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.