We Drew Attention Today

Last night's sleep was fitful, punctuated by drunken fighting from a bar up the street and the sounds of someone with a dreadful case of dry heaves.

We left our recession-blighted camp and had breakfast a half mile away at Cislo's Family Restaurant. The place was packed with locals. Cowboy hats, flannel, and camo were the uniform of the day. We may have stood out in our lycra and polyester.

In the parking lot we found a bemused old-timer looking over our loaded bikes.

"That looks like some hard pumping," he said. We assured him that it was.

We pedaled through Columbia Falls and Hungry Horse, steadily gaining altitude.

As we ground up a long climb before West Glacier, a rust-bucket pickup with loud pipes that spewed oleaceous black smoke pulled alongside. The passenger stuck his ugly face out the window and yelled "Boo!"

I thought, "Really? In the last 600 miles I have faced a thousand things more frightening than that."

I'm not sure what reaction he wanted , but he got a friendly smile and wave.

We stopped for lunch in West Glacier. A fellow there showed quite an interest in our bikes. He wants to do his own self-contained cross country tour one day. He had questions about our equipment. He thought I was "hardcore" because I ride a leather Brooks saddle.

The Teddy Bear should have clued him otherwise.

As we rode along the Flathead River, we saw a big blue raft in the water. The passengers waved and we returned the gesture.

"Good job! Good job!" a woman yelled. It was a nice little encouragement.

Tonight we are staying at the Glacier Haven RV Park, a pleasant spot wedged unfortunately between Rte. 2 and the BNSF railroad tracks. I'm hoping the trains quit running overnight.

There are no cell signal and no WiFi here. I'll upload this post when I can. The camp's owners were kind enough to let me use their land line so I could tell Melanie where I am.

We rode 51.25 miles for a trip total of 645.5.

 

Hungry Horse looking back

 Hungry Horse looking ahead