Day 29 – Beyond Hope... Idaho

Date: Friday, 12 August 2016

Time on Bike: 6:43:02

Total Travel Time: 10:33:03

Miles Covered Today: 80.21

Total Trip Miles: 1,845.0

Average Speed: 11.9, Maximum Speed: 32.7

From: Libby, MT

To: Hope, ID

(Uploaded on 23 Aug 2016)

Day 2 traveling with Jenn, Carl, and Rachel.

Funny, but I didn’t check my wind app anymore after starting to travel with the gang… I didn’t care! I just knew we all had to deal with it and move on. And I was no longer concerned about shoulders (or lack thereof!!) on the roads either. Cars now have 4 cyclists to get around - deal with it!! Safety in numbers maybe. I had company to bike with now. Somehow the climbs are shorter and easier. I felt safer. This is the way to travel by bike… in a small group!

The gang came over to our hotel and we all headed out together. Bunny & Woz stayed back and relaxed in the hotel room as they would catch up with us later in the day.

It was just a spectacular morning!

We were back on good ol' HW 2 again but now following the Kootenai River.

So… I feel I gotta talk about these crosses located beside the roads all over Montana. I am pretty sure I had previously also seen them in North Dakota as well… This is a sign I saw a while back that explained what that is all about.

So this is a sad and tragic marker then. Five crosses. Five people died at this location in a traffic accident. Wiped out an entire family I suspect. Or two separate incidents then maybe??

I did a little Google search and found out that Montana chapters of the American Legion have been putting crosses on Montana roads for 50 years. Each one represents one person killed in that spot in a car crash. The crosses are made from scrap metal and painted white.

So I asked the question what happened if I were to die in a traffic accident in Montana. Would I too get a cross?? Or would I get a Star of David. Never seen one of those... or a Crescent for that matter.

Carl’s comeback was that maybe Christians are just worse drivers than other religions… Or maybe it is just the numbers game. Minorities are just that. Minorities.

In any case, I think the reason there were so many markers along the roads on Montana was that the speed limits are just too freaking high for many of those narrow two lane highways. 70 MPG. Really? I was told there were no speed limits on roads in Montana not too long ago. That explains a lot!

Back to cycling. Much safer I think.

We stopped at the Kootenai Falls Park. Almost missed it. I think Carl wanted ice cream! I liked this about this group. They were always game to stop and check something out. Not every cyclist is so open. That is probably why they have stayed together as a threesome for all these months.

I got to play with a bear…

We walked down to the falls. I think this was the first hike I have taken while on my bike trip. It wasn’t even half a mile… but it felt strange. But it was well worth the effort. Very, very cool!!

Hard to capture in pictures... maybe this video will help give you a better idea of how awesome this was!

On the way out, I passed a woman that I could tell by the way she was working with her 5-month old pup was a service dog-in-training.

So I asked. Yup! His name was Dewey and he was being trained for Dogs with Wings. We talked for a while and I eventually had to let them go down to the falls. Makes me happy to meet other puppy raisers, no matter what the organization!

We soon took a left on HW 56. This was a beautiful 35-mile stretch of highway. Paralleling first Lake Creek and then Bull River. It is for stretches of road like this that I think I do this.

I was one happy cyclist!

Bunny & Woz passed us on the road and I sent them up to what was supposed to be a store or restaurant. When we arrived at the store.... closed!

And no Bunny! And no cell service to figure out where she was…

Did I mention AT&T sucks?

Carl tried to use his charm to talk them into opening early. Usually his charm works. This time, not! He was at least able to get everyone’s water bottle filled up!

We got back on our bikes and within half-a-mile we found Bunny & Woz hanging out in the shade on the entrance road to a farm.

It is always such a treat to be able to see Bunny & Woz during the day. Bunny does not know how much I (now we!!!) appreciate all she does for us. Being a sag wagon driver is no easy task! And Woz is icing on the cake! I think Rachel has fallen in love with our boy.

We continue our way along HW 56. The road follows the water.

I came across a fisherman and asked him what he is fishing for. Not surprisingly it is trout. These waters are cold!

At the junction of HW 56 we took a right on HW 200 and stopped at Big Sky Pantry. Ya cannot roll past ice cream!!!!!!

I had been seeing signs and posters for huckleberries all day long. So I wanted to actually eat some!

You can imagine my dismay when the woman behind the counter tells me they do everything they can to avoid huckleberries. HUH????

We all find something to eat/drink and take a break. Sometimes it is hard to get the gang back on the road… Lack of momentum? The price of traveling with others I guess.

We knew we were close to crossing state lines as we cycled west along the Cabinet Gorge Reservoir.

We passed the Welcome to Montana sign but… no Idaho sign????? You know it is all about getting those pictures at state lines!!! I asked a local and he said it is up the road a bit still. I was first to get there. Another state! YEAH!!!! And we will be in & out of Idaho in a day.

I used my helmet as a tripod for my iPhone and took a group shot. Not the best picture my helmet has taken...

No sooner than we took our pictures, a couple cycled by. I yelled at them. It was Helen & Vincent from Holland. Safe travels fellow cyclists!

It was getting late in the day. Staying at a campground tonight with the gang. Bunny wasn’t happy about that, but we had no other options! It was the only game in town at our final destination today.

We were now following the Clark Fork River to… Clark Fork!

I had asked Bunny to meet us in Clark Fork. We arrived and I couldn’t find Bunny & Woz at our normal meeting places. I cycled to both parks, to the schools, and through every street in between in this little town… without luck!

No cell coverage (surprise!!!) so I didn’t know what to do. The guys were chillin’ at Clark Fork Pantry. I went inside and explained my concerns to the guy behind the counter. My wife was missing! I asked if I could use their landline to call the campground to see if they were maybe already there. He readily agreed. He also let me know it was a local call… so I wondered if it wasn’t a local call would that have meant he wouldn’t have let me use the phone????

I called Beyond Hope campground… no answer. I leave a frantic message and someone picked up just as I am about to hang up. I started to go through it all again and she stops me and said she was listening to my message as I left it. No cyclists had checked in yet. I explained it was our sag wagon. A red Prius. No she said. I mention that it was also with a dog in training to be a guide dog. Oh... then she says. They have been here for a while!!!!

Woz was the key… again! Had I just mentioned Woz in the first 20 seconds of my call I would have known they were there!!!!!! I asked her to pass on that we were in Clark Fork and heading their way.

Have I ever mentioned that AT&T sucks as far as cell phone overage??

I bought some food and sat down to eat. The guys were about ready to head out but I was just sitting down! I found out there is Wi-Fi and logged in with the password Rachel gave me. I then got a picture via text from Bunny…

I guess they have been having fun at the lake!!!

We rode the 5 miles or so to Beyond Hope Resort Campgrounds.

As we rolled down the last hill to the campgrounds a woman driving the other way yelled out from her car “they are at site 6"! I guess four people on bikes loaded with gear are hard to confuse with RVs and travel trailers!!

We find site 6 and everyone starts to set camp. It takes me the longest as we have the most stuff. By the time I have unpacked the Prius to get to our tent, set that up, hooked up my 120-volt system (first and only time it was used) to blow up our air mattress, and moved all our stuff into the tent, everyone else had already showered and was eating dinner!

Bunny, Woz & I walked to the lake to see the sunset. It was fantastic.

Even Woz seemed to enjoy the view…

It was an awful night’s sleep. Two RVs decided to build a campfire and party. Bunny went out at 11 PM and again at 12:20 AM to ask them to be quiet. As she explained to me after the second request, they looked at her as if “you would have thought I asked them to drink gasoline!”. Not that funny at 12:30 in the morning...

Needless to say, getting up the next morning and packing up all our crap and hitting the road was difficult to say the least…

Bunny is right again. NO MORE CAMPING!!

A little video for your enjoyment as our boy Woz enjoys swimming in Lake Pend Oreille!

Some more pictures from a great day of cycling!