Day 35: Colter Bay (Rest Day)

Nothing better than Tide and some fresh air!

We enjoyed hanging out in Colter Bay Village today.  We bought food at the store to make sandwiches on our hike near Jackson Lake.  We even took a dip, but it was a bit too cold to stay in there for very long.

Jackson Lake

Note the RIDICULOUS tan lines--white feet and thighs. 

More laundry, showers, and another delicious Nate dinner.  He made grilled mushroom and onion cheeseburgers. 

Day 34: Lizard Creek to Colter Bay Village

Ride time: 50 minutes
Average: 12.1 mph
Distance: 10.21 mi

No bears that we saw at Lizard Creek...  I suppose that's a good thing.  We rode a short way to Colter Bay, still in the National Park.  The Griswolds were bad again, but thankfully, we arrived safely to a decent hiker/biker site ($7/ person).

We set up camp and made lunch, then went into the "village" to explore to figure out what we're going to do tomorrow on our rest day.  I did some laundry, and Nate cooked a sweet dinner--grilled chicken sandwiches.  Then we went back into town to get ice cream.

A classic Nate dinner

Day 33: Grant to Lizard Creek

Ride time: 2:47
Average: 11.4 mph
Distance: 31.87 mi

The odometer hit 1,000 miles today!

We awoke ridiculously late after a failed attempt to get up at 4:15 and ride as the sun came up.  Wishful thinking.  The campground was practically deserted by the time we left.

We rode out of Yellowstone Park and into Grand Teton National Park after paying too much for a crappy lunch.  Why is it okay to charge $9 for a grilled chicken breast, a handful of fries, and a bun??  The Griswolds were horrible on the road that had, at times, absolutely NO shoulder.

Look!  A moose!

  I understand now why the  Adventure Cycling Association doesn't take you through Yellowstone--there just isn't room for bikes.  We crossed the divide once today (#11) and then rode south, high above a canyon.  The terrain here is still devastated from the 1988 wildfires, but the trees are certainly growing back.

We stopped at Flagg Ranch after entering Grand Teton Nat'l Park, and these yahoos wanted $37.10 for a campsite, so we rode on to Lizard Creek, which has $5 hiker/biker sites.  We took a jump in Jackson Lake--cold, but not that bad.  I napped for bit and Nate made 10 hot dogs on the fire pit grill.  We ate them all.

Afterward, the camp host swung on by to check in, and proceeded to tell us that the nice walk-in sites that we're at are right in front of "Bear Hill."  Apparently, bears frequent the hill right behind where our tent is pitched.  In fact, there was a grizzly that was out there this morning, so we'll see what happens tomorrow when we wake up...

To the right is Bear Hill

Future GDR Riders: Skip Flagg Ranch and ride on to Lizard Creek! 

Day 32: Madison to Grant Campground

Ride time: 4:06
Average:  9 mph
Distance:  36.89 mi

Tasty Clif Bars and bananas for breakfast!!  We left camp and headed toward Old Faithful.  We took some bike paths that were decent, but on soft volcanic soil.  We saw two buffalo on our ride and several marmots on our ride:

Marmots that we did NOT poke at with ski poles, Mary!!

We got to Old Faithful and had crappy over-priced food at the cafeteria.  Then, it erupted, and it sounded like people watching fireworks on the 4th of July. 

Oooo!   Aaaaah!

We took showers at the lodge, and then did another 17 miles over to Grant, making that our 9th and 10th divide crossings.

Grand Prismatic Springs

Day 31: Upper Lake to Madison @ Yellowstone (WYOMING!!)

Ride time: 5:04
Average:  11.1 mph
Distance:  56.32 mi

I'm glad that mosquitoes cannot bite through Gore-Tex.  This morning, they were horrendous while we were packing up camp.  It took everything I had to not lose it.  It was like black clouds of skeeters swarming around my head.  The torment was worth it for the delicious spring water that was available at our campground.

We crossed the divide (#7) relatively quickly, after my minor breakdown.

It interesting to me how my mind can talk me out of this trip.  It says that this trip is way too hard, or that we've got to be completely ridiculous to be doing this, or that my bed and access to a shower everyday is something that I cannot live without.  I had my meltdown, Nate slapped me around a bit, I laughed, and then we kept going.

The Idaho side is strikingly more beautiful than the Montana side.  We decided that we wanted to go through Yellowstone National Park instead of following the route maps.  We detoured north of Henry's Lake after we had a delicious lunch of stuffing, gravy, and cranberries.  We just needed a turkey.

The cows love us!  And I love them!

It was a good 18 miles or so with another divide crossing (#8) into the crappy tourist town of West Yellowstone.  What a stark contrast from the Montana Nice that we've experienced throughout the trip.  It seems as though everyone there is out to make fast cash from tourists.  Some guy wanted $36 from us to just pitch our tent in the driveway of the campground.  So, we booked it another 14 miles into the park after getting Subway sandwiches to eat and slamming 2 Mountain Dews (nope, no throwback).

It was $12 each for us to enter the park, and then another $6 each to camp.  The park has fantastic hiker/biker sites reserved for us non-motorized folk, meaning that you can just show up at a site without a reservation and they'll let you camp.  Pretty sweet.

Our ride into the park was along the Madison River:

It's best to try and look cute when I'm really not feeling that way...

Geographic mess: We started in Montana, rode east into Idaho, but onto the west side of the divide, then crossed back into Montana, and then entered Wyoming.

Right before we went to bed, there was a storm and a beautiful rainbow

Future GDR Riders: Even though the traffic can be overwhelming, the detour into Yellowstone was worth it.  You're right next to the park--go for it.  And ride right through West Yellowstone (but stop for groceries first).

Day 30: Lima to Upper Lake (Red Rocks Lake NWR)

Ride time: 5:15 Average:  10.5mph
Distance:  55.6 mi

Ouch.  A big mileage day all on crappy gravel roads.  I'm so glad to be off the bike!!  After breakfast (oatmeal and peaches), we packed up our room at the Mountain View Motel, and I went back to the post office with the bounce box.  The postal lady was actually very kind this morning (and so was I--I'm not allowed to carry resentments, right?), so that was nice.  And bonus--my sister, Mary, sent us a care package that included three bags of outstanding homemade chocolate chip cookies, a motivational note (in complete Mary style), and a Mother Jones magazine.  Oh, and she decorated the outside of the box in a series of bizarre pictures, which led me to explain to everyone in the post office that my sister is just 18 months younger than I am and is also a professional; she's not a young child, which everyone assumed.

We then set out on what I consider a rather unattractive ride.  It was a high altitude plain, nestled in between treeless sage-carpeted hills.  At one end were wetlands, and the other end was all ranch land for cattle.

Shade?  Let's eat lunch.

Speaking of cattle, they're really funny.  They're super interested in us bikers.  In fact, they'll get up from their naps to get a good look at us.  They could care less about cars, but they seem apprehensive about 2-wheeled folk.

Here stands a pronghorn, staring us down:

The campsite is at the bottom of an avalanche chute... Hmmm....

We finally rolled into the wildlife refuge and were consumed by mosquitoes.

Day 29: Dell to Lima

Ride time: 59 minutes
Average:  9.9 mph
Distance:  9.8 mi

It was a nice, quick ride today, at a pace that I was calling "Nate's Leisurely Grandfather" pace.  We had to come to Lima to pick up our bounce box, and once we got here to the Mountain View RV Resort and Motel, we decided to get a room and call it a day instead of pressing on further.  The woman running the place was super nice, and considering that there aren't any other options for lodging in the town of Lima (pronounced LIE-ma, as in the bean, not the capital of Peru), we thought it was a good pick.

I went to the post office to pick up our bounce box, and I asked the postal lady if she would let me use the Priority Mail tape to tape the bottom of the new box that I would be sending.  All of the other post offices have let me do this, but this one was a no.  "We don't have that in our budget, but you can buy a roll of tape if you'd like."  Bummer.  Fortunately, back at Mountain View RV Park, there is a hiker/biker box with all sorts of discards in it, and there was a roll of packing tape!

It was a hot day, and I was a little irritated about the tape situation, so I stopped at the Exxon Station and there, shining from the cooler, was a Mountain Dew Throwback!!  I was so excited to find this that I called the 800 number on back and told them that I love their product and hope that it isn't just for a limited time only.  This is exactly what my can looked like:

Peace out, high fructose corn syrup!

Future GDR Riders: RV Park is a good bounce box site, great laundry prices ($1 a load to wash), and free Internet use.  Just check the hiker/biker box for tape!

Day 28: Grasshopper Inn to Dell

Ride time: 4:34
Average speed: 14 mph
Distance: 64.1 mi

I love flexibility.  The Cross Ranch no longer does "meals with the cowboys," which was what we were going to do today, so we pressed on like animals to Dell, Montana.  After eating so well at Grasshopper Inn, we were totally able to do this ridiculous 64 mile day.

We also had a super sweet tail wind on pavement that had us doing about 19 mph for the first 20 miles of the day.  We then headed south toward Bannack State Park, but decided to forgo the experience.... That might have been a bad idea, but oh well.  Nate had fun with the camera instead:

We then entered into what felt like wide-open country, and I had this feeling of being really exposed.  But there are telephone wires out here, so someone is nearby...

It was a beautiful ride, but we had to cruise along I-15 again.  And, of course, in complete Robyn fashion, about 3 miles north of Dell, I got my 3rd flat tire from a rock (??).  We changed it fairly quickly and pulled into Yesterday's Calf-A just in enough time for me to get the last roast beef dinner.  We then got a piece (well, the server was nice and gave us a piece and a half) of 4 berry pie a-la-mode.  YUM.

Next to the cafe is a saloon and there we met Joe and Randall, two locals with too much time on their hands.  Joe let us camp in the yard behind the saloon in exchange for some conversation. :)

Day 27: Wise River to Grasshopper Inn

Ride time: 4:04
Average:  8.7 mph
Distance:  35.46 mi

We're back to sleeping in...  I swear, I could sleep all day if Nate let me.  We had oatmeal and a ham and cheese omelet at the Wise River Club.  By the way, in Montana, if you order an omelet, you have to ask for cheese, which is weird coming from the Midwest, where every opportunity to put cheese on something is a done deal.  Anyway, they put the cheese on top of the omelet, so if you want it inside, you have to ask for that, too.  Just some cross-cultural understanding...

Our ride today sucked.  Not for beauty, but for oppressive headwinds and a steady uphill climb.

Taking a break from the head wind

There was construction on the Scenic Highway that we rode, and as we were stopped by the flagger, some guy on a motorcycle in front of us was talking to the flagger about the Grasshopper Inn and their $6 buffet that they have every night.  Nate was tuned into this conversation, and that turned out to be our destination for the night.  They have delicious food, and we happened to be there on Mexican night.  An all-you-can-eat buffet for GDR riders is heaven.  The owner, Tom, had just put up his GDR sticker in the window about an hour before we stopped by.  He's incredibly generous, friendly, and very welcoming to bicyclists.  We asked about camping, and he told us to just pitch our tent anywhere on the property.  Very cool.

Future GDR riders: Definitely stop at the Grasshopper Inn and hit up the dinner buffet.  Then camp there and enjoy another delicious meal in the morning.

Day 26: Butte to Wise River

Ride time: 5:32
Average:  9.5 mph
Distance:  52.64 mi

National Folk Festival + sleeping in city parks= not a good night's sleep.  There were copious amounts of drunkos being super loud and talking about peeing on our bikes at 3 AM, so we didn't sleep that well.

Heading south out of Butte, we biked along pavement and then turned on to a dirt road and crossed under an old ginormous railroad trestle.  Can you spot me next to it?

We then climbed over our 6th Continental Divide crossing which then opened up into a huge sage brush meadow.  There's something delicious about the smell of sage.  The scenery was beautiful and we took tons of pictures.  Isn't Nate a hottie?

We then dove down to I-15, and instead of doing Fleecer Ridge, we opted for the Divide Alternate.  What a gorgeous ride!  We stopped at Blue Moon Saloon and had nachos supreme.  Then we entered a canyon that had a wicked headwind, but the scenery was breathtaking, making the ride a bit easier to endure.

Black Hole River from Nathan Currier-Groh on Vimeo.

We wound along the Big Hole River, a popular spot for fishermen (and women--fisherpeople?).  We rolled into the Wise River Club, an RV Park, restaurant, saloon, and make-shift campground.  It was only $5 to camp, and that included a hot shower in probably one of the most bizarre places I've ever showered: a brick building that's a sauna in the wintertime with a broken window, so it was kind of like showering outside.

Future GDR Riders: The owner of the Wise River Club is super cool, and I would highly recommend staying there.  I can't say what Fleecer Ridge is like, other than I know I would have been walking my bike down the other side.  What we missed in climbing, was certainly made up in beauty as we did the Divide Alternate.

Day 25: Rest Day in Butte

Rest days are such a misnomer...  We haven't really rested on our rest days because there's always so much to do.  We checked out of the Days Inn after having bought a bunch of stuff at the Outdoorsman, and had to ride our bikes all around Butte because there was no way that we were going to leave them at one of the city parks while we hung out at the National Folk Festival, which Butte was hosting for its third and final year. 

We hung out at the public library for a couple of hours and updated our lives via the Internet.  Then we walked/biked around, listening to music and answering dozens of questions about where we were going...  I swear, if it weren't for Kathy S. and all the good morals she's taught me, I'd be making up all sorts of stories about what Nate and I were doing.  "Oh, we're on work release, and we stole these bikes" or "I just met Nate in Vegas last week, got married, and now we're on our honeymoon" or "We just got off the train from Hawaii and we're looking for the bridge to Japan."

Here's a picture of the mining derrick in Butte that Nate took from the park we camped in:

Day 24: Basin to Butte

Ride time: 3:08
Average: 9.8 mph
Distance: 30.54 mi

I love bounce box days...  We had a package waiting for us at the post office here in Butte, and even though this is the 3rd time we've picked up a bounce box, I still get nervous standing in line hoping they they didn't return the box to Milwaukee.

Let's see, we awoke super early again (I'm loving getting up early), and our ride started out chilly!  We rode along Interstate-15 for most of the day, but followed "Unmaintained Cattle Access Trails" most of the way.  It's actually an old railroad bed, which made for a nice steady grade uphill.  The coolest part of the ride was going through Tunnel #9, a tunnel built in 1911.  It was super spooky:

Great Divide Route - Basin to Butte - Scary Tunnel #9 from Nathan Currier-Groh on Vimeo.

We got a room at the Days Inn in Butte, a bit of advice from some other GDR riders that we passed the other day headed south to north.  The Outdoorsman is a bike shop located next to the Days Inn, which all belong to the family members of Levi Leipheimer, currently on the Tour de France.  Anyway, Rob, the owner of the Outdoorsman, gives GDR riders a free drive train cleaning.  He's incredibly hospitable and generous.  Plus, you get a goodie bag when you stop in and visit (I won't spoil the surprise and reveal the contents...)

Happy 7th Birthday, Adrienne!!

Day 23: Park Lake to Basin

Ride time: 2:56
Average: 6.9 mph
Distance: 20.40 mi

Finally, we both woke up early enough to be out of camp before 9AM.  We rolled into our destination at Basin at lunchtime, which is a first for us.

The ride today was tons of fun with quite a bit of climbing and a super fun downhill stretch that followed a roaring creek downhill at the end.  There were lots of rock and root gardens at Lava Mountain, and I had to dismount and walk my bike frequently.  Nate was a champ and rode most of it, but considering how often I fall, I thought I'd play it safe.  However, when we get back to Milwaukee and ride at the Kettles, I'll be able to do all the trails with no problem...

We had a ridiculously huge lunch at the Silver Saddle here in Basin, and their bread pudding is out of this world.  Their sign said, "Best Bread Pudding in Montana," so I had to give it a go.  YUM.  Afterward, we got a campsite at the Merry Widow Campground and RV Park just outside of town.  Turns out, it's a low-dose radon mine that they call a "Health Mine."  ???  Anyway, everyone here is crazy from the mine, so we picked the furthest campsite from the entrance of the mine.  I did laundry for $1.50 a load (the cheapest yet!) and hung it outside to dry.  Tide detergent + outside drying = delicious smelling clothes

Future GDR Riders: Definitely stop in at the Silver Saddle, and even consider breaking up Park Lake to Butte into 2 days.  Even though the Merry Widow is bizarre, it might be worth checking out.

Day 22: Helena to Park Lake

Ride time: 4:15
Average: 6.7 mph
Distance: 28.7 mi

Kris had breakfast going for us when we finally dragged our butts out of bed at 10AM!  It was a late night last night, for sure.  We didn't get on the road until about 1 PM, and then stopped at The Base Camp to get some new dry sacks to go in the Super Twinkies (the bag that hangs off the saddle).  Then we began climbing...and climbing...and climbing...  Helena sits at just above 4,000 feet and the camp we're at is at 6,300 feet.  It was a long day, and I was sweating profusely.  We bought some Nuuns tablets at The Base Camp to use as an electrolyte sort of drink, and they actually work really well.

Almost to camp...

We're now in Helena National Forest, and we're camped at a place that's been closed due to pine beetle infestation and clean up.  It looks like a freaky war zone with all the downed trees and lack of human presence.  It's quite sad to see what the pine beetle has done to the forests around here, and frightening to think of what might happen in years to come.

Day 21: Deadman's to Helena

Ride time: 4:44
Average: 8.8 mph
Distance: 41.81 mi

We awoke at a reasonable hour after having slept really well.  Nate said it was because of the happy cow that was near our tent.  I think the presence of cows helps me in the bear department.  Cows = probably no bears.  I'm probably wrong, but it helps me sleep better.  PowerBars or Clif Bars for every meal is Nate's newest thing, so I forced myself to eat my 7th PowerBar in less than 18 hours.  "We'll eat when we get to Helena," Nate said after I whined.

Anyway, today was another 2 divide crossings (#3 and #4).  It felt like we were biking forever today.  We saw a couple of old mines which were pretty cool:

Oh yeah, Nate's mileage today is an additional 4 miles because he left his sunglasses up near the first pass and had to bike back to get them.  I, of course, stayed and made lunch instead of biking back with him.  I'm such a good wife...

I also fell today going about 3 mph.  I just kind of tipped over.  I'm not exactly sure what happened, other than I'm eternally grateful for my helmet.  When we arrived in Helena, we called Kris (remember Lincoln?) and she put Nate and me up for the night.  Before we got there though, we ate at Taco del Sol, on Last Chance Gulch in downtown Helena.  Bikers: definitely hit it up.

We got to Kris's house, and Patti and Dennis came over, too, for dinner.  It was a wonderful time, and Nate and I ate dinner again because Chris made meatloaf, and I couldn't pass that up.

Our wonderful hosts, Chris and Kris, in the Valley, not the Flatland:

Day 20: Lincoln to near Deadman's Creek

Ride time: 3:51
Average: 7.3 mph
Distance: 28.29 mi

Okay, so what were we doing before we stopped in Lincoln?  Oh yeah--we were riding the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route.  These past three days with Jane and Jerry have been incredible.  It amazes me how friendly and open people can be with complete strangers.  I was quite sad this morning as we were packing up and getting ready to go. The two of them are like grandparents.  Jerry even called my mother yesterday to talk with her, letting her know that "we've got your kids here!"

Anyway, saying goodbye was tough, but I know Nate and I will be back with the twins (Jerry thinks we're going to someday have twins...) next October for his 80th birthday party.

We set out on a very cold, wet, and windy morning through Lincoln, struggling to find the right combination of clothes that would keep our temperature right.

I thought about the past few days while climbing up the pass today, and I am glad that we're not so interested in getting to a certain destination by August 20.  Wherever we are at that point, then that's where our trip ends.  Having the freedom to stay wherever the roads take us for as long as we're able to stay is a nice way to do this trip.  It gave us the chance to spend a few days with some incredible people.

Our ride wasn't too bad today.  The Divide Crossing (#2) took us through some pretty cool forests and stream crossings.  The last 1.5 miles were pretty steep, and the ride down was equally steep.

We missed the turn off for the campground, but since we were in national forests, we could camp wherever we wanted to, so we just pitched our tent back in the woods, about 200 feet from a mooing cow.

Day 19: Lincoln

Nate and I made breakfast burritos for everyone in some small gesture of gratitude for the incredible hospitality that we have been given all weekend long.  Soon after, Patti, Dennis, Kris, and Chris all left to head back home to Helena, so Nate and I headed to Terabithia, a pretty sweet spot down by the Blackfoot River (where A River Runs Through It was filmed) on Jane and Jerry's property.  Spud and Windy, their two dogs, ran with us out there (we rode on the Fargos).  Windy found some dead carcass out there and dragged it around, and we skipped a bunch of rocks.

Then we hit up The Wheel, a local bar, to take Jane and Jerry out to dinner.  Back at the ranch, after a couple hands of dominoes, Nate and I took the truck into town for the fireworks (yes, these wonderful people that we've known since Friday let us take their truck into town...)  We parked in such a way so that we could sit in the bed of the truck on the chairs in borrowed puffy down jackets:

 

Okay, these were the craziest fireworks I've ever been to.  For an hour beforehand, the locals light off their own fireworks, but not in any controlled or safe fashion.  There were fireworks 360 degrees around the truck.  Some exploded like they should--high up in the sky.  Others exploded 5 feet off the ground.  Others shot horizontally into groups of others lighting off fireworks.  It was mayhem, but cool.  Finally, the town firework display went off, making this one of the longest displays I've ever been to.

Day 18: Lincoln

Kids get candy and adults get beer

Nate and I made breakfast for everyone before the parade and rodeo.  The Lincoln parade had a theme this year: the pine beetle, so all their floats had to do with killing the pine beetle.  They threw candy, Hi-Country beef jerky, ice cream sandwiches, peanuts, and they also gave away cans of beer (only in Lincoln...).  I also got my picture taken with Smokey the Bear:

After the parade, Kris, Chris, Nate and I then hit the rodeo.  Jerry released his racing pigeons to the Star Spangled Banner before it began.

I was able to sit on Wrangler and pretend that I was a cowgirl.  Jerry's standing next to me:

Our favorite events at the rodeo were the Chicken Scramble (all the kids plus six chickens are running around the ring.  If you catch a chicken, you get to keep it), the Boot Scramble (all the kids take their shoes off in a huge pile and then have to find them), and the horrific Ring of Fire (6 idiotic men stand in a 10 foot ring while a crazy, wild bull is released on them.  The last one standing in the ring is the winner.  Oh yeah--the crowd bids on which guys they think is going to be the last one standing and they split the pot with the winner).  Here are the gladiators in the ring:

After all the rodeo excitement, we came home and napped.  We awoke later to cook dinner out by the fire pit, followed by an obnoxious game of dominoes, where we learned more of Jerry's rules...

Day 17: Seeley Lake to Lincoln

Ride time: 4:42
Average: 12 mph
Distance: 56.59 mi

I made the mistake of going back to bed at 5:30 AM this morning, even though I promised Nate that I would get up and stay up.  Oops.  It started raining, so then we just stayed in our sleeping bags and slept until 9:30 when the rain stopped and the sun came out.  We packed up "fast, like pancakes," and biked into town for another latte (I have a headache now from all the caffeine the past two days).  We ran into some other bikers that we admiring our beautiful bikes...

Typical.

We set up Morrell Creek Road through some gorgeous high country.  We climbed a good hill without taking a break--we were pretty proud of ourselves.  Our bodies are getting stronger!  We felt pretty good a mile 20, so we held off on lunch until mile 26 at Ovando.  The owner of the general store was Howie, and he had a hound dog named Maggie.  Here she is sitting guard on the front step:

Ovando, Montana. Pop: ~50; Dogs: ~100

Maggie had a dog friend Jippie, a Blue Healer, which are really common dogs in Montana.

We took a shortcut to Lincoln--we avoided the Big Nelson Campground in some vain effort to get to Helena on Sunday for the fireworks.  We took Hwy 200, which had a decent shoulder until the turn off for Avon, and then it was pretty scary.

Here's where our 4th of July weekend turns unforgettable...  We got into Lincoln and biked to the Cenex gas station to look for a magazine for Nate and to chug some chocolate milk (great post ride recovery drink).  I went inside to go to the bathroom, and when I came out, Nate was talking to Kris, a woman whose parents lived in Lincoln.  She was arranging for us to stay at her parent's house, who apparently take in  mushers (dog sled people) and bikers all the time.  We got directions to Jane and Jerry's house, and biked over rather quickly.  We walked in, and there was the crew: Jane and Jerry, Kris, the woman who we met at the gas station, her boyfriend, Chris (or C- Chris, or Seacrest, or Ryan Seacreast), and Dennis and Patty, a lovely couple from Helena.  Everyone was up for the holiday weekend, which as it turns out, is Lincoln's biggest weekend all year long.  They generously fed us steak for dinner, let us shower, and then somehow, we were talked into staying for the parade and rodeo tomorrow.  They meant that getting to Helena on Sunday for fireworks would be out of the question.  So, we decided to make a weekend out of it here in Lincoln...

Here's Jerry rocking on the fiddle:

Jerry, Jerry, Jerry

Future GDR Riders: Ovando has an outhouse, a picnic table, and hose for riders to use.  You can camp at the post office for free or rent the teepee for $5.  It's a good place to stop.

Day 16: Rest Day

Aah...a rest day in Seeley Lake.  We spent another night at Big Larch campground, biked a short distance into town, drank a latte, and then retrieved the bounce box from the post office.  Afterward, we had a "date afternoon" at Bay Burger, and ate overpriced burgers on picnic benches with a nice view of the lake.  It was a beautiful day:

Lunch spot

Food + more food = happiness

Chef Nate making grilled asparagus for dinner

Day 15: Condon to Seeley Lake

Ride time: 2:17
Average: 11.5 mph
Distance: 26.57 mi

Finally, a reasonably priced breakfast!  We ate across the Hwy at Swan Valley Cafe and overheard some other local talking about waking up and finding a black bear in her backyard.  After our meal, we had some baking soda beverages to help dissipate the lactic acid in our sore leg muscles.  It tasted awful, but I have to say that I felt no burning in my quads on our ride today.  "Put me in Coach!  I've got fresh legs!"

Instead of following the route, we decided to book it down Hwy 83 to Seeley Lake--BAD IDEA.  There's little to no shoulder, and it's a very busy road.  We made KungPao noodles for lunch at Summit Lake, which was a scenic pull off for folks traveling on Hwy 83.  We were asked a million times by tourists where we were riding to.  I'm going to start making up stories about where we're going and where we've been.  Kind of like Mary does to strangers she rides the ski lifts with...

We rolled into Seeley Lake around 3 PM and set up camp at Big Larch campground.  It's very reasonably priced and has great big campsites (site #43 was a good pick for us).  We have a bounce box waiting here, but by the time we got to to post office, it was closed--they close at 4 PM. Hmmf.  We had to stop at a bank and get cash.  We're finding that not many campgrounds take credit card.

Peter and Lauren from California showed up and asked to share a campsite with us.  They're biking across the country to Maine.  We had a feast--grilled pork chops, portabello mushrooms, onions, red peppers, and a wild rice mix.  Plus, we had marshmallows, chocolate, and bananas for dessert!

Day 14: Bigfork to Condon

Ride time:  6:02

Average:  8.2 mph

Distance: 49.87 mi

Today was a near Double McCoy, considering we're only 8 miles from our next spot.  We awoke to a beautiful sunny morning in Bigfork.  We almost immediately began climbing out of the town and the scenery quickly changed to thick forests that smelled wonderful.  We were in the full sun throughout much of the day and it was HOT.  We sweat profusely while doing a near 6-mile climb.  The flies were quite irritating while we cranked out about 4 mph, which isn't fast enough to keep a breeze that would blow the bugs off.  Nate saw a black bear in a meadow, and then we both stumbled upon a black bear feeding on some vegetation near the road.  It was scared off very quickly, but of course, it took a toll on my nerves.

We finally pedaled into our camping spot, and as the book pointed out, it was swarming with mosquitoes.  So, I suggested that we book it to Condon, a town off of Hwy 83, about 10 miles down.  Here you go, Dan, a town and creek named after you:

We stopped at a grocery store on the way and slammed Gatorade to help replace all the fluid we lost on our ride--our 3-liter Camelbacks were drained.  We tailed a crazy thunderstorm much of the ride, but we we pretty lucky in that we were moving slower than the storm.  We came upon a patch of dense fog that came from a hail storm and the sight was pretty spectacular:

Hail-induced fog

I also ran over some ding-dong's "TO OUR CUSTOMERS" pin that gave me a nice flat about 1.5 miles from camp.  Thank you kindly for leaving your trash in the road.

Jerk.

I left the pin in it and rode carefully to Swan Valley Centre, a one-stop shop for just about everything.  It was just in time, too, because Mike, the mechanic, was just leaving for the night, but he let us into the showers, gave us a bathroom key, and told us where to camp.

Our humble abode