Tuesday, May 21, 1996
Day 10
Kalispell, Montana to Seely Lake, Montana
Today's Miles: 93
Cumulative Miles for the Tour: 656
Degree of Difficulty: Medium
Terrain: Flat Farmland to Rolling Forests
Today's ride was one of the best I've ever had. The rest yesterday helped tremendously.
Sunrise was a little after 5:00am. We had to scrape the ice off our tents, the temperatures being in the high 20's. I filled up with a hot breakfast of oatmeal and fruit, then headed off due east with the sun and the Rockies directly in my face.My rhythm came early with a slight downhill incline for the first 8 miles...then BIGTIME trouble. There was a road crew doing work on a stretch of 5 miles. They were using rocks to cover the road from this year's frost damage, making it next to impossible to keep a straight path down the road while dodging trucks, road maintenance equipment and flying rocks. What a nightmare.As I reached the 2 mile mark of the road repair, a pickup pulled over and the driver told me to throw my bike in the back. The driver's name was Kim and he had come back to pick me up after seeing how much trouble I was having. He is a gym teacher at Creston Elementary School. When I told him about our bike trip and how we were tracking it on the internet, he went ballistic.Kim took me to the Creston school and got all of the classes to come to the gym. Lee and I talked to the kids and answered their questions about our trip, even to the point of actually riding around the gym on our bikes to show them how clipless pedals work. I had a great time! Kim took a picture of all the kids sitting in the gym. When I get a copy, I'll post it here so you can see everyone.
Early Morning, Riding South/East
in the Swan River Valley
As we were leaving, we got directions on how to avoid the roadwork by using the back country farm roads. What a gorgeous ride that was. No hills...not even rolling, with twists and turns through the fields, all the time with the Rocky Mountains just over our shoulders on the left.Chuck has gotten use to me wanting to stop at the local schools, so he doesn't even ask anymore. We pulled into Swan River and there was Chuck, sitting in the school parking lot with the laptop hanging out the window, ready for me to pick up. Lee and I just started laughing.Swan River School is an 8 room school house with a hall running down the center, dividing the space into four rooms on each side. The hall is covered with coats and backpacks hanging on pegs about 4 feet off the ground. Chuck said the place felt like a Norman Rockwell painting and I'd have to agree. When we saw 20 or 30 bikes out back, we knew this was the place for us.
Swan River School
Bicycle and Computer Freaks
Lee and I introduced ourselves to the principal, who was conducting studyhall in the last classroom on the left. She was happy to see us and went to get other students to come and meet us. It was an interesting mix of kids. Half of them surrounded Lee asking questions about his bike and the other half gathered around me to ask specifics about the HTML coding for their website.
These were 8th graders! I would have liked to have stayed longer to help with their website, but we had a 90 mile day planned, so we had to get going. I plan on checking out their website as soon as I can sit down for more than 10 minutes at a time.We got back on the road an started hammering out the miles. I felt VERY good after my extended day of rest yesterday. Lee took off ahead of me and I caught up with Chuck at JT's One Stop in Swan Lake. JT's is run by a husband and wife who moved from the Alusian Islands where they own two fishing boats.
Denise at JT's One Stop
Denise made Chuck and me a couple of good smoked turkey sandwiches as we talked about her shop. It's an amazing little place, overlooking the lake. The store is the front room of her house which has a large, plate glass window overlooking Swan Lake. I told her that if she ever wanted to sell, please let me know. It was one of the most homey settings I've been in a long time.
Back on the bike, the miles kept rolling along. At mile 65, I caught up with Lee, Adam and Lee at the Pathways Cafe in Condon. Robin, the owner, was in full vocal swing when I got there. He was holding court, regaling the riders with stories of the area, the types of birds that were flying outside, the quality of the pies that he had baked that morning...anything and everything that came to mind. I'll tell you one thing, though. The man KNEW how to make pumpkin pie. If you pass by this place without getting some pie, you just don't like pie.
Robin and his girlfriend
with the "crew" contemplating another pie
We left the Pathway with 30 miles to go to get to the campground. The road was a little bit of rolling hills right next to the water. When we got to the Tamarack Campgrounds on Swan Lake, Joann and Dave had met Sue the owner. She loaned us a cabin for everyone to take a shower, showed us where the laundry facilities were and gave us access to her personal telephone line to download e-mail and update the website.
Sue and her husband bought the campground three years ago, right before Dave and Bernie went on their first, cross country bike trip. Dave was pleased to see that they were doing well and still having fun with the place. It's one of those places that we can recommend without reservation if you are traveling through by bike. Sue welcomes bikers and goes out of her way to make them feel comfortable.It was a satisfying, 93 mile ride after having such a hard time yesterday. We go over the continental divide tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it. No pressure...just go out and have a good time. That's why we're here.
Bike America Tours
dblair@wtp.net
1-800-738-7271