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.