Author: Rich

Shelby MT to Chester MT This is our 22nd day on tour, and so marks the beginning of our fourth week.  The weather today was beautiful for our relatively short ride from Shelby MT to Chester MT. Jack and I rose late as usual, then made our way to a pancake breakfast with Jesse at the Town Pump restaurant, a place set up for the Interstate 15 traffic. I rode almost the entire day with the touring cyclist we’d met last night named L.E.  I learned that he’d lived in many places, grew up in Miami, spent the last few

Columbia Falls MT to West Glacier MT Nice late morning and a good breakfast of French toast and eggs in Columbia Falls.   Jesse, Jack, Roger and I then started a slow roll up SR486 north out of town.  Roger rolls along fairly slowly on his cobbled Huffy and I was very glad to keep pace with him, make conversation, and manage my sour knee. Roger told me a handful of great stories about past touring experiences he’d had.  One involved an extraordinary 40 minute encounter with 2 mountain lions while he was camping alone.   That would have scared me to

Spring Creek Campground MT to Columbia Falls MT At our remote campsite south of Stryker, MT it rained almost all night.  Before midnight, I was suddenly awakened and immediately thought, Wo! A bear has gotten our food!  But it was only a big RV trailer that had pulled in to our camp clearing, saw us already occupying it, and then had a hard time turning their beastly hardware around.   They even managed to knock over Gary’s bike in the process. The rains finally stopped in the morning so we took the opportunity to pack up.  But man it was cold! 

Rexford MT to Spring Creek Campground MT I’d love to carry on about another fantastic day on tour.  But, no can do. Evening in the crowded RV park in Rexford, MT was not as bad as I might have guessed.  A few drunken patrons leaving the bar, but my earplugs and fatigue attenuated anything else. As usual Jack and I arose late and then lingered.  The team headed out onto the road and Frank even decided to reverse course for a while to see if he’d run into Bill and Roger.  Jack decided to get RA flat #3 before even

Noxon MT to Libby MT It rained all night at Cabinet Gorge RV Park, which I sorta liked from a sleeping point of view.  Fortunately it let up enough to allow us to pack up in the morning, albeit with wet gear stowed in the panniers. In short order, Jesse caught up with us, again.  He’d spent last night in Clark Fork since the forecast had called for rain yesterday afernoon and last night, which was mostly correct, then he’d risen early and pedalled the 16 miles to our camp.  Independence reigns on this tour – for better and worse

Sandpoint ID to Noxon MT Leaving from Sandpoint this morning, I was almost reluctant.  The knee pain I’d experienced Saturday was disconcerting.  If unremedied it could jeopardize the tour for me.  I’ve come to the conclusion that my bicycle frame is too small for me (I’m 6’3” and my frame is 58cm, although you can’t tell everything from just that).  It’s taken me about 6,000 miles to decide that.  Last night I pushed the seat aft as far as possible and raised the seat height just a little more (which also moves it aft). It was already raining when we

Sandpoint ID My motel bed had 4 pillows.  What a thing of beauty. We did everything we wanted during a rest day in the friendly town of Sandpoint, ID.  We slept in, ate breakfast outside by the lake, visited a bike shop and the laudromat (or laundrymat or laundramat), hung around the city streets with Roger, ate ice cream, hung around the gang’s campsite and drank beer (a fresh tasting local brew called Laughing Dog – comes in a ½ gallon glass jug), invested in blogging, and most importantly, rested. In the evening we all got together a found a