Year: 2006

Feeling much better now. Met a couple touring on a tandem recumbent. Picked up a package from Megan in Minot – bike shorts i forgot and tasty cookies! Then went to the ND state fair – totally rad! Saw horse show, cattle roping, giant horses, fat pigs, sheared lambs, frisbee catching dogs, diving pirates, and a ton of keith urban fans (never heard of him). Nearly halfway home!

First real rainy day today. Not too bad – just a steady drizzle. A nice change from the heat, and the folks here needed it – it was 110 a few days ago! Still felt icky this morning, got a really slow start. Started feeling better after my first piece of juneberry pie (also known as saskatoon berry). Met a guy today using plastic kitty litter tubs as panniers – he loved them!

Finally made it out of Montana. Our tailwind came back yesterday, and we rode 123 miles, which is a new record for me. My stove fell apart yesterday, nearly starting a wildfire – i got it under control though. I’m feeling pretty sluggish today, so i lost the guys i had been riding with. Found a buffalo on the side of the road. He’s my new best friend!

Tatonka

Wel, I’m still rollin’. I’ve been riding the last few days with these three guys I met the other day at the city pool. Tim and Dave are from Grand Rapids, MI, and Mark is from San Diego – they (like most people I’ve met) are doing the entire Northern Tier route coast to coast, ending in Bar Harbor, Maine.
Yesterday, we had a great ride together – another killer tailwind which enabled us to ride an average of 22 miles per hour – we did 70 miles in just over three hours! We decided to end the day early at this great campground that had a pool, hot springs, cafe, and bar – the people who ran it were really nice. If you’re ever near Saco, MT, check out Sleeping Buffalo Campground. The one drawback is that the area is plagued with probably the worst mosquitos yet – still not quite as bad as what I expericenced in Wisdom, MT on the Trans-Am tour two years ago, but pretty nasty. I got off my bike the other night, felt something brush against my leg, and turned around to find about 9 mosquitoes on the back of my calf!
Unfortunately, we awoke this morning to find that the wind had shifted nearly 180 degrees, resulting in a long ride into a stong, hot, and dry headwind. When we were in the mountains, it was the terrain that was our fickle friend, aiding or hindering our journey with climbs and descents. Now, it is the prarie wind which has become master of our fate. Personally, I would gladly take one of the passes we climbed in Washington over a day of riding into the wind like today.
The good news is that Mark’s former roommate’s grandparents, Tom and Flora, live here in Glasgow, and they’re putting us up for the night. We had a delicious dinner, and now are pretty much just sitting around talking and enjoying not having to constantly be swatting at any exposed skin we have. The weather report has the wind shifting back to the west tomorrow, so here’s hoping for some more easy riding!

Went into bar/restaurant for some pie last night and ended up having 4 beers! Am feeling it now. Met a lot of really nice folks though – the bartender Ken (who runs both the bar and restaurant by himself) grew up near Clairion PA. Also met a guy running for state office who swore like a sailor! Good conversion about life in Montana, farming, politics.

The main drag in Joplin

Had a great day in Alberta yesterday. Got dropped out of the mountains right onto the prairie. Caught an awesome tailwind – was going 30 mph on some flats. I could coast uphill! Then turned and had a nasty crosswind. Couldn’t take avacados into US in my panniers, so i took them in my belly! Rode 113 miles yesterday. In big sky country now.

I rode 2.5 miles solo before i ran into two guys – both named matt – touring the same way as me. Met a bunch of other cyclists at the hiker-biker site. Took another day to do some more hikes, hitching rides – met some really nice folks from Texas.Ate Logan pass for breakfast – topped it off with pie at the bottom.Making a border run.This is great!

Mmm… Curry burrito

Well, folks – I’m all by myself now. I just dropped Megan and Twiggy off at the bustling Kalispell “International” (because it’s 50 miles from Canada) Airport, and am now at the Kalispell Library uploading the rest of our photos – hooray! By the way, The internet access here is one of the finest setups I’ve seen anywhere – and all the terminals run Linux!  I apologize for the vast number of nature shots we’ve taken, but Glacier National Park is really one of the most spectacular places I’ve ever been. Also, there’s several shots at the end that will appear to be of the same rocky crag – they’re all shots that I insisted Megan take of far-off bighorn sheep – if you zoom in a lot, you may be able to see the brownish blobs…they’re sheep – really! Needless to say, Megan and I had a great time in Glacier, and had a couple of really great hikes (our cycling cleats didn’t bother us so much, but it’s amazing how you use different muscles for hiking versus cycling – we thought we were in shape!)  I’m looking forward to having a second run in the park as I ride though on my bike – I may decide to take an extra day there to get in another hike or two. We saw some mountain goats, bighorn sheep, elk, and even a bear (i think it’s a black bear, but it may be a grizzly). Those shots of the bear, by the way, are a bit blurry because they were taken while I was hastily backing away saying ‘hey, bear….hey, bear…’ -  he caught me a bit by surprise.

It was sad to drop Megan off, and it’s a little intimidating to be on my own – but given the number of cycle tourists we saw on our way into town today, I’m sure I’ll find some folks to ride with from time to time.

Okay – time to get moving again – I’ll try and keep you all posted as my cell phone allows. Ride On!

Well, we made it to our destination just outside of Glacier National Park right on schedule (thanks to a little pacing help from our friend Mike from NJ). Megan’s bike is all boxed up, a car has been rented, and now we’re scanning local campgrounds for showers and laundry facilities with an eye toward becoming normal human beings again (at least for a few days). The trip for the past couple of days has been really great – we’ve had great company riding with Mike – he’s a recent Princeton high grad, doing the whole Northern Tier Route (Washington coast to Maine coast) solo – aiming to average 85 miles per day! He’ll be in Maine by the time I make it to Ohio! The weather has cooled down a bit, we’ve been dodging thunderstorms and rain, but haven’t really had any bad encounters so far. But the scenery has been absolutley amazing – we’ve been surrounded by mountains for at least the last week, riding along lakes and rivers the whole time. We’re attempting to upload more pictures now – hopefully they’ll all make it. Anyway, we’re pretty excited to stop being bike tourists and becoming regular tourists for a bit, and checking out Glacier – here’s hoping we see a grizzly (from a distance)!

And now, a word from Megan:well, now that I’m finally in shape, it’s time to turn around and go home. Back to the real world for me! I’m looking forward to showers every day and a real bed to sleep in. It’s been a really good trip, tho. We’ve been really lucky to have the chance to do things like this. Also, I’m still looking for a ride from Oakland airport on Monday at around 4 pm. I’ll be carrying a boxed bike, so if anyone can help me out, please let me know!!! Or directions for biking from the airport would be good, too. Thanks for all the comments!

made it through idaho in about a day. We met a biker from cranbury nj who went to my highschool. Only a couple days from glacier. Anyone want to give me a ride from oak with my bike next week? Call my cell phone.