Day 44 - Same Old, Same Old - Spectacular Scenery and Great Riding: Clark Fork, ID to Priest River, ID

Yet another great weather and riding day. As we finished at about 4 p.m., we noticed that the time/temp signs all said 93 degrees. We were both surprised it was that hot. We had been riding a lot on shaded roads. That, and the low humidity made for a great day.
We had a long, leisurely lunch in Sand Point, ID. Sand Point is on the shores of Lake Pend Oreille. A lovely resort/ski town. Lots of bikes and shops - and lunch was delicious. We had mostly great roads - even a 5.5 mile bike path - today. Took our time and had a great experience. Arrived at our destination with plenty of gas left in our tanks. This was our fourth consecutive day of riding after our little layoff. Our bodies have quickly adjusted to the everyday routine of riding and our stamina has come back strong. We'll be ready for the mountains that are just around the corner.

Beautiful Lake Pend Oreille, ID.

 

At lunch in Sand Point, ID we broke out our last ACA map. We started out with a dozen or so. Just 462 miles (and 5 mtn passes) between us and Anacortes, WA, our end destination.

Us and pretty flowers in the happening little town of Sand Point, ID.

A wild flower bordered bike path along the lake shore. That water really looked good. I wanted to skinny dip. Barney and Martha said 'no'.

A friendly enough seeming bear.

 

 

Day 43 - More Beautiful Country and Our Tenth State - Idaho! We Have Come!: Libby, MT to Clark Fork, ID

The weather is quite hot, but very different from what we're used to in the mid-south. Overnight temps fall into the low 50s, then rise into the high 80s/low 90s during the day. Up until about 10 a.m. it's almost cool feeling. Then the heat comes on strong. Even so, the humidity is so low that you hardly perspire, unlike at home when you're drenched in sweat walking from the house to the car. We like it. The weather forecast says more of the same for the next several days.
By shear happenchance we ran into a local pay ride today. The ride was sponsored out of Sand Point, ID and was styled CHaFE (Cycle Hard For Education). There must have been about 150 riders. They invited us to stop at one of their rest stops and stock up. The pumpkin bread with peanut butter on top was my favorite. Very, very nice ride sponsors and participants. The ride had two options - 80 miles or 150 miles. The riders out here are tough!  Another 60+ mile day tomorrow going into the big city of Priest River, ID. We're staying tonight in the one and only motel in Clark Fork, pop. 508.

Rest stop scene on the CHaFE ride. Thanks again for your hospitality!!

 

Just a friendly warning.

 

Idaho. State number 10. Idaho is only 65 miles wide on our route.

Day 42 - Our Best Yet Riding Day of Natural Wonder: Eureka, MT to Libby, MT

Today was another beautiful day, but trending to the hot side. We rode for 40 miles along Lake Koocanusa. The lake is manmade, narrow, deep and 90 miles long. There was only one place with services for a distance of maybe 50 miles. Not even a house - nothing.
We met a Spokane, WA couple at lunch - George and Gayle. They were finishing up a 2 week loop of the northwest. They were on a recumbent tandem. They gave us some great tips about riding in the San Juan Islands once we get to Anacortes. We're going to look into that some more. Sounds like some great riding.Tomorrow will be another lengthy day - 72 miles, but pretty flat. Today is our last day in Montana. Another great riding state. We'll miss you, but it's on to Idaho. Also, starting next week, we hit the passes - Sherman, Wauconda, Loup Loup, and Washington. Barney says no problem, so we'll be okay.  

Koocanusa Lake. We rode alongside it for 40 of its 90 miles of length.

Martha and Barney at a roadside break.

 

Barney taking in the scenery while we snack.

 

New touring BFFs George and Gayle.

  

 

Day 41 - Sing It Willie!!: ON THE ROAD AGAIN: White Fish, MT to Eureka, MT

After 10 days of car touring, we're back to doing what we came to do - riding our bike.
Barney was rested and raring to go. It was a relatively flat day, but a lot of miles on State Hwy 93 - a two lane road with no shoulder and a 70 mph speed limit. Traffic was heavy enough. I've seen worse. We're starting to see the big raw timber rigs that go roaring by at 80 mph. I've played that game before on another NW USA trip. Not much fun. We finally got on a nice back road for the last 15 miles, which helped calm our nerves. In fairness to ACA, there just aren't very many roads out here. Sometimes you just have to get on a less than ideal road to get to where you're going.Tomorrow we've got another 55+ mile day going into Libby, MT. After that it's the northern Cascade Mtns and some big climbs and big mileage days. We'll be fine. We just need the traffic to slow down a little.

Barney's stable for the last 10 days. We drove it a little over 2,000 miles.

Picturesque Montana scenery.

A pretty flower at the ranger station where we took a snack break.  

Martha and new BFF Judy. Judy was minding the store in Eureka, MT. It's a museum kind of place with lots of local Tobacco Valley, MT history.  For our friends in the Boro, it reminded us of Cannonsburg.

 

Barney is eyeing a new BFF. I think his name was Kermit.

 

Day 40 - Glacier N.P. - Just One Word: WOW !!: We Rode the Going to the Sun Road !!

Today was a very long, but very fun, day.

We got up at 5 a.m. and headed into Glacier N.P. We wound up back at our motel at 10 p.m., very tired puppies. No words or pictures can capture the grandeur of Glacier, though I have attached a couple of pictures in a very poor attempt. We saw big horn sheep, mountain goats, marmots and ground squirrels. We did two hikes, totaling 6 miles, walking almost a half mile in the snow on one.  We parked the van, with Barney inside, at Logan Pass in the Park, and then took the free shuttles to our hike trailheads. Logan is the high point in the Park at the continental divide. After figuring out the shuttle schedules, we decided that we could ride Barney down the mountain and then I would take a shuttle back up the mtn to get the van while Martha held Barney's halter. It was a 15 mile coast! Really, it was an easy descent, not technical at all. Traffic was not an issue and we had a blast. The special drum brake that we put on just for this trip was put to good use and got smokin' hot - like it's supposed to.  As we drove up to Logan early in the morning, we noticed a couple of cyclists on the ascent. Very shortly after we parked, one of the riders arrived. We went over to talk him up. His name was Dan. Dan looked to be sixtyish. He was very soft spoken, humble and matter of fact. He mentioned that today was his 64th ascent of Logan Pass! We also found out he'd done a couple of cross country rides, ridden the Andes and other international riding. Dan was the man. We were almost embarrassed to tell him of our comparatively modest tour. Tomorrow, we surrender the van and get on Barney, heading for Eureka, MT. I count 4 big 4,000/5,000 foot passes between here and Anacortes, WA. We'll be in some of the most remote country we've seen yet. Two of the coming days will be 72 and 76 miles with no services of any kind. We'll have to provision up for those days.  This should be a fun finale to a great tour.

Dan - the Man!

At the Pass.  We coasted 15 miles down the mountain from here.

 

Big Horn Sheep.  Why do they call them that?

In the snow field.

Billy Goat Gruff. 

What a scene!

 

We walked a half mile in the snow!

 

Day 39 - On the Road to Glacier National Park: Missoula, MT to Kalispell, MT

We've still got the van for another couple of days. We're going into Glacier N.P. tomorrow and Wednesday. Going to do the Going to the Sun Road. Not sure yet if it's going to be in the van or on Barney (or a little of both). Time will tell (and we'll report tomorrow).
The big event today was a visit to the Adventure Cycling Association's headquarters in Missoula. Got a little tour of the place and our picture taken for their 'wall of pictures' depicting this year's visits from touring cyclists.We also did a short local ride in Missoula - just 20 miles - to give our cycling legs a reminder. Missoula is just saturated in bike culture. We had lunch at a downtown sidewalk café. There must have been over 200 cyclists to pass by in the course of our lunch going about their workaday business. There are 9 cycle shops in Missoula, a town of about 80 thousand. We were really impressed with the bike lanes/bike racks/etc that the town has installed. A lot of lessons could be learned by a lot of municipalities from Missoula.Come Thursday, we're returning the van and recommencing the cycling portion of our journey. There are some mighty big bumps between here and Anacortes, WA. That's okay. We think Barney may have a little mountain goat in him.

Our arrival at ACA Headquarters.

The door handles for entry into ACA. Neat.

 

We're inside ACA.

 

Me, in front of pictures of some of this year's cyclists that have stopped by ACA.

 

Day 38 and then some - A Little Detour on Our Way to Anacortes, WA: Yellowstone N.P. - Wow! What a Place !!

As mentioned, we've taken a little motorized jump to give ourselves time to have more fun and finish our trip as scheduled.

The rental car allowed us the time to visit Yellowstone N.P. Martha had never been there and it had been almost 30 years since my last visit. Our time in Yellowstone was marvelous (as was the weather). We saw the usual magnificent, indescribably beautiful, sights, did a day hike and a kayak paddle on Yellowstone Lake. It just couldn't have been better. We came in through the Park's NE entrance and stayed in Cooke City. What a unique little western town. Of course, you have to cross the Beartooth Mountains to get into Cooke City. The Beartooth scenery was a breathtaking bonus as we didn't even know what was in store for us up the road. We're in Missoula, MT today (Sunday) and will visit the ACA headquarters tomorrow. It's a little like going to Mecca for someone who's read and studied their materials for so many years. We'll also have to get our picture taken for the ACA scrapbook. Our plan now is to keep the rental car a few more days for a tour of Glacier N.P./Going to the Sun Road/etc. Then, starting Friday, we'll be back on the bike starting in West Glacier, MT and heading west to Anacortes, WA and the Pacific coast! We figure we'll have about 14 riding days/1000 miles to finish up. Some really big mountains to climb on the way, but we'll have had a little rest and will be ready for the finale.  

At Beartooth Pass.  About 10,000 feet elevation.

 

Snowball fight!

 

In Yellowstone at Mammoth Springs.

Another BFF. This was made w/o benefit of any telephoto lens. We were in the car, stopped on the road waiting for Mr. Big Stuff to pass. He was literally at arm's length. Martha was nervous and wanted me to roll up the window (as if he was coming through the window).

 

We traded places and Martha was the Captain and I Stoked.

 

A double rainbow that appeared after our supper in Cooke City.