where we could gaze out over the, hmm, the. . .
Well, if I read my map correctly, the county we ate in calls it the Franklin D Roosevelt Lake. The county we crossed into right after we ate calls it the Columbia River.
Whatever.
We looked across at a large sawmill and an old bridge and, for a while, a bald eagle.
Then off to finish up the ride, which took a bit longer than we had expected thanks to some seriously annoying headwinds.
Tomorrow will be one of our longest days, about 92 miles. We are really hoping for a wind-free experience!
Monday, June 6, 2011
Defining Rest
Today was our first rest day. At least, it was the first day we didn't ride.
We did the laundry.
We repacked everything to be sure we'd know how to manage when our last support vehicle heads off into the sunset.
We found a place to buy chain lube and postcards.
We walked at Swan Lake then we walked at Curlew Lake.
We bought more groceries.
We visited the fossil-digging site and the histirical society museum.
We had a great Mexican dinner.
Restful? Different, yes, but not exactly feet-up-with-a-good-book. There is just too much to see and do.
Going east to Go West
Caution. Range animals next 16 miles.
Mountains gradually giving way to buttes.
Grassy fields becoming sagebrush.
Dense fir forests turning to widely spaced groves of pine.
And an articulate young guy we were chatting with at our lunch stop saying "crick" when he described the smaller rivers. I thought you'd have to have a grizzled beard and a shotgun across your lap to say that. I thought we had all pretty much come around to talking like news anchors on TV.
That's one of the great things about being out here. We get to talk to lots of people and learn a lot about how different we are, and how different we aren't. Then we get back on the bikes and have all sorts of time to think about it. People seem to be entirely comfortable starting conversations with us. A lady at the little cafe in Wauconda had seen us by the road looking at birds so she told us all about the local wildlife. OK, she wasn't exactly accurate in her species ids. It was obvious that she loved it all, though, and her directions let me see both a bald eagle and a golden eagle in one day.
Lazuli buntings, yellow headed blackbirds, Bullock's orioles, evening grossbeaks whirring and buzzing, goldfinches, western and mountain bluebirds, both eagles. Wow.
In answer to a few comments: bike food? I have to assume they like ostrich burgers, I guess. Aline is Bruce's wonderful sister who is driving a SAG vehicle for us for a couple of weeks & letting us ease gently into this life. Bruce plans to figure out how to get pictures into this today - our first rest day.
Details: 62.9 miles
1666 calories
Totals so far: 296.18 miles
7553 calories
Mountains gradually giving way to buttes.
Grassy fields becoming sagebrush.
Dense fir forests turning to widely spaced groves of pine.
And an articulate young guy we were chatting with at our lunch stop saying "crick" when he described the smaller rivers. I thought you'd have to have a grizzled beard and a shotgun across your lap to say that. I thought we had all pretty much come around to talking like news anchors on TV.
That's one of the great things about being out here. We get to talk to lots of people and learn a lot about how different we are, and how different we aren't. Then we get back on the bikes and have all sorts of time to think about it. People seem to be entirely comfortable starting conversations with us. A lady at the little cafe in Wauconda had seen us by the road looking at birds so she told us all about the local wildlife. OK, she wasn't exactly accurate in her species ids. It was obvious that she loved it all, though, and her directions let me see both a bald eagle and a golden eagle in one day.
Lazuli buntings, yellow headed blackbirds, Bullock's orioles, evening grossbeaks whirring and buzzing, goldfinches, western and mountain bluebirds, both eagles. Wow.
In answer to a few comments: bike food? I have to assume they like ostrich burgers, I guess. Aline is Bruce's wonderful sister who is driving a SAG vehicle for us for a couple of weeks & letting us ease gently into this life. Bruce plans to figure out how to get pictures into this today - our first rest day.
Details: 62.9 miles
1666 calories
Totals so far: 296.18 miles
7553 calories
Loup Loup
What a name! Saturday's pass - yes, there are passes just about evey day now - was called Loup Loup. If we weren't so busy riding and eating I would look that one up. For now, though, I'll just have fun saying it.
We liked Mazama so much that we took our time getting going. It was another perfect weather day. We walked around the little lake at the inn & saw all sorts of birds & flowers. There was a washing machine in our room - what a luxury not to have to hand wash our bike clothes! (Your standards definitely change out here.) We went to Winthrop for breakfast since the inn offers only a light breakfast and we were afraid that would not get our legs very far. Eventually, though, it was time to set out.
After the two-pass day my legs were plenty tired and they protested as I began to pedal. Bruce's bike computer didn't want to work right. I had on my new bike sandals in honor of the warm day, and the cleats gave me a hard time at first. It felt like we might have a rough day. Once more, though, the climb was at the end so we didn't have to work very hard. Plenty of warm up time. We got back to Winthrop and stopped for ice cream. We rode on to Twisp, the home town of the Bike Friday guy, where we found lunch at a super market. While we were sitting and eating, another guy came along to chat & was able to describe the climb pretty well. Oh - and we had made a stop in a bike shop in Winthrop and heard about the pass there (7 miles, 7-8% - but again, the arithmetic didn't quite work). It turned out to be a really great ride. It was plenty warm, but it didn't seem to matter. It was never quite as steep as we'd been told and there were plenty of places to stop and look around. One place I stopped was by a creek & a lazuli bunting was singing away from a bare branch. In the sun its colors were brilliant. Towards the top there was a pair of black backed woodpeckers diligently tending their nest. At the very top there was a little bitty rock at the bottom of the pass sign that some cyclist had written on. It was really small, maybe three inches across. It said, "It was worth it, right?"
Yes, it was worth it.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Passes
It was a long day. We left our little cabin at about 8:00 and didn't reach Mazama until almost 7:00. Boy, were we glad it didn' t rain. It turned out to be a perfect weather day with a few little clouds and lots of warm sun. We are very ready for summer, and it would be hard to think of a better day to welcome it. Our calculations had predicted 8100' of climbing and as far as we could tell, that meant we would be heading up for the first 60 of our 75 miles, so it was nice to discover that the first 20 miles just melted away at pretty decent speeds. We stopped at the Newhalem visitor center to get a bit more information about the route, and Bruce found some good plant id books. The ranger told us we would be climbing some right away, but after lunch we would really climb. She has to shiflt down in her car to get up that part.
I hope we'll learn soon that things look a lot different from a car - even a ranger's car. We spent the next couple of hours doing little calculations of when we might actually arrive. They were worrisome. But a little voice in my head kept reminding me that we had about 30 miles to climb a total of about 5000 feet. Hard to figure out how that could get very steep.
Fortunately, the route was spectacular and we didn' t spend much time climbing before lunch at the Diablo Lake Overlook. We rode along next to a rushing river. We saw ever-larger waterfalls feeding it and the other creeks and rivers we passes. We saw a wildly colorful array of wildflowers. We got closer and closer to the jagged, snow covered mountains. We saw dams and bridges and lakes, boats, birds, trees. Our lunch spot, where Aline was kind enough to bring us all sorts of choices, was lovely. It had signs describing the area. We talked to a guy who had done quite a bit of bike touring & who seemed unconcerned about our remaining climb.
Then we headed out to see for ourselves. For quite a few miles the climb was pretty much what we had seen before lunch. An occasional mile or so that required us tp shift down, but more miles that were either flat or gentle climbs. I rode ahead on some of the climbs. One time I pulled over to meet Bruce and a guy on a Bike Friday pulled over to talk. He was coming from Twisp, where he lives, and where I am sitting as I write this. He was able to reassure me about the climb. Lots of miles to go, but he called the part we were onthe steep part. We had been expecting it to get lots tougher. It didn't exactly. At least it got harder because we were tired, but it never got steep. Bruce wasn't liking it much after a while, though, and he decided to ride with Aline between the two passes.
The first pass was Rainy Pass. It did not live up to its name, fortunately. It did get colder and colder as we climbed. By the time we got to the top there was snow almost three feet deep at the side of the road. After all we had read about the passes as they were being cleared, I looked around half interested and half nervous about the avalanche activity.
I set out on my own to do Washington Pass. That meant a mile of steep descent. Fun, right? But it was cold. Cold enough that there were spots I thought might be icy. And all the clothes I had to put on to stay thawed that had to go back in the pack before the last climb. All worth it.
Bruce met me at the top so we could do the final descent - and those last 15 miles were almost entirely descending - to Freestone Inn, Mazama, one of the nicest places we have been. We will keep it on the list for longer stays some day.
Details: 76.33 miles
2243 calories
totals - will update next time
I hope we'll learn soon that things look a lot different from a car - even a ranger's car. We spent the next couple of hours doing little calculations of when we might actually arrive. They were worrisome. But a little voice in my head kept reminding me that we had about 30 miles to climb a total of about 5000 feet. Hard to figure out how that could get very steep.
Fortunately, the route was spectacular and we didn' t spend much time climbing before lunch at the Diablo Lake Overlook. We rode along next to a rushing river. We saw ever-larger waterfalls feeding it and the other creeks and rivers we passes. We saw a wildly colorful array of wildflowers. We got closer and closer to the jagged, snow covered mountains. We saw dams and bridges and lakes, boats, birds, trees. Our lunch spot, where Aline was kind enough to bring us all sorts of choices, was lovely. It had signs describing the area. We talked to a guy who had done quite a bit of bike touring & who seemed unconcerned about our remaining climb.
Then we headed out to see for ourselves. For quite a few miles the climb was pretty much what we had seen before lunch. An occasional mile or so that required us tp shift down, but more miles that were either flat or gentle climbs. I rode ahead on some of the climbs. One time I pulled over to meet Bruce and a guy on a Bike Friday pulled over to talk. He was coming from Twisp, where he lives, and where I am sitting as I write this. He was able to reassure me about the climb. Lots of miles to go, but he called the part we were onthe steep part. We had been expecting it to get lots tougher. It didn't exactly. At least it got harder because we were tired, but it never got steep. Bruce wasn't liking it much after a while, though, and he decided to ride with Aline between the two passes.
The first pass was Rainy Pass. It did not live up to its name, fortunately. It did get colder and colder as we climbed. By the time we got to the top there was snow almost three feet deep at the side of the road. After all we had read about the passes as they were being cleared, I looked around half interested and half nervous about the avalanche activity.
I set out on my own to do Washington Pass. That meant a mile of steep descent. Fun, right? But it was cold. Cold enough that there were spots I thought might be icy. And all the clothes I had to put on to stay thawed that had to go back in the pack before the last climb. All worth it.
Bruce met me at the top so we could do the final descent - and those last 15 miles were almost entirely descending - to Freestone Inn, Mazama, one of the nicest places we have been. We will keep it on the list for longer stays some day.
Details: 76.33 miles
2243 calories
totals - will update next time
Thursday, June 2, 2011
singing in the rain?
I guess we just got lucky yesterday. Although we managed to leave when the rain had stopped, it didn't quite wait for us to finish our short day. It never amounted to much, though, and we got through our 20, no, 25, no, 34 miles without getting soggy. Not without a little confusion, though. We went east when the online map told us to, even though the guy at our destination had said west. We are headed east so we went with the one that got us closer to Connecticut.
The places we've stayed. Anacortes was very nice. We arrived a little late and were, well, a bit excited about starting the ride. Even so we found time to appreciate the views of the waterfront and the comfortable room. At the end of the first day we found our place easily enough. We checked in with our hostess who had a soft, plaintive voice and an attitude to match. She told us about her health issues and her stressful life (20 people expected for breakfast this weekend!), her daughter's tendency to get injured, and then moved on to criticize tonight's destination - not professional of her to mention it, she said, but they'd had some pretty bad reviews. And a loval restaurant? Couldn't imagine why its name includes buffalo - there were never buffalo in the area. Wifi? Yes, but it hadn't been working well and her grandson who fixed it was playing in the band that night & couldn't help. I stepped gently on Bruce's foot to get him to stop feeding her material. Her cabin was very nice, though, warm and clean and comfortable.
We weren't sure what to expect tonight. Well, the restaurant serves buffalo. And ostrich. That seems to account for the name. It has a little green sign outside with a bicycle symbol that says bike food. We gave it a try. Aline says there' s no need to rush up here for the ostrich burger, but it was ok. Then we headed east. Then back west to find our cabin. Yes, this one is different. Friendly and accomodating, but not terribly organized. The sign on the laundromat we'd been assured was available says: open to public at 4:00 or 4:30. Even then when I headed over to check, it was locked. As I got back to the cabin, our host rushed up to the laundry room in his truck & called out that he was opening it!
Anyway, down to details:
34.38 miles
800 calories
730' climbed (wait til tomorrow)
Total so far: 92.96 miles, 2099 calories
The places we've stayed. Anacortes was very nice. We arrived a little late and were, well, a bit excited about starting the ride. Even so we found time to appreciate the views of the waterfront and the comfortable room. At the end of the first day we found our place easily enough. We checked in with our hostess who had a soft, plaintive voice and an attitude to match. She told us about her health issues and her stressful life (20 people expected for breakfast this weekend!), her daughter's tendency to get injured, and then moved on to criticize tonight's destination - not professional of her to mention it, she said, but they'd had some pretty bad reviews. And a loval restaurant? Couldn't imagine why its name includes buffalo - there were never buffalo in the area. Wifi? Yes, but it hadn't been working well and her grandson who fixed it was playing in the band that night & couldn't help. I stepped gently on Bruce's foot to get him to stop feeding her material. Her cabin was very nice, though, warm and clean and comfortable.
We weren't sure what to expect tonight. Well, the restaurant serves buffalo. And ostrich. That seems to account for the name. It has a little green sign outside with a bicycle symbol that says bike food. We gave it a try. Aline says there' s no need to rush up here for the ostrich burger, but it was ok. Then we headed east. Then back west to find our cabin. Yes, this one is different. Friendly and accomodating, but not terribly organized. The sign on the laundromat we'd been assured was available says: open to public at 4:00 or 4:30. Even then when I headed over to check, it was locked. As I got back to the cabin, our host rushed up to the laundry room in his truck & called out that he was opening it!
Anyway, down to details:
34.38 miles
800 calories
730' climbed (wait til tomorrow)
Total so far: 92.96 miles, 2099 calories
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Details, details
I have not had much luck modifying posts on this little machine, so I figured I could just add another. I want to track all this stuff, so:
57.78 miles
1299 calories
772 feet of climbing (less than Burlingame to Roberts & back)
57.78 miles
1299 calories
772 feet of climbing (less than Burlingame to Roberts & back)
On the Road
60% chance of showers - thundershowers at the destination.
-the odds were against us
-with that forecast, 6 out of 10 days will rain, or perhaps 6 out of 10 hours?
And the forecast had gotten steadily worse as I had watched it over the past week or so. OK, who am I trying to fool? I had been watching it from the minute it showed up on the ten day forecast. I sort of thought about fins & goggles. I did more than think about rain gear. When we headed out this morning, we had waterproof jackets and hoods and pants and plastic bags for our feet and all our lttle stuff in zip-loc bags. And it didn't rain a single drop all day!
It was a perfect day. We saw good birds, beautiful views, baylands, rivers, little waterfalls. We hardly ever had to shift out of the big rings, but there was nothing dull about the route. We saw a bald eagle and a coyote. We met lots of very friendly people, many of them at the nice little cafe where we had lunch in Sedro Woolley.
And I had my first chance to tell someone how far we plan to ride. We had stopped at a gas station for a snack & a weathered looking guy in a uniform with a broom in his hand asked how far I was going. Connecticut, I said. Mind you, I was all of 20 miles into the 4000 we plan to cover; it still sounds pretty huge to me. He took a minute to look the bike over. Stayin' in motels? he asked. We'd left Aline all our stuff, so we were traveling a bit too light for cross-country campers. Yes, motels, I confirmed. He thought a bit more. Why'd you want to ride a bike that far?!
I hope we never decide he was the smarter one. Based on today, I can't imagine ever feeling that way.
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