Nice inside too

I'm in Fargo, which means I'm almost finish with this trip. Minneapolis is a few short days away. As usual, I sniffed out the best place to be while the thunder showers passed, Monk's Pub in Moorhead, MN, right on the Red River. I'm enjoying a great meal while I update my blog on this rest day. Just polishing off the blueberry creme brulee. Not feeling guilty at all about it. It's just getting nice outside again.

Sola noches

I've camped alone for a few nights in municipal parks. Some are right next to the town swimming pool, so that's how I get my shower. These towns have maybe 200-300 people living there so it's pretty quiet at night. It's nice that cyclists can camp for free. Where I come from, if you try to put up a tent in the city park, we call that "homelessness." We don't recommend camping in Prospect Park. People in these towns often ask me if I'm scared being alone. I ask them, "when is the last time you met a crazy person around here?" They laugh. "Oh no, not around here," they say.

This place was about 5 miles from a very small town. Pretty, eh? That would a swarm of non-biting bugs that were happy to hang with me and my tent. Click on the image for the full effect.

State Fair - Minot, North Dakota

"You can fool some of the people some of the time, and that's enough to make a decent living." W.C. Fields

I did go for the $20 foot detox treatment. It was fab.

Rolling hills of North Dakota

I'm running out of time so I hitched the Amtrak for 300 miles to Williston ND. The next day was a tough but gorgeous ride to Lake Sakakawea. Lucky for me there was some cloud cover since there was about a 70 miles stretch without services. Still, people along the way checked with me to see if I was okay. I felt great. That night I camped for free at the Four Bears Casino, but I lost $10 to the poker video machine. Got my fill, though, from the all-you-can-eat buffets for dinner and breakie the next day.

Bye bye Glacier

Here's what the road looked like in other direction. It was a long haul through the rest of Montana. Finally got my first, and so far, only flat. The paved gravel eats the tires.

Glacier

Click here to view these pictures larger

Logan's Pass--the Continental Divide

Words are inadequate to describe the beauty of Glacier National Park. In some ways, this whole trip has been leading up to the day I would cross Logan's Pass.There are restrictions for cyclists on the road. First I had to wait until after 4 p.m. before I could ride to Avalanche campsite from where I would start the climb early the next morning. I met Dean just outside the park and when I told him my plan, he offered to give me a ride to the pass on his motorcycle while I had time to kill. I took it.

The next day I knew what to expect. I was on the road by 6:30 and arrived at the pass by 10:05. I had the road nearly to myself for the first couple of hours. Needless to say, I felt incredibly happy and strong on my way to the top. Much later in the day and 30 miles from the pass, I ran into two racers who said they had seen me in their car while I was climbing in the early morning. They said they recognized me from my giant grin.

Hanging with the pros

I left the Gregersen's house at about 2:00 p.m. heading for Whitefish. Starting so late was a bit hard. It was hot as hell and I was feeling way too lazy. It was a rough ride too. I got pushed off the road twice so by the time I got to Whitefish, I was pissy. Lucky for me, Ryan and Mitsie stopped to chat with me on their way to dinner. They were working for a bicycle touring company that was expecting all their riders to arrive the next day. They invited me to crash their campsite behind the high school with access to the women's gym. Very nice!! When my tent pole broke, I took it as an excuse to spend an extra day in Whitefish visiting the lake for a swim. The food in the town was good too and the beer cheap!

warm.showers.com off the grid

I tried using this social network for cyclists twice before with no luck. The third time was a charm. Susan and Steven live about about 5 miles off the route from Fortine, MT. I called to say that I was passing through from Libby where I had spent the previous night. Turns out they were heading to Libby for the day, so they looked for me on the road and stopped to say "hi." They would catch up with me on their way back, then drive me up to their place in their pickup truck. Good thing--a long dirt road that I couldn't have managed with my skinny tires. Little did I know that I would get to spend the evening with a family that truly lives off the grid. The Gregersens grow just about all of their veggies and hunt for most of their meat. They are solar-powered, and they draw their water from the town well while they collect rain water to feed their garden. Susan hauled a bucket of water into the house and Steven heated it so that I could have a bath. Emily, one of their daughters, cooked a taco pizza for dinner and the next morning they treated me to fresh eggs, potatoes, bacon, and strawberries from the garden. This is an interesting family. We talked for hours about politcs, farming, education, guns, and their unconventional style of living. Check out Steven's article on off the grid living: http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/gregersen93.html

This is Vie

Short for Violet. I met her while she was walking her dog Missy and I was admiring the views. She invited me to her house to stay for the night when I reached Clark Fork, ID. I stopped at the store and bought a couple of steaks, some potatoes and corn and headed over. She was excited to see me since she had just bought a jug of red and wanted to drink some with me. That's social networking the old fashioned way. I loved listening to her stories. It was a lovely and restful night.

As I rode into Montana the next day the views were breathtaking.

Up up and away

More passes. Rode over them in the heat heat heat. The terrain changed dramatically after the Cascades. Met Andrew in between Loop Loop and Waconda Pass. We stayed at the same campground heading in different directions. Andrew accidentally swiped a pair of swim trunks identical with his own from a guy that hosted him in Sandpoint ID, about 200 miles away. I returned them.

The ride over Sherman Pass was spectacular. The ride down even better. When I got to Kettle Falls I decided that if the state campground was on the lake I would stay there and that I would have a swim. I lucked out with a lake front camp site cuz the guy who had reserved it left a day early. I met Stacey and Kate just before the awesome lightening storm and just in time for them to rescue me from it. I happily passed on sleeping in my tent despite the view and watched the lightening storm from the dry warmth of inside their camper. The next day was to be a rest day. Since it rained ALL NIGHT AND DAY, I took the ride they offered me to Sandpoint. That saved me about 150 miles of riding which will help me get to Minneapolis before I run out of time. We had a blast on the road and I'm beginning to imagine myself as a proud RV owner.

On the road again

To get through the North Cascades National Park from Anacortes, WA you have to climb 5400 feet in three days. It's the third day that's really tough--click on the image of the map to see it clearly. Once again I left the camp way too late in the morning so by the time I was almost at the first pass it was 6 pm! The day had started bright and sunny but as the hours passed by and I crawled up the mountain range, the sky grew dark and ominous. Lucky for me my support van pulled up and offered me a ride. I took it. When Susan and I got to Washington Pass a few short minutes later, the water was gushing out of the sky and obstructing our view. We slowed down to a crawl. I was grateful. I would have been soaked and frozen as I passed the icy mountain side. I rode with Susan and her pups to Winthrop and slept in her comfy camper and Susan cooked me a yummy dinner.

Vancouver Island? How'd that happen? Back up back up

I changed the plan after too many horror stories about headwinds. Since I have to finish the tour in Minneapolis, I decided to do the second half of the trip from Anacortes, WA to Minn. When I got to Green Bay, I rented a car and headed to Houghton to find a house to rent. Many thanks to my fabulous colleagues at MTU for hosting me. Then I found a used Honda back in Green Bay. Jen's parents, Pam and Joe, took such good care of me. It was so fun hanging out with them and it was hard to leave! Then I drove to Minneapolis and jumped on a plane to Vancouver to visit Bergie, Dave, Zoe, Ava, Cody, Beverley, Leo, and Uncle David. I'm heading through the Cascades now and hoping to stay dry.