Day 11 (110 miles)
Trip Start
Jun 13, 2008
1
12
36
Trip End
Aug 09, 2008
Whitefish,
Montana,
United States
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
although on the map whitefish isn't so far from libby dam, the highways don't directly connect them. instead, we needed to head northeast almost all the way to the canadian border and then drop back southeast to get to whitefish. to kick off the ride, we picked up the road from yesterday and continued to follow the ridge line around lake koocanusa. the morning started off really chilly, but with the up and down of the road, we had to make a stop pretty quickly to take off our extra layers. after 35 miles or so, we crossed the lake and met with the main highway
by now, our ride was half over already, and it wasn't even noon
lake koocanusa
. we'd be in to whitefish in no time, right? famous last words... as we cleared the hills of lake koocanusa, we were immediately hit with a headwind that would be with us for much of the rest of the day. oddly enough, we were still headed northeast at the time, but mountain ranges make their own weather. nonetheless, we ignorantly pushed our way through while thinking at least we'd only have it for 10 miles or so before turning to go through eureka. in eureka, brad and i rode our bikes through a drive through espresso stand. the girl working the place thought it was really funny, and apparently we were her first ride-up customers. the coffee wasn't half-bad, either.the next stretch was quite pretty. our planned route tries to avoid large highways where possible, and it sent us down an old highway when we hit the town of tobacco. there was a lot of steep up and down that the main road avoids by traveling through a canyon (it's a bit of a mystery to me why the original road didn't go the same way), but it was a quiet stretch of road that wound through farmland separated by stands of pine. i even got to see a black bear. while i was working my way up a hill, a cement truck crested coming the other direction. it suddenly stopped and backed up, and i was wondering if he was being super polite to the biker. as i passed the truck, the driver pointed to a tree and said, "did you see that black bear?", and sure enough, i saw its head peeking around a tree
field near old tobacco rd
. i wanted to take its picture because it was really cute, but the bear jumped down and ran away before i even started to reach for the camera.to be honest, once we got back to the main road, i don't remember too much about this segment of the ride. there was a big lake, lots of hills, and lots of wind in our face. we all had our heads down and were just pedaling as hard as we could. sometimes when conditions get hard, the brain tunes out and the body knows how to power through... also, someone made an interesting observation: you can tell how much you were enjoying the ride by how many pictures you take. notice i don't have so many today!
at mile 87 or so, brad, dan, and i were out of food and starting to get really hungry again. we didn't have the energy to battle the headwind all the way into whitefish, so we turned off into the last town before whitefish...olney, population 90. we wound our way to the back of town and found a little market. it was a strange little store...it was run by an elderly woman, and whereas most markets keep their shelves full, this place would have only one or two of each item, some of which looked like they'd been on the shelves for years. in such a small town, though, it probably doesn't make sense to keep the place fully-stocked. they did have fresh chicken patties and hot dogs, though, which were a big hit with us. the mood of lunch was definitely somber...we were already pretty exhausted and still had another 20 wind-filled miles to go. nonetheless, after some of that greasy goodness started making its way through our systems, we were feeling if not like a million bucks, at least a hundred thousand.
the last 5 miles were a bit hairy... whitefish is a large town by montana standards, and that means lots of traffic on the main highway. plus, we were coming in to town at the end of business hours, so it was "rush hour". not to mention that the closer we got to town, the smaller the shoulder, and the more potholes and other obstacles (rocks, pieces of tires, etc.) to avoid. on the one hand, it was such a relief to be so close to our destination, but it was also a bit stressful to get through that last leg.
when we arrived at the church where we'd stay the night, we could smell a barbecue. that church hosts a weekly dinner for members of the community who need a little help, and fortunate for us, they had already decided that we qualified. i ate a mountain of food... although the church didn't have a shower, our cousin karen lives in whitefish, and she kindly offered the use of hers. it was really nice to see her place...apparently julie and i are the first cousins to make it to her home despite the fact she's been living there for 8 years. we also got to meet her new baby jolie and play with her super cute dogs. it felt nice and normal to be sitting on couches and hanging out in a real home...it's strange how fast one can adjust to constantly being on the move. although in all fairness, it's not really all that new to me!
