Crossing the Divide

I think I heard four trains in the night at Glacier Haven. Airing up my tires, I discovered a bent valve stem on the rear and changed the tube before we left camp.

It was cold when we started and our breath made little puffs of steam.

We stopped for breakfast 7 miles out at the Izaak Walton Inn. The Inn, like almost everything else around Glacier Park, was built by the Burlington Northern railroad. Construction was begun in 1939 but suspended, like almost everything else everywhere, during the Second World War. It was built to house 150 workers who kept the tracks clear in winter. In summer it served as a tourist hotel.

According to our server Danni, it was named for the "father of fly fishing. "

It rained a little and we stopped to put on our rain jackets.

After breakfast we continued to climb until we finally reached Maria's Pass, the lowest point at which it is possible to cross the continental divide. Or so we're told.

It isn't all downhill from the pass, but the descents are long and the climbs short. A stiff tailwind kicked up. Our average speed increased considerably It felt good.

In East Glacier BJ dropped his rain jacket off the back of his bike. A nice motorist picked it up and followed him to return it. We had lunch in a little cafe. The other patrons included a church group with their pastor and a lone man whom everyone called "Father. " Ah, Sunday.

Sailing down a hill at about 20 mph, I heard a loud BANG and instantly felt my rear wheel squirm. I hollered "stopping," braked in a straight line, and got my foot down, stopping safely

Melanie asked if the blowout was scary. It wasn't at the time.

The tire had a cut in the casing. It had probably happened earlier, maybe days earlier, and eventually gave out catastrophically. I sat by the side of the road and put on the spare I'd bought in Seattle.

I got filthy.

Twenty minutes later we were sailing along at almost 40 mph. If the tire had blown then, well, that would have been scary.

Actually fear came later when I started to think about my front tire which is of the same vintage as the one that blew. I have called REI and ordered a pair of folding tires, one for the front and one for a spare. They are being shipped this morning to a general delivery address down the road. I should be able to pick them up Wednesday.

We camped for the night at the Sleeping Wolf Campground in Browning. It is tucked away behind the fairgrounds, down a corrugated dirt road. The entrance is ugly and the facilities rundown, but the campsite itself is grassy, shaded, and pleasant. We were the only campers there.

Dinner was at the casino. We are guests of the Blackfeet Nation.

We made about 53.5 miles yesterday.