Day 43 July 12, 2019

Henry's notes for today

Day 43: Our good friend and avid cyclist Steve Mikkelson greeted us at 7 am at the Rice's home. He is a Libby native, but lives in Spokane. We enjoyed a nourishing breakfast prepared by Susie, before getting on our way. Steve's plan was to ride with us for 35 miles before turning back and returning to Libby. Before leaving town, Rob Hickman from Brooklyn by chance merged with us seamlessly as we rolled along our old friend, Hwy 2, last seen at Browning, MT east of Glacier NP. Rob had camped in downtown Libby, on the Volunteer Fire Department Memorial Campground.

We met a Dutch rider in the Clark Fork Bakery

So close and yet so far. Junction of Hwy 56 and Hwy 200

We made steady progress and met a Dutchman, and then a French couple on our route today. There were two fantastic food stops today. Both were Amish bakeries, with an extensive selection of mouthwatering delights. The first was at the junction of Hwy 56 and Hwy 200; the second was in Clark Fork. Tim sustained a rear flat today, so we are now even-Steven: each of us has had exactly one flat on the tour.

We crossed into Idaho, our twelfth state and entered our last time zone. We had planned to camp near Clark Fork, but we could not find the campground, and later found out that it had a broken water main and was closed to tent campers anyway.

We kept riding, and found a site open for bikers at Sam Owen USFS Campground near East Hope, right on Lake Pend Oreille with a beach. We quickly set up our tents, and dunked ourselves into the cool, clear lake waters. It was amazingly refreshing on a warm and sunny day.

Dinner with Rob

We had an expensive dinner with Rob at Ivano's, a waterfront restaurant at the private resort just next door to our campground. During the meal, we hypnotically gazed at the lake as the sun slowly meandered down to the horizon. We have had two days of beautiful scenery riding out of western Montana. Including the rest day in Havre, it took us 13 days to cross this expansive state. Destination is a short ride into Sandpoint tomorrow; it's a partial rest day. We are tantalizingly close to home, but we remain steadfastly committed to crossing the entirety of Washington state to reach the Pacific. The west to east riders have consistently commented on how beautiful the North Cascades mountains are via bike, and we are looking forward to it.
Maps of today's ride:

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/3839048702

https://www.relive.cc/view/u3664479403