Day 31, 6/8/10 - Hot Springs to Lakeside, MT

Just the Basics: 52 miles with about 1400 feet of climbing - although it felt like more! Perhaps that's because yesterday was also over 50 miles, with 1900 feet of climbing. It was another breathtakingly beautiful day, through forested hills and high-mountain pastures. At one point there were three miles where we were advised to watch for bighorn sheep - we watched assiduously, but no such luck.

Early in the ride we encountered 10 miles of roadwork through which lines of traffic were being guided by pilot cars, and dump trucks rumbled back and forth. It sounded like it might be tough, but, in fact, it was pleasant. Much of the time we had the road to ourselves, when a line of cars came through with their pilot we just waited for them to pass - and construction guys are great. At one spot a guy yelled "Where are you from?" Becky yelled back "We started in Seaside, OR," and he said something like "Good Grief!" Very satisfying. The pilot car drivers would wave as they went back and forth and the dump trucks gave us a wide berth. = ) = )

Today's Photos: (1) A typical view from the road - really! (2) Our 1st view of Flathead Luke; and (3) Becky works on the blog in our charming room at the Sunrise Vista Inn in Lakeside where we found a small bouquet of fresh lilacs and petunias in our room to greet us!

Tomorrow: We expect to ride only about 16 miles, to Kalispell, where there are 2 bike shops (and many other delights). Becky's 2nd to lowest gear in the back has problems Riley can't fix, so we need to see a bike shop mechanic. We were in Kalispell 14 years ago on our ride from Missoula to Glacier Park and have happy memories of the town and surrounding area.

For Those Who Want More:

Hot Springs: More info on the cool Burma Shave-style signs advertising Hot Springs businesses: Becky asked Carole, the proprietress of Loafin' Around (see below) about the great highway signs coming into Hot Springs (see Day 30). She said they were a project of the Chamber of Commerce - along with a very nice big wooden sign in town with a map and directory of local businesses, and planters of flowers throughout town. Later Becky found that the town has a website with information about all this and more.

Loafin' Around: We had breakfast at Loafin' Around, a bakery owned by Carole (didn't get her last name) in a building that was formerly the Cowboy Bar. Carole does all her own baking, including the bread - the whole wheat toast that accompanied our oatmeal was GREAT. We also shared a fresh, warm cinnamon roll - YUM! We think the two hearty peach halves we each got as the fruit cup with the oatmeal may have been home-canned - more flavorful than typical canned peaches and possibly canned with the skin left on. It's a Small World Item: Carole used to sell baked goods out of her home in Yakuts, OR, a town on the OR coast which we visited on a previous bike trip!

A Fellow Biking Enthusiast: Not long after we came through the road construction described above, we stopped for a snack and a rest. A car coming from the other direction pulled over into the same pull-off spot and we were enthusiastically greeted with "You made it!" The driver had passed us coming through the area earlier and thought it would be really hard to bike through - he said he'd "said a little prayer" for us and figured it would take us a long time - he was amazed to see us again so soon! (Actually, as noted it, it was actually pretty pleasant.) Turned out he did a lot of mountain biking and had once biked from Grant's Pass, OR to Coeur D'Alene ID. The world is full of folks who love biking!