Morning came too soon after our first night in three weeks on a regular bed, with a regular pillow and regular sheets. Big thunderstorm last night so it was  great we were inside. We all covered up our bikes before bed . . .

. . . and so did the boys on the first floor. They stayed up a little later than us and were not up yet by the time we left.

Time to saddle up Connie for a 59 mile ride to Whitefish.

Mike and Allison had the kitchen duty and one last thing the cooks need to do each morning after breakfast, and before handing over the reins to the next crew, is . . . take out the garbage!!

m m m m . . . would have like to meet this dude but the shop was still closed!!

. . . as we rolled out of Eureka, the rest of the crew saw the city  campsite Allison, Mike and I had visited the day before. Would have been a a nice place if we had solved the water issue.

Still some storm clouds around from last night that hid the sun and the temps were much more moderate. Great riding today for the first 22 miles before we got back on Hwy 93.

Not sure if we made a wrong turn into Canada, or not, but suddenly there was this USA and Montana border type crossing!!!!

These folks had a GREAT setting including their own lake!!

You know you are in a remote area when they have air medevac landing zones!!!

These rigs looked AWESOME and are probably a blast to drive in the winter. Would be a tough sell at this time of year!!!

Some great local art popped up as we biked along . . .

Hey, what’s this  . . . a bunch of bikers outside a bar at 10:00am in the morning . . .

. . . No, a bunch of bicyclist outside of a pie shop at 10:00am in the morning!!!

They also sold plants that were grown in their own covered bus greenhouse. One of the most creative use of old machinery we have seen on the trip so far!!!!

Joan was working the counter this morning . . .

. . . while Sally was on pie duty. Bad reflection off the glass panel used to drooling bicyclist away from the goodies!!! They were very interested in our ride about.

10:00am, 22 miles under our belt, strawberry rhubarb pie, alamode, with coffee and half and half . . . all is good!!!

But you don’t want to sit too long or the old legs stiffen up and you need to warm up all over again.

Before leaving though, we had to check out the ‘collectables’ available next door . . .

. . . some of our more discriminating shoppers were waiting for the place to open.

David found a ‘slightly used’ bike pump for 50 cents . . .

. . . while Mark was figuring out a way to attached this to his Topeak trailer. Since Allison had bought a second French Press to use for our morning coffee we decided to pass on buying this.

All of us who stopped had to take the secret ‘Rolling in Dough’ pledge before we could leave . . .

Five riders have seen bears on the road while riding. Similar to the experience I had on the mbbt ride last from Banff to Whitefish, I am still batting zero in the bear spotting department.  Except for this one.

We biked by this VW which is very similar to the one I had in the early 70’s. Brought back a flood of memories from that time period, as I biked along singing ‘Cherish’ by the Association!!

As we returned to what might have been the scariest section of road so far on the trip, 10 miles of uphill, twisting, narrow, no shoulder and busy Hwy 93, I saw what I think might be the ugliest house, in the wrong setting, I have ever seen!!!

. . . looks like it is for sale too. Wonder why?????

Soon we arrived in Whitefish and were happy to get off of Hwy 93. Tonight we are staying at Nikki’s house, a friend of Allison’s.

. . .where I set up camp under a tree in her backyard. Sweet!!!

Garden party at Nikki’s . . .  with beer!

David, our English gentleman, bought a Thank You gift for Nikki for putting us up overnight! Great gesture of appreciation.

Allison and Nikki spent 6 years together teaching on the Rosebud Indian Reservation.Nikki is now a Regional Correspondent for National Public Radio.

Mark  and Allen made a great chicken, pesto ,Parmesan Alfredo. And we had ice cream for dessert. Nikki’s dog Neko was VERY interested in Allen’s ice cream!!

Here is a shot of the whole group except Mike N. who was visiting relatives tonight in Whitefish. We are all holding a feather David procured for each of us. It is intended to replace the railroad spike Wade had procured for each of us to carry across the USA!!!

 

Déjà vu All Over Again . . .

About a year ago 6 of us from mbbt rode from Banff to Whitefish hitting all the Canadian and American National Parks along the way. We also stayed in Whitefish for a couple of night . . . it was a different type of trip. Motel stay and the food . . .

 

 

There also was some shopping done in neighboring Kalispell. I walk into this store with shorts and flip flops on and walked out with knee high boot socks, new boots and boot cut jeans. NO LARGE BUCKLE BELT though!!