On location in Chester, Montana!

Good morning America! We are reporting live from the public library in Chester, Montana: “the heart of the High Line.” The Hi-Line being the railroad, known on Amtrak as the Empire Builder, and known to us as our constant companion. We joined up with the tracks a couple days ago, in Cut Bank, MT, and we will be following them for what seems now like forever. Usually it’s freight trains, filling up with grain or oil and chugging off over the horizon, but once in a while, we see our old friend Amtrak (which we rode from Oakland to Seattle) and we wave! Then we catch up with it, stopped at the station a half hour later. And we laugh. Man are we glad to be on bikes. A Hutterite (it’s a religion, apparently…Wikipedia?) man today told us that “with these high gas prices, people will have to start ridin’ those things around,” and he pointed to our bikes, as if they were some sort of cursed, plagued thing. Well, we love them. So far, they’ve taken us over 1000 miles, through mountains, sage desert, mountains, snow, mountains, Canada, and now, prairie.

Yeah, Canada, I said. We have some catching up to do. Here’s where we’ve been since (much abridged, since we’ve already surpassed our 1 hour time limit in this friendly establishment):

6/27 – Day 9 – Sandpoint, ID to Bull Lake, MT – 64 mi
Still one of our favorite rides. We were ushered into Montana in a flush of green meadows and mountains. Long gradual climbs and descents, following the Bull River, deer and moose watching us from afar, and a campsite on Bull Lake. A morning dip and hot chocolate on the lake.

6/28 – Day 10 – Bull Lake to Lake Koocanusa – 62 mi
Got off to a great start, leaving early and taking our first stop, just as it started heating up, in Libby, Montana! Gorged ourselves at Subway and searched for Libby postcards as it continued to heat up. By 7pm, we were still waiting for it to cool down, and it was still heating up. 98 degrees at 7pm? We rested in the city park, wrote postcards, and left finally at 8pm, winding through a thankfully shady river canyon, climbed up to the level of the locally famous Libby Dam, and pulled in late to our campsite on Lake Koocanusa.

6/29 – Day 11 – Lake Koocanusa to Dickey Lake – 67 mi
Probably our most annoying day of riding yet. Did tiny but steep uphills and downhills for 35 miles, all the while looking across the lake at the flat and placid Highway 37. Next time we’re going that way. By the time we got to our campsite on Dickey Lake, we were literally dragging ourselves through the weak headwind. Luckily we had enough energy to swim/bathe in the lake just before the sun went down. We prefer to swim after hours due to our shockingly distinct tan lines.

6/30 – Day 12 – Dickey Lake to Whitefish, MT – 41 mi
A very fast ride to Whitefish, MT. Even though Libby’s tire blew out about 3 miles away, we were able to grab a new tire from town, replace it, and arrive together in town by 11. There we learned that the road through Glacier, the famous Going-to-the-Sun, was still closed due to a late snowstorm. They kept plowing it and it kept avalanching. We decided to stay in town, with friends of the last friends, had a kebab barbeque, and slept in a bed during a storm. Thank you Alia and Eric! Waited out the morning rain and headed for the Park for at least a view of the mountains.

7/1 – Day 13 – Whitefish to Apgar, Glacier National Park – 32 mi
Got our view of the mountains across Lake McDonald. Truly breathtaking but bittersweet since the road was still closed. It was like the forbidden fruit. We set up an early camp, as it was forecasted to rain and hail. And we got rained on and mosquitoed. All night. Neither of us slept. We were up and out of camp just after 6—still a rainy sky and too sad to stay in the park any longer. We headed for the alternate route to Marias Pass, the lowest pass in the US continental divide.

7/2 – Day 14 – Apgar to West Glacier – 59 mi
Arrived for breakfast to the Isaak Walton Inn, a sort of train museum/hotel. Extended our break to visit their Finnish sauna and warm up. When we emerged, the sun was coming out. I went in to the front desk to return our towels and –lo and behold!—I overheard the clerk say Going-to-the-Sun was open! It had opened that very morning! We joyously retraced our tire tracks for 30 miles, back to West Glacier, and stayed in a motel for a guaranteed rest.

7/3 – Day 15 – West Glacier to Rising Sun, Glacier National Park – 46 mi
Words can’t describe this day. You must see it yourself. And FYI, it’s best on a bike. Gushing waterfalls, wildflowers and lush greenery everywhere, and, of course, GIANT rocky peaks on all sides. A very steep 12 mile climb to Logan Pass, where we saw mountain goats and bighorn sheep, and a steep descent to our beautiful campground on the glacial blue St. Mary Lake.

7/4 – Day 16 – Glacier to Waterton Village, Waterton Lakes National Park, CANADA – 55 mi
The national parks continue! Instead of heading east to the everlasting prairie, we hooked a left and headed north along the mountains to Waterton Lakes National Park. The tiny European village is nestled between the lakes and among the mammoth mountains. Windy and full of cottonwood fluff, whitecaps on the lake, deer in the parks and lying on the lawns, happy Canadians on bikes and on the swings, and for us a vacation from our vacation. We treated ourselves to dinner out and a couple beers to toast the country we were happily not in for its most obnoxious holiday. We also treated ourselve to ice cream, homemade fudge, and Canadian candy. We love Canada. We hesitated to re-enter the States and honestly considered changing our trip to a cross-Canada ride.

7/5 – Day 17 – Waterton Village to Cut Bank, MT – 109 mi
Big day! Our first century (100 miles in a day) and also crossed 1000 miles on our trip odometer. Spent most of the miles in the high Canadian plains—lots of cattle and green grass. Crossed the border at Del Bonita and found that the grass really is greener on the other side. The cows and idyllic pastures of Canada were replaced by good old American wheat fields, grain silos, big trucks, and RVs returning from their 4th of July weekends. With the wind behind us, we almost doubled our average daily mileage and pulled into the sleepy town of Cut Bank in the early evening. With a good prairie wind behind us we can average about 15 mph!

7/6 – Day 18 – Cut Bank to Chester, MT - 69 mi
Which brings us to Chester. A place we will hold dear in our hearts. Though most of town was closed, as it was Sunday night when we pulled in, we found a friendly gentleman at the food mart and kept him company while we ate a can of Pringles, 2 servings of frozen yogurt, and 3 cold sugary drinks. It’s not that we’re starving all the time, it’s just that we’re never full! Finally headed over to the campground—aka the city park—and fell asleep on the green grass before the sky was even dark.

Another late start (damn computers!) but we got to take care of a lot of those old annoying tasks we use to have to deal with in our old lives, so we are happy. We anticipate another week of Montana. We will try to keep ourselves entertained—the joy of travelling quickly with the wind seems to have come with the price of boredom and monotony—70 miles a day of the same vista. So far our funniest moments have been watching each other being chased by horseflies. It’s actually pretty hilarious, until the horsefly starts chasing you instead.

Till next time!