Day 24: Tour de Beverages in Missoula and Day 25

We got breakfast at our B&B and grabbed gear we wanted to pack up in our bike boxes to ship home. And then we hopped on our bikes and rode back to Adventure Cycling's headquarters.

Mike really liked that their doorhandles were bike handlebars. 

We went in and grabbed our bike boxes, brought them outside and began the oh so fun process of breaking down our bikes and packing them up. We were working on Mike's bike first when a family rolled up on their bikes. Two children were on single bikes while the dad and two girls were on a triple seater bike. The mom was driving the support RV. They were doing a cross country tour. Pretty impressive! 

Pretty soon after that a man with a nice camera came out and started taking our photo. Kind of strange, but hey, they have a biking publications, I guess, so who knows what kind of photos they need. And we were set up right in front of their sign so I guess it was a good photo op. 

Although many of the photos could probably be titled how not to break down your bike. We definitely did not do it in the best order. 

The photographer ended up leaving and not soon after that I ended up snapping one of our hex wrenches with my brute strength. Since we needed it to continue taking Mike's bike apart, and we needed it for mine, we were kind of in a pinch. I went in to Adventure Cycling to ask if they had any that we could borrow, which they did thankfully. I came back out to find the photographer there again but this time he had a super tall ladder that he was standing on to get a better angle I guess. Hysterical. 

Somehow that case needs to be squished down to 11 inches. It involves lots of sitting on the case to cinch it down. 

Packing my bike was a little faster due to learning from the mistakes that we made with Mike's bike. We got them packed up and started lugging the cases two blocks to FedEx for shipment home. This was already a feat with those huge cases weighing 70 pounds each, but to make it even more fun, my nose decided to start bleeding. So now I have blood on my shirt, I'm carrying a huge massive case, and then Kleenex shoved up my nose. I was a sight to be seen. Mike was super helpful though ashe would take his case a little ways and then come back and get mine until my nose got under control. The scene that I was however led to a stranger calling me 'foxy' as I walked by. Oh Missoula. 

We finally got them dropped off which took far too long. Next time I think we may just pay a bike shop to pack them up for us. We decided to go get lunch and then begin our tour of beverages. We talked about going floating down the river today but after dealing with the bikes and with the weather not as warm as yesterday, we decided to just enjoy downtown Missoula. 

The tour of beverages wasn't exactly planned, but it ended up being quite fun. Mike had read in the weekly paper the 'Best of Missoula' section and found several tea houses. So naturally we had to visit all three of them and enjoy beverages at two of them.

Mike also purchased some looseleaf tea to bring back home. We popped into several other shops downtown including some that focused on fair trade clothing and peace shop. Then onto the breweries. We walked across the river to the Kettle House brewery. Along the way I passed an amazing candy store, and a place that made bubble tea.  I decided to pass on the bubble tea though as three different teas in one day would just be too much for me (though probably not too much for Mike but I'm not a tea snob like him 😉). 

We then walked by the beer run start area to pick up our packets for the 5K tomorrow. Yep, we're still doing that.  However, we did not partake in the beer run due to my Achilles and the fact that we just aren't that crazy. Then back to the B&B to shower up and head out for dinner. Mike found an amazing local place called Five on Black which is basically a Brazilian Chipotle. Delicious. We closed out the night by visiting the Flathead Brewing company which had a brewpub in town even though we visited the actual brewery a few days ago in Bigfork. 

Our final day in Missoula involved our earliest wake up at the entire trip. We are pretty ridiculous. The race started at 8 AM, and we ran while it was drizzling out the entire time. The locals are very excited about the rain however given the drought and nearby forest fires.

Why are we doing this?

The race was fun and down by the river so it was pretty. We both did well but nothing amazing due to injury and general fatigue from biking that far. We quickly scurried back to the B&B to catch breakfast, watch some of the Tour, and packed up. 

We were carrying our bags downtown to enjoy part of the day downtown before our flight at 3:30. Carrying bike panniers is no fun let me tell you. I know what it is like to be a pack mule now. Speaking of knowing what it's like to be things, I also now know what it's like to be a car windshield getting splattered by bugs. Some of those bigger ones hurt when they smack you. Anyway we walked by the Holiday Inn which is the hotel associated with the race and got the idea of asking them if they could hold our bags for the day while we walked around downtown. We knew it was a little shady since we weren't staying in the hotel but decided to ask and be honest if they questioned us. We were even willing to pay a small fee for the convenience of not having to carry them. I went up and asked but they never questioned me and just took our bags. We were free and enjoyed it!

Now free of our luggage, we went down to the Missoula farmers market. I have never seen so much beautiful cheap produce in my life. Each stand took such pride in how they displayed their goods. We bought a half a pound of huckleberries, which Mike downed and I had a few. We also purchased a large bowl of sugar snap peas, which would be wonderful treats on the airplane. Oh, and a pound of locally grown cherries which we are still enjoying.

We ended up going back to Five on Black for lunch because it was just that good. Then back to the Holiday Inn to grab our bags (tipping them nicely) and get a cab to the airport. The first flight to Chicago was smooth. We didn't have a lot of time in Chicago, however, so no dinner. Hungry Erin is not a happy Erin. Luckily, we still had some snacks left from our bike trip along with the fresh produce that we had got at the farmers market to tide us over on the flight back to Baltimore. We ended up getting Subway in the Baltimore airport at about midnight and learned that that subway will be closing at the end of the month and guess what will be taking its place? A STEAK N SHAKE!!

Cab ride back home and that was a wrap for our honeymoon. It was a wonderful journey and I know we are going to look back and enjoy reading these entries years down the road. Thanks for journeying with us! 

Day 23 (day 16 of biking): WE MADE IT!!!

57 miles to Adventure Cycling. 57.7 to the B&B 

Grand total of the tour: 779

Seeley Lake was a neat area. Several bike routes pass through so we saw lots of cyclist friends both road biking and mountain bike touring. Although with it being so popular the locals aren't impressed with your tour. We heard about groups going all the way to Venezuela. 

We loaded up and checked out and were on our bikes by 10am which is probably one of our earliest starts. Ha. We knew we had about 18 miles before we were off the road with no shoulder. It looked beautiful right along the water but was hard to enjoy with the traffic. Luckily we got a shoulder eventually before the 18 miles were up and a nice flat stretch that we flew through. I hopped on Mike's back wheel and we cruised. We arrived at Clearwater Junction, filled up our water bottles and got on a new road that would take us to Missoula!

It is only 39 miles away. We wanted to make it in before 5 so we could stop by Adventure Cycling's headquarters. I mostly wanted to make it so I could enjoy the free icecream they advertise!

We knew we had one more climb before the mostly downhill ride into Missoula. I was so excited to see this sign for the last time!

We pulled off at the top of our climb to find some shade in an experimental forest. No one knows what that means, but the flies were crazy in there. We celebrated our achievement with our last coke. 

Yup, that is the last bottle of that six pack of coke we bought back in Fairmont Hotsprings. It was carried 526 miles and over who knows how many feet of elevation change. It tasted glorious!

Then back on the road. We enjoyed the mostly downhill ride but a strong head wind made it so you still had to work. However, with the blazing hot sun, the head wind was oddly welcome to keep us cool. I remember thinking at one point, we only have 23 more miles to go. It seemed so crazy and yet was such a welcomed thought. The journey was amazing and I am glad to be done, but oddly I really do think I would like to do it again. 

We ducked off about 15 miles before Missoula to cool off in the creek. We saw plenty of people floating in rafts and tubes down the river so we had to get a part of it. We saw one raft go by full of third grade children and one chaperone.  Mike was sure we could take them on, kick them off the rafts, load up our bikes and panniers and ride in style into Missoula before making the evening news. We decided to pass on that option although it was tempting. 

So instead back on our trusty bikes to finish out our ride. 

We didn't have lunch today, but instead several stops where we enjoyed snacks of fresh fruit and granola bars partially due to the lack of amenities along the way. We arrived just outside of Missoula right off of I-90 and stopped at a travel plaza to refill water bottles. It was so hard to walk in there and not buy everything in sight. There was a Subway, Arby's, a deli, a convenience store, and grocery store all in this one building.  I felt like a starved grizzly that just found a huckleberry patch!  I had self control however. We decided to not buy anything, but I seriously don't know how I managed and biked the remaining 6.5 miles into town.  The thought of free icecream rewards must have helped!

So there we went.  Into Missoula, and to the Adventure Cycling headquarters.

We were treated and shown where the icecream and pop was located!

I biked over 750 miles for that icecream. And let's talk about distance for a moment. I signed up for a 750 mile bike trip.  This was definitely 779 miles!

We got to sign in, and looked for the photos of some of our fellow cyclists we had met along the way on the wall of travelers. We found a few familiar faces and added our own. 

It was neat to see where everyone was from and what tours they were taking. 

We confirmed that they had received our bike boxes that they so graciously allowed us to ship to them, and held them for the weeks while we were biking. We will be back tomorrow to deal with packing them up. 

As for tonight, we checked into our B&B which was so cool. We had the attic, and the house had such a neat history. It had been on the University's campus serving a variety of functions throughout the years before the university decided to demolish it. Local historians protested so the university said that anyone with a proposal to get it off campus could have it for free. So they found a construction company willing to take on the task of sawing the brick home in half and moving it across town. The pictures were unbelievable. 

And then we capped off the night by visiting the Tamarack Brewery and walking through downtown. 

The final numbers:

5 National Parks (a ton more state and provincial parks and National Forests)

779 miles

15,000+ feet climbed total

3 times crossed the Continental Divide

2 tubes of sunscreen

0 chasing dogs

5 bear sightings (4 Canadian bears and 1 American bear)

16 days of biking

2 nights of camping

5 breweries visited (2 Canadian)

4? Icecream treats

0 flat tires!!!

526 Miles the final coke was carried

4 loads of laundry 

9 cans of tomato juice consumed by Erin

Day 19: Enjoying Glacier day 2

A big front rolled in last night. It was crazy but a really nice change to the hot temperatures that we had gotten used to. It even brought a tiny bit of rain which the locals were very excited about although it wasn't enough to really make much of a difference. We did pack up this morning to change rooms. 

Mike was sad to leave the pi room.

And our view was amazing.  

We moved into a small cabin later on in the day. I guess that's what happens when you book last minute and only have the availability of cancellation rooms to choose from. Although we were pretty lucky that we were able to stay there for three nights considering it was a holiday weekend. Mike would like to note that I was complaining that we would have to get up semi early to be able to check out by 11 AM. 

Yesterday I learned that we could go paddleboarding on Lake McDonald if we went down to the Apgar visitor center on the west entrance of Glacier. So that was our plan for the day considering that up at the top of the mountain it was 39° with low visibility, so hiking didn't seem too much fun. 

We loaded up on the free shuttle, this time going in the opposite direction. We arrived to Apgar and walked around a little village for a while popping into shops before heading down to the boat dock. Mike went paddleboarding, and I got a one person kayak. It was pretty cool out so we both didn't really want to get in the water. It was pretty windy though and the paddleboard that Mike got was below average quality according to him. He spent most of the time paddling on his knees but then finally got brave enough to stand up once we got to the shore where it wasn't as windy. It would've been a cold day for him if he fell in. 

Even though it was choppy and less than ideal rental equipment, the setting couldn't get any better!

Relaxing in my kayak. 

We then went back into the village for lunch and some huckleberry ice cream. 

They sure do love their huckleberries up here!

Then we headed back to the lodge to shower up and watch the women's World Cup championship game. It seems like lots of other people had that same idea. The small lounge at the lodge was standing room only with only one TV. We quickly were able to get a seat with a group of bikers (the motorcycle kind, not the crazy kind like us).  They were a lot of fun and we had some good conversation during the game. They even bought me a beer because Mike went to the bar to get beers and got distracted by the game. USA won, we had dinner, and back on the bikes tomorrow. 

Day 22: Penultimate day of riding

27.8 to lodging but 35.5 after going to town for food

Today's ride was glorious, except for a few semis. Seriously move over. I'll be glad to get off of this road with no shoulder!

We woke up this morning and got inspired to ride by watching the Tour de France, which inspired some faux commentary in a British accent during our own tour today. I got the polka dotted jersey!

We lubed our chains this morning which helped so much!  My bike was cranky yesterday. We had breakfast and got packed up. Before we left Bud gave us a tour of their photography darkroom. So cool!  They operate photography classes and have a chemistry business. I haven't been in a darkroom since college!  I seriously wish I could stay there for a week printing pictures. Digital is nice, but I still love film especially when you have control on how to print. 

We zoomed today. We left Flathead National Forest and entered into Lolo National Forest. Today was more scenic than yesterday. We even saw snowcapped mountains as we rode along from the Mission Mountain range. 

Knowing today's ride would be short and tomorrow is our last day of riding helped for sure. We were also excited to get to Seeley Lake to be able to enjoy the lake!  I don't know what Mike looks at as he rides. Today's biking conversation went something like "Did you see _____?"  Mike, "nope".  And repeat. 

We arrived at our lodging earlier than we thought. We thought it was in town but it turned out it was a few miles north of town. We were able to check in and were done with our riding by 2 PM. (So this is what it's like if we were ever to get up early to ride...). We headed into town which is about 2 miles down the road for some lunch. Conveniently the lady at the lodge recommended that we eat at 'the ice cream place'. So we did. We also decided to grab some food to cook for dinner since we have a small kitchenette and didn't want to do the ride twice. We found a grocery store and picked up some stuff to make spaghetti and some vegetables. And then headed back out of town, but not without another stop at the icecream place to get actual icecream this time!

Then back to our little lodge where we were able to rent stand-up paddleboards and go enjoy the lake. We paddled across the lake and jumped in before finally paddling back. 

Our cabin is called The Fisherman!

Dinner was cooked, laundry was washed, and it was a pretty good night. Looking forward to heading to Missoula tomorrow!!

Day 21

44.9 miles

We went to breakfast at the Pocket Stone Cafe (the place the cyclist in Columbia Falls had recommended) which was tasty!  Then we had to decide if we were going to bike or stay here due to bad weather. The forecast said the weather should be clear unlike what it said the night before, with a chance of afternoon storms near Condon were we would be staying, so we decided to bike onward. Well, about .3 miles into our ride it started raining when it said 0% chance of rain. They seriously need new weather forecasters up here. They have been majorly off a lot!  We stopped to put on our rain coats and peddled on. 

I was not too thrilled. A few miles in Mike pulled over to wait for me to catch up since I was traveling at a leisurely pace and told me to speed it up after I told him I wasn't having any fun biking in the rain.  Biking in the rain isn't that bad when it comes during your ride, but starting the day that way isn't fun. I thought we only had two days of biking left the day before since we were 85 miles out, but because of lodging possibilities we still had two more days of biking. And my bike was clacking and in need of some fresh lube. All of which combined to make me about as cranky as my bike sounded. 

We stopped by Morley's Canoe shop on the way. We had seen one of their beautiful hand made cedar canoes in Apgar and just happened across their shop while riding so we decided to pop in. It was so neat to see some more of their finished products and the shop where all the work takes place. He even showed us the bicycle jigsaw they cut the cedar with. He says they like it better than the electric jigsaw because you have more control. It's so cool that something made so long ago is a better machine than what we make today. 

Then back to biking. We stopped in the last town we would pass through today for lunch at a pub followed by picking up sandwiches and a six pack of Flathead Brewery beers at the Swan River Trading Post next door. The B&B we were staying at is before the town of Condon so we needed to bring dinner with us to avoid extra miles. The man who made our sandwiches was super friendly and enjoyed chatting with Mike about his love of the Philadelphia Eagles. 

Then back on the road. Our mileage today was less, but it was a long day of riding. I think doing 60 miles yesterday after a few days off was hard on the body and the bottom. Seriously, I would think that my bum would get used to sitting on a bike seat, but it doesn't. It's still just as uncomfortable as you can imagine it would be being on a bike saddle all day. Although, I would have to say after getting my bike fit to me before this trip it was so much more comfortable than the Myrtle Beach trip was (aka no need for Butt Paste!).  

We stopped at a pull off to enjoy the rest of the cherries we had bought the day before and split one of the cans of beer. We then proceeded to have a cherry pit spitting contest. Mike won.  Followed by a hit the can with your cherry pit, which Mike also won. That put me in a better mood. 

We made it Missoula County which means we are getting close!

Then back on the bikes for the final stretch to the Standing Stone B&B. There ended up being a grocery store right near our place so we didn't need to carry our sandwiches all that way, but oh well. They were good.

 I restocked on my new favorite beverage of choice...tomato juice and then off to our B&B. 

Mike booked this place because they have a full darkroom available for use of their guests. He thought I would be super excited, which I was, but I was also super sad I didn't have any film with me. I haven't been in a darkroom since college, and now when I have the chance I don't have any film. Boo. Oh well, now we just have another reason to come back ;)

Bud checked us in and told us goodnight at about 7pm. We went to our room and ate our dinner of sandwiches, chips and beer, and tomato juice of course, on the bed while watching a replay of the Tour of France. It was pretty comical, and at one point Mike just looked over and said 'Happy Honeymoon'. Not quite your average honeymoon evening, but perfect for us. 

Day 20: A Safari?

59.5 miles

Back on the bikes today. We had to make sure we were to Apgar before 11 AM because the stretch of road from Lake McDonald to Apgar closes for cyclists between 11 and 4 since it is the more popular entrance into the park. We flew down that stretch of highway.  It was beautiful and slightly downhill or flat which made for a wonderful ride right along the lake.

Finally finishing the Going to the Sun road. It really was a beautiful ride!

We were both sad to be leaving our final national park, but luckily we didn't have to face true reality because we were in a national forest for most of the rest of the ride. We entered into Flathead National Forest which you may have heard of on the news with the forest fires going on there. We didn't see any of the fires or any smoke, but we did see some roads closed due to the fires and lots of fire vehicles heading toward the fire. We even saw a helicopter carrying a basket of water to dump and a big fire engine tanker pumping water out of the stream to take to the flames. While it is pretty scary stuff, I'm sure my nephew Joseph would've loved to see the real firefighters in action against the forest fire. 

Then we headed into Columbia Falls where we would get lunch. One of my favorite moments of the day was at a major intersection right as we were getting to town. It clearly looked like we should go left to head downtown, but Mike was making sure on the map. He was like "I think this is where we should go left, but the map says turn left at the steam engine and I don't see a steam engine."  I was like "hello there is a huge train engine sitting right next to you" that he claims was hidden behind a tree. All I know is that it must've been a huge tree to hide a whole train engine. 

Anyway, we made our turn and headed through town looking for some delicious places to eat. Some of the workers in Apgar had recommended some places to us so we were on the lookout for those. I ended up getting caught behind Mike at a yellow light along with another cyclist so I got to talking to him. He was local and quite friendly and gave us a delicious lunch recommendation along with some recommendations for the town that we would be spending the night in. 

Then back on the road. Remember that time Adventure Cycling sent me down 4.6 miles of gravel?  My butt sure remembers it. The road was washed boarded out which made the ride even more pleasant.

 And the best part was that the map said it was a lot shorter than 4.6 miles. 

We managed and then made it back onto nice roads with plenty of crops and deer to see along the way. Mike enjoyed learning about the different type of crops and very quickly could identify most of them on his own. The canola fields are beautiful with the yellow flowers. 

We even got brave enough to take a selfie with the canola fields. 

We finally arrived in Bigfork where we would be spending the night and found out that they have their own cherry orchards and so we stopped to buy a bag of cherries before heading to our inn for the evening. 

They tasted as delicious as they look!

We arrived at the Swan River Inn and started to check in thinking we would be getting the cheapest room titled and themed 'leather and lace'. However we found out that we had been upgraded to the wild animal 'safari' room. It was crazy!

There were skulls everywhere, a zebra hide above our bed, an animal hide on our bed, a painted puma on the wall and cats holding up the sink. The view was great though. We had a little deck overlooking the marina on Flatlake Lake. It really was a great little place to spend the night. We washed up and then took a walk to the Flathead Lake Brewing Company. Their beer selections were so great which made it hard to choose.  We even got a table out on the patio overlooking the lake. 

We ended the evening by walking around downtown and keeping an eye on the weather. It looks like tomorrow may have thunderstorms so we may end up spending an extra day here. 

Day 18: Enjoying Glacier

Happy 4th of July!  There really isn't much going on up here because of the firework ban because of how dry it is and the Forest fires happening in the surrounding areas. It was neat to be in Canada for Canada Day and the US for Independence Day though. 

We slept in which was wonderful not having to pack up and hit the road. We looked into taking a historic red bus tour but the shortest one was 3 hours and the thought of being in a car for that long didn't seem appealing. We also talked about putting our bikes on the free shuttle and then riding down again but we both kinda just wanted time off the bike and it doesn't seem fair to enjoy the ride without the sweat. 

So we ended up taking the free shuttle back up to Logan's Pass and hiking.  I was excited to see the views from a car since we whizzed by so fast yesterday. The bike is better than the car tour by far. We hiked to Hidden Lake overlook in hopes of seeing grizzlies. The rest of the trail to the lake was closed because of high activity with the bears there.

No bear sightings but lots of billy goats. 

Nothing says 4th of July like hiking through snow😉

Hidden Lake was quite beautiful!

Then we decided to hike the Highline trail. I should've guessed that me and Highline wouldn't mix since I am afraid of heights. We started and I was taking photos and enjoying it. I don't think I realized where I was and Mike was even impressed that I was taking photos and not holding onto the rail. But then I quickly realized where I was and held on and decided that we needed to turn back.

You can see Going-to-the-Sun road below. 

We were about to turn back and I went back to realize a billy goat and it's baby was following us on this super narrow way high up trail. And have you seen the horns on those things? 

Luckily I had eavesdropped on someone on the bus ride up and heard that if you just put your back into the mountain they will scurry on past. So that is what we did. Miguel was praying to not get a billy goat horn in his midsection. Momma walked on by. The baby waited back and then sprinted past us. Too cute. Then off the trail for us. 

The billy goats are past us. 

The valley below the highline. 

We took the shuttle back down and did a quick hike on the Trail of the Cedars, which is a temperate rainforest. It was perfect and there were haikus written all throughout the trail. 

Mike kept thinking he was a billy goat exploring everything. 

 

Not pictured is Mike trying to hop logs in the stream and him falling in. Billy goat failure. 

Then back to the lodge for dinner and drinks. 

Day 16: Goodbye Canada

61.2 miles

Today was tough, but the good thing is we didn't realize how tough it would be when we started. We woke up and had a delicious breakfast complete with homemade toast, a red/green smoothie and much more. Janet was even kind enough to give us some muffins and peanut butter cookies for the road. 

We hit the road biking knowing we had a lot of miles and elevation to cover. We ended up stopping for a light lunch about 7 miles into riding in Twin Butte. It seemed absurd to stop so early as neither of us were hungry but this was our only place to stop today until dinner. So we stopped and split a taco meal. Even though we weren't hungry, we housed down our meal. We popped in the convenience store to finish spending our Canadian money by getting some more tomato juice and beef sticks. Then back on our way. 

It truly is beautiful in this stretch of land. The prairie fields meeting the mountains is just gorgeous. 

In love with the land. 

About 18 miles in we came across a buffalo paddock that we heard about the night before. We could only see one way off in the distance. There was a road on which you could drive into the paddock but on bikes we figured being out with the buffalo wasn't a great idea. I have seen buffalo a lot before growing up in NoDak but Mike was disappointed since he hasn't seen one before. We enjoyed one of the cokes we have been hauling along. Gotta lighten the load. It saved money buying the six pack but I am not sure the extra weight was worth it. 

Then back to biking. There really were no flat stretches today. It was all either up or down. We entered into our fourth national park, Waterton National Park. We wish we had more time to explore it but had to settle for peddling through, and by through I mean up. Each mile we peddled was one mile closer to the border. I was really sad to leave Canada. I love it up there. Although the hills we had to climb to get to the states made it a little easier to say goodbye. 

We officially biked 500 miles. Further than any bike trip we have done. Now on to uncharted territory. 

While biking through the park we saw several deer and heard one low growl from the brush. That got our legs spinning. We had to stop several times due to the climbing and heat. Mike's fortune of a fan club following from yesterday came true as well, unfortunately his fan following took the form of black flies. They were awful!  We both looked like Pigpen from Peanuts with flies instead of a dirt cloud. And there was nothing to do to get away while going uphill. If I road to close to Mike I got the tail end of his flies along with my own so I kept my distance. At one point I decided I needed a break but couldn't get Mike's attention so I stopped briefly and then he waited at the next pulloff. We devoured the muffins and cookies Janet sent with us as it was late in the day and we split that early lunch. If there was a video of me picking every crumb off the muffin wrapper you all would laugh. 

Saying goodbye to Alberta. 

We biked onward and upward toward the border. It was finally time to say goodbye to Canada and welcome home. Rolling through customs on bike was pretty neat. We got the typical questions followed by how do you all know each other. We told them we just got married. The officers said congrats and quickly followed with,"Is this the honeymoon?"  Yup,yup it is. We are that crazy!

We could see on our maps that we had two small climbs left and then it was mostly flat into Babb where we would eat and St. Mary where we would sleep. Those two small climbs were rough. It was probably just mental thinking they would be smaller and partially fatigue. We stopped part way through to enjoy our beef sticks before hitting a nice descent into Babb. 

It was neat being on the Blackfeet reservation. Our students travel out here each summer to do service with another Lasallian school on the reservation. We were too far off route to visit the school but that would have been neat. We had dinner and talked with some other bikers headed the same direction we were. The lore of the pass was big. Mike even gave me what seemed like a rehearsed pep talk at dinner. It went something like this...

"Erin, tomorrow is the final exam. This is what we have been preparing for. It is the longest, and highest climb yet. It is what all those other climbs have been prepping your billy goat legs for. But the best thing about this exam is that it is untimed. We can take as many breaks as we need and it doesn't have a starting or ending time. We can sleep in. You can do it!"

A Frenchman also came in who biked it today saying it wasn't too terrible, but he is French. He is used to beyond category climbs from the Tour de France. So with those words of encouragement we biked on to St. Mary's. We are staying as close as possible to the park so we don't have extra miles tomorrow.

The sky on the bike rode to St. Mary's was beautiful!

With the mountains looking in the distance I just kept thinking, I have to go up one of those tomorrow. 

We checked into our 'value room' at the lodge. Basically if we were on the Titanic we wouldn't be getting a lifeboat. It was basically a dorm room in the basement without carpeting. It served its purpose though. 

Me trying to carry all my gear to the room with my raincoat not cooperating. 

We went upstairs to grab a drink and ice in preparation for tomorrow. 

Mike enjoying a Going to the Sun IPA in preparation for biking the Going to the Sun road tomorrow. 

Check out my bike glove tan line. My bike short line rivals this. 

I also learned that there is a free shuttle to the top with bike racks!  Why aren't we doing that?  But seriously, at least I know if I can't make it I still have a way up.