Day 46 July 15, 2019

With nick and Becky Oltean July 15

Henry's notes for today:

Day 46: Without fail, our hosts Becky and Nick prepared a healthy breakfast for us. We thanked them for their hospitality and resumed our route. We had relatively flat riding the first 40 miles to Colville and then Kettle Falls. We crossed the Columbia River and lunched at a tribal convenience store. Sitting at our outdoor lunch table, we could clearly see the road rising precipitously - this was the beginning of our long climb today. The biking map reflected a 24 mile ascent on the eastern slope of the Sherman Pass Scenic Byway, and a 17 mile descent on the western side after reaching the summit. We steeled ourselves, and began pedaling. Today's climb was long, but overall, Flowery Trail yesterday was notably harder, as it was steeper with more undulations. We were asked at a construction point to get into a pilot car again to bypass the zone of roadwork safely. Near the top, we ran into two young women biking together. It made Linda's heart sing to meet brave women traveling alone on the bike highway. These two had biked the entire Pacific Coast from Vancouver, BC to San Diego 5 years ago, and were experienced, confident bikers.

The Sherman Pass summit is at 5,575 feet. We started climbing at Kettle Falls at 1,400 feet, so we

The Kettle Range

fought gravity for almost 4,200 feet. Long-ingrained vapid platitudes run annoyingly like a continuous sound loop through one's consciousness when doing something like this. Nike's "Just do it". Thomas the Tank Engine's "I think I can, I think I can". "Winners never quit, quitters never win". "Pain is temporary; quitting lasts forever". "Gonna Fly Now" - the theme from Rocky. Feel free to add your own that may come to mind.

Oh yea

After the usual photo documentation at the summit, we met 2 more men climbing up from the west side. One of them had a vintage bike like Tim's 1983 Stump Jumper, so that required a few minutes of conversation and nostalgia. Our descent was grand and long, having stored all that potential energy on our way up to the pass.

Republic

Republic, WA was basically at the bottom of the descent, and camping for 4 people at the Ferry County Fairgrounds Campground was the same price as a motel room, so we chose the latter without hesitation. Pizza was selected as the dinner choice. We all felt full after our meals, but as we strolled back to the motel, the pull of mint chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches from the grocer's freezer case was too great a temptation for some to overcome.

Crossed the Columbia

Two toned Henry and Linda practice yoga after Sherman Pass

Maps of today's ride:

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/3849158663

https://www.relive.cc/view/u3668820904

Day 45 July 14, 2019

Atop Flowery Trail Pass

Welcome to Washington

Henry's notes for today:

Will Ivey and Family

  Day 45: Jenny and Kevin West prepared us a magnificent breakfast. Tim finished the leftover salmon from last night. We could not have asked for a more beautiful early morning at the lake. Priscilla chauffeured us back to Sandpoint to retrieve our bikes. We resumed our westward course out of Sandpoint, stopping just east of Priest River to greet Henry's friend Will Ivey, his wife Lisa, and their daughter Reagan at their Priest River cabin. Henry and Linda's Priest Lake neighbors Nick and Becky Oltean also met us at the Ivey's. Nick is an avid mountain biker, and had arranged to escort us to his home in Chewelah, where we would spend the night. He was worried that he would not be able to keep up with our touring bikes on his mountain bike. Of course, he had no trouble at all, given the handicapping with our panniers.

As we entered Newport, we crossed the state line into Washington, our 13th state and home, sweet home. His wife Becky drove ahead and prepared us an excellent roadside lunch just west of Newport. We ascended our first Washington state mountain pass (4,046 ft) on Flowery Trail Road. None of us will pretend that it was easy. We arrived at the Oltean's hand-crafted custom built home after a speedy 8 mile descent from the pass. We are blessed, and have yet to have any hosts disappoint us, and today was no exception. Tim and Nick bonded reviewing details of the intricately constructed home. Some of the evening was spent planning our forthcoming route through Washington. We have the daunting task of crossing 4 more mountain passes sequentially in the next 4 days on the North Cascades Highway to get over the Cascade mountain range. Sherman Pass at 5,575 ft, Wauconda Pass at 4,310 ft, Loup Loup Pass at 4,020 ft, and Washington Pass at 5,477 ft. I have flown over the Cascades many times, and it doesn't seem possible, yet bikers surmount these passes every day. A generous portion of ice cream and fudgesicles were consumed as we pondered our impending fate before retiring.

The Selkirk Mountains

Maps of today's ride:

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/3846044170

https://www.relive.cc/view/u3666703456

Day 44 July 13, 2019

Henry's notes for today

Susan and Rob Hickman at the bagel shop

Day 44: We packed up camp, had a pre-breakfast snack, and pedaled towards Sandpoint, a mere 21 miles away. That was pretty much the extent of our ride for today, which was going to be mostly a rest day. An exciting itinerary was planned, as this was going to be a homecoming of sorts, and many friends were coming to greet us. Jeff's friends Dr. Sarah Kirkpatrick and Dr. Jonathan Lee first received us in Sandpoint, where we were to store our bikes for the day and overnight. We rode to a downtown Sandpoint bagel shop, met Jeff's sister-in-law Susan Edsall and Tim's wife Priscilla there, and had a proper breakfast. We met briefly with Ann/Russ Oakley and Bruceann/Tom Culbertson just outside the bagel shop; they had ridden their bikes to Sandpoint from the Oakley's Bottle Bay cabin. We finally returned to deposit our bikes in Sarah and Jonathan's garage. The 4 riders were shuttled in Priscilla's van, first to the grocery store, then to Jenny and Kevin West's magnificent Pend Oreille lakefront home, where we were compelled to spend a languid afternoon basking in the sun's warmth at the waterfront. Leisa and Dave Moss were already present. It was particularly heartening to see Leisa, who had suffered a hip fracture since we began our trip. She is still non-weight-bearing per doctor's orders, but hopes to begin putting weight on her injured leg in about 10 days. Linda and Henry's son Michael arrived with his friend Chris Baus, a former German exchange student. The Oakleys and the Culbertsons arrived via boat, and Diane/Bob Britton also materialized to join the soiree. In a word, it was a feast of a potluck. Every dish was truly delectable. Alas, all parties must end, and we said our goodbyes to the visitors as daylight waned. We stayed overnight at the West's, and will retrieve our bikes tomorrow morning in Sandpoint. We have another week of riding before we reach Anacortes, our final destination. Our spirits were buoyed by all our friends' encouragement today.

Maps of today's ride:

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/3841808933

https://www.relive.cc/view/u3664477828

Pictures at the potluck:

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

Day 42 July 11, 2019

Note: this post appears out of order due to gremlins in the machine.—Ed.

Henry's notes for today:

Libby Dam

Day 42: Another early wake-up in Eureka's tent city, because we certainly wanted to be packed and out before the sprinklers came on at 7:30 am. We savored a hearty breakfast next to the local curmudgeons' table at Cafe Jax. Knowing that there were really no available services for essentially the entire 70 miles to Libby, we stocked up on provisions and fluids at the grocery store before leaving Eureka. Hwy 37 out of Eureka had a better shoulder, and the angst level riding this road was much lower than on Hwy 93 yesterday. Lake Koocanusa came into view, a 90 mile long reservoir which extends into Canada. Since crossing to the western side of the continental divide, the crystal clear waters have been a distinct and enticing contrast to the muddy rivers on the eastern side of the divide. We soon crossed Lake Koocanusa Bridge, the longest and highest bridge in Montana. The 46-mile scenic course on the west side of the reservoir was quite hilly, with the trade-off that we probably encountered less than a dozen cars on that stretch of road. Apparently, there is a sizeable Amish community on that side of the lake. Libby Dam is an engineering marvel. After passing the dam, we turned back onto Hwy 37 for the last 14 miles into Libby. There was notable headwind on this stretch.

Susie and Greg in the middle. Steve is on the right

Steve with the bike group after breakfast

Our Libby hosts for the evening were Dr. Greg Rice and his wife Susie. They have been avid bicyclists for decades, and Susie is responsible for initiating and continuing to organize STOKR (scenic tour of the Kootenai River) 25 years ago. STOKR is an annual 2 day bike ride out of Libby that supports Habitat for Humanity. Proceeds from the STOKR riders allows one Libby HFH house to be built every two years. Greg has been practicing family medicine for 42 years in Libby. We did some light maintenance on our bikes upon arrival, cleaning and lubricating moving parts. Linda's chain is still within tolerance. Susie had ice cream at the ready for our dessert after dinner, so that we would not go to bed with any unsatisfied cravings.













Maps of today's ride:

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/3835923633

https://www.relive.cc/view/u3660699964

Lots of new pictures in the side bar links

Lots of new pictures in the side bar links. They seem to have caught up with the uploading while in Libby. If the pictures in the posts don't expand when you click on them, check the sidebar. Jeff is taking a lot of good pictures. Tim's are there too.

If you found the Day 40 post a little scrambled, you were not alone. It is fixed now and reads as Henry wrote it.

Day 41 July 10, 2019

Peach cobbler

Pie stop in Fortine

Henry's notes for today:

Day 41: We agreed to not set an alarm this morning, and I woke up earlier than Tim did at 7:15. That's unusual. We made coffee, had some granola, and peanut butter on English muffins for a light continental breakfast to get us going. We were headed to Eureka on Hwy 93, which was not a pleasant ride. The shoulder was a foot wide, and quite a few Montana truckers made sport of buzzing us, even when they could have readily moved over. The Adventure Cycling route took us off Hwy 93 for 2 segments today, and both were an extreme relief.

Olney Store owners

Olney (pop. 191) was 20 miles into our ride. We had to ride a mile off the highway to get there, and did not know what we would find. The gas station was out of gas, but the attached store presented us with an amazing breakfast. $5 for eggs, ham, hash browns, toast. Coffee was 75 cents - perhaps the only place remaining in America! Huckleberry shakes were ordered to help wash everything down. Jeff also had a Franz pie.

22 miles further on Hwy 93, we stopped for a snack at Fortine, where there was a convenience store. Jeff found another Franz pie. We were able to thankfully turn off Hwy 93 a 2nd time just a mile down the road, which led us into downtown Fortine (pop. 325). There, Tim's eagle eyes spotted a bakery specializing in pies, and he screeched to a halt. A quick glance at his face, and we all knew it would be one of the greatest disappointments of his life if we did not stop to see what they had to offer in the pie shop. 30 minutes later, we all emerged, satiated with peach pie and peach turnovers.

Tent city

The rest of our ride into Eureka was on country roads with very few vehicles. Eureka allows hiker/biker camping in the city park adjacent to the Chamber of Commerce, and we set up our tents. Others were already there, but by evening, quite a tent city had been established. I counted 15 tents, some single, some double. A sign prominently announced that the sprinklers go on at 7:30 am every morning, which will wash all of us away, allowing a new wave of hikers and bikers to encamp tomorrow. Most in tent city are biking parts of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, which is advertised as the longest off-pavement route in the world. The route extends from Jasper, AB to Antelope Wells, NM. 3,084 miles and over 200,000 feet of elevation gain, as it crisscrosses the western continental divide many times. Sounds tiring. There was a couple hiking the Pacific Northwest Trail. They were carrying a lot of freeze-dried food. The trail goes from the east side of Glacier NP at the Canadian border to Cape Alava, WA - the westernmost point on the lower 48. 1,226 miles of hiking, 205,000 feet of elevation gain with 7 mountain ranges crossed. Average of 68 days hiking required to complete it. We're meeting more and more crazy people each day.

Although it was not a high mileage day, our legs seemed a little tired. There were a lot of hills, some slight headwind intermittently, and perhaps not enough peach pie.

Maps of today's ride:

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/3832739818

https://www.relive.cc/view/u3658644037