Day 9 into glacier park

Well last night we had a fun time yapping in the parking lot of the beautiful place we were staying at. 

It's funny how we just sit somewhere and people keep showing up. Lots of fun. After supper Michael Rozell of potter's field ministries came and spoke to us about the work their doing around the world to help fight poverty. The place we stayed at used to be the training center for the ministry. Nice to know we're not fighting the fight alone. 

Back to the ride. Down the hill from camp and right into a hill to climb. A nice way to warm up in the morning. 

As you can see we're on a major road for a time with very small shoulders. A lot of logging trucks came flying by. They would lay on the horn to some of the cyclists. 

Soon we made a turn onto a quiet road that paralleled the highway. It was much safer and had less traffic. Nice scenery too

It had a few bumps and one of the ladies cell phones fell out of her bike pouch. Later at camp they pinged it and Randy drove back and found it on the side of the road untouched and working. 

. 

Biking in these conditions is a real blessing. 9 days of great cycling weather. Cool nights good for sleeping. 

After  the first rest stop more great riding.

Driving through whitefish we went through construction. We rode on the sidewalk to get past some of the mud. Our bikes got covered. 

Blue sky's   

Making a hard left into carries rest stop. 

Carrie's stop was busy. Salsa and. Chips cheeses bread peanut butter and jam. Water and  Gatorade.

After riding more back roads and having a deer scramble on the road to get traction ten feet in front of us, we hit a coffee shop in Columbia falls. 

As we sat there comfortably in first place Albert and his crew went by. I might have been riding them a little about slowing down and enjoying the ride. I took a picture to show you what they see as they race by. 

We finish and headed out. As we got closer to glacier park we saw a sign that said the road to the sun was open. 

The road got a little tight but just before it did a mobile home sticking 2 ft on either side came by and I was worried someone might get hurt. 

. As we came to the rest stop everyone was there safe. 

After the stop we motored on. The crew came up behind us and Jane pulled them into camp. 

Ok maybe it was a few miles. We were teaching them a different way to enjoy the ride. 

Here I'm pulling them in. It's funny that after the fact a few of the details get blurry. I guess those that would like to correct them ( you know the A type personalities) can write there own blogs. I think they call it poetic License.

We all arrived safe and smiling. We celebrated with an opa 

Fitting that I am an opa. 

Brian's treat. Nothing tastes better for a bunch of cheap Dutchmen than a free rehydration beverage. Thanks Brian. 

 

Day 7 wasa lake to kikomun

Day 7. Had a good night sleep. Turned in a little early last night. Got up at 6. Actually I was up at 430,530 and watch Carrie sleep till 630. We packed up and headed for breakfast. No dew last night so the tent was dry. 

The lake was calm in the morning so that meant the headwind from yesterday should be better. Not too cold this morning either. 

The sun came up over the mountians and warmed us up. Few climbs this morning but it was a good ride. 

The first stop was busy. Home made cookies. They were great. 

Fort Steele is a quaint little town. 

Streams , valleys and mountians. 

The mountians in the background seem to bee following us. 

As we got closer the sun was just peaking over the mountians   

Right after carrie's stop we stopped at a trout hatchery. Bob bought some fish food and fed the fish. 

There were some big fish. 

I guess this is where the fish go. 

More great views. And a load of coal. 

This is my where's Waldo pic except you have to find the deer. 

Last rest stop and we found Albert. We told him we were going to race him in but actually had no intentions of racing him. 

Bob pulled us into the park. It was a long descent down into the park. I guess that means a long climb out tommorow morning.

Here's Jane trying her hand at hands free riding. I think she's trapped in an adult body.   See you tommorow 

Len. 

  

Raidium springs to wasa lake

So today started early. Zip,zip, click,click,click,shs,shs,spfssss. Tents bike pumps, kitchen noises. It was 6 am. Got up packed up the tent. Ate breakfast. Helped Carrie hook up the trailer. Pumped up my tires. Then bob Jane and I headed out. 

On our way out Jane spotted 4 big horned sheep. She also noticed that my shorts were quite worn. A couple miles into the ride I flagged Carrie down and got a pair of shorts to cover my biking shorts. It would have been tough to pull today with the view I was displaying. 

After a good climb we stopped at a lookout where we could enjoy a view of the whole valley. The ride was going well but there was a lot of fog. 

It took a while to realize we were riding between two mountain ridges. 

We passed an osprey nest. Pretty cool. 

There was a strong headwind today so we took turns leading to break wind. It was great to have three of us for that. We are all able to break wind handily. 

The first rest stop was a welcome sight. Fill up with water and today we had a homemade cookie. 

We rode past some cool formations. 

We pulled up behind a big group of riders. A few km later we were climbing for about 5 min when terry pulled up beside us to tell us we had missed a turn at the bottom of the hill. 

It was the best view of the day so I was glad to have missed the turn. 

We came upon a group of ladies that had stopped to enjoy the view on the lower road. They were yip yapping so their new nick name is the kletzers ( as in koffee kletzers). 

Climbing more hills with a group in tow  

At carrie's stop we had lunch. Tuna or chicken salad on bread. It was good. 

We passed over Dutch creek. 

Then we put our heads down and our work boots on. The last half of the ride was against a strong wind and it was quite warm. Team work was needed. We all pitched in and we made it. 

When we reached the campground road we stopped at a store. Jane decided to window shop and cool down in thewalk-in  fridge.  Another day done. Another 120 km. working hard but feeling a little better each day. We had supper and were hanging out at the tent. See you. All tommorow.   Len.