Ortonville, MI

Dear Friends,
You'll notice we've posted a new Google Earth (!) satellite view of our tracks across the country, and also that we've changed our route again! Seeing that we would be oh-so-close to Toronto, we couldn't resist. When will we be up this way again? So now, instead of touristy Niagara Falls and endless miles of upstate NY, we'll be crossing the province of Ontario and going through what one Torontan (way back in Waterton Lakes, Alberta) told us is "the most international city in the world." We'll see about that.

We are winding our way through Michigan, where quite unexpectedly we are having the great fortune to rendezvous with some of Libby's college buddies. In Lansing, we campaigned for Obama with Meg/Roni, who took us with her to one of her many house meetings (part of Obama's grassroots organizing master plan). There we met the Democrats of Eaton County, learning what brought each of them to align themselves with the new man--from first-generation Italian brothers who wanted economic equality to guys who'd grown up outside of town and lost their jobs in the closing down of GM factories, insisting on regulating the corporate thieves... Despite our shock at finding ourselves welcomed into a surburban Lansing home (where we also were treated to pizza, showers, and warm beds!), we soaked it right up. It was both insightful and inspiring, and we left with one more "purpose" to our trip: Obama!

Delightfully, we have another "meeting" scheduled with Libby's friend Rush in Grosse Pointe, on the north end of the Detroit sprawl. Other than that, our lives on the road are quite free of commitments. Each morning we unfold our free AAA maps, carefully pick out the most ideal path, and dive in. Our criteria? Secondary roads, ice cream parlours, and good camping spots. So far, Michigan has offered the worst road conditions--somehow always the most rutted within 2 feet of the shoulder, aka our "bike lane"--along with the fastest, most daring drivers, together providing for some harrowing rides that leave us feeling like embattled heroines. Each day we are more proud.

Looking forward as ever to our future destinations and relishing our freedom to choose our own meandering route to the east, thanks to our high mileage back in the first half.

Love to all.

MADISON, WI

For those of you who have been paying close attention, our route has changed! We began meandering off our prescribed route way back in Rugby, ND, and we've even changed our projected route. Check the google map by clicking the satellite photo above. We are off to Milwaukee, Michigan, and Ontario. Maybe Toronto!

Until next time.

Greetings from the Twin Cities

Good morning, good afternoon, and goodnight! We are joining you live from the capital of the great state of Minnesota--"not just for Lutherans anymore," or so claimed a billboard we saw today. We are now one month and over 2,000 miles into our journey, averaging about 70 miles a day. Having taken 0 rest days for a full month, we have been making great time and found ourselves in Minneapolis (more than halfway!) with time to spare. So, we finally took a day off. We trucked through northern Minnesota so that we could get to MPLS on Saturday night to see the city at its best. Since then, we've taken ourselves out to about 7 "large adult" meals, got drunk off of 2 beers, saw the new Batman movie, and, most importantly, took our bags off of our bikes, changed into regular clothing, and walked and looked like normal people again (or at least as close as we'll ever get). And enjoyed being in our first city of the trip. Oh what a relief it is.

But let's take it back for a moment to where we left you last, in good old Chester, MT, which to us, in bike time, seems like about 4 years ago. It took us about 3 of those years to get the hell out of Montana. No offense, but it got to be pretty drab, and we kind of adjusted our expectations to hoping, but not knowing for sure, that we'd someday cross the border into a different, less eastern Montana-y state. We logged 5 more warm prairie days along the forlorn Highway 2, including a 110-mile day that included not one but two flat tires for Lindsay and ended in a 100-year-old "resort" at a natural hot springs outside of Saco. We imagined that when this place opened, it was pretty sweet. Indoor and outdoor pools, water slides, natural hot tub, and pleasant accommodations. Now it seems to be slipping into oblivion. We opted to stay inside, as they were the self-proclaimed mosquito capitol of the country (although this is a surprisingly contested superlative). The nice women at the front desk also was kind enough to tell us about the cyclist who had just died there a couple weeks before. Then she gave us "one of the nice rooms" in the newer part of the motel. It only had one cigarette smashed into the carpet, a half-eaten Pop Tart, and an unflushed toilet to boot. At least no mosquitos though. We have been running from them ever since.

Our last night in Montana was a holy one: we found refuge from the maneaters this time in the town church, where we somehow caught up with 8 other cyclists doing the same route. We scooted away from there in the morning and began to wander ever further off the route to avoid meeting them again. We rolled into Williston, North Dakota with the wind at our backs. The gusts were up to 40 mph that day, and when we were headed hard east, we averaged about 20 mph. No pedalling necessary. Williston was quite disappointing and we hurried away again before the other cyclists could catch sight of us. We found a wonderful haven that night at a mom-and-pop resort along the shores of Lake Sakakawea, where we slept in a tepee and sampled their famous dishes--pan-fried walleye and Juneberry pie. Our favorite night in North Dakota however (without much competition) was in the 200-person town of Makoti, where we pulled into their town park just as they were wrapping up their 97-year anniversary picnic. They immediately piled our plates full of pasta salads and home-baked desserts, and we followed dinner with spectating their rubber-ducky race in the gutter and a local woman's Powerpoint presentation on her job driving a tractor across Antarctica to the South Pole. We love you, Makoti.

We crossed into Minnesota through Grand Forks, and by then were quite happy to escape N-Dak as well. We found Minnesota to fulfill the promis of many North Dakotans, who told us how pretty it is, and that there are a lot of trees. It felt like a giant oasis after the plains. Lakes just about every mile, more people enjoying themselves outside of the cars/RVs, but again, lots of mosquitos. Another capitol! We stayed our first night in a storm shelter at an RV park and since have had to stay indoors. Open-air sleeping is apparently impossible, as Minnesotan skeeters have no curfew. And man, do they know how to drink.

On the 17th, an ambitious three days from Minneapolis, we made it about 3 miles out of the RV park when Libby had her second tire blow out. A new tire at that! Luckily, we had spares with us, as we had learned our lesson back in MT. Unluckily, we had "misplaced" our pump, which wasn't working that well anyway, back in Minot, ND, in front of the mall sports shop where we bought new tires. We could just imagine it sitting there. So we stuck out our thumbs as our hopes of reaching Minneapolis dwindled and melted away. When all of a sudden (well, not that suddenly), a yellow truck turned around on the highway and 2 friendly women invited us to hop on in--to the bed, that is. It was a windy ride toward the town of Bemidji until their sister, who happened to also be headed that way, also pulled over and offered us to ride in her warm, spacious, American-made car. Our 2-vehicle caravan delivered us to a bike shop in Bemidji, 60 miles toward our destination in a mere one hour. We celebrated by eating a lot of food, ice cream, and cotton candy. Then we actually rode our bikes 70 more miles, 20 of which were on a paved, off-road bike trail! We were happy girls.

Our little mishap ended up being a blessing in disguise, as we had to truck 170 more miles in 2 days to make it to Mpls, barely escaping a giant dark mad scary storm, and navigating through a suddenly harrowing urban land of freeways, dead ends, and no one knowing how to bike anywhere. Mpls was a wonderful respite of trees, lakes, and greenways. Yummy organic food and outdoor patios, perfect weather, and lots of happy white people. And finally even some non-white people. Yay!

It's back to the daily grind for us. We're headed down the mighty Mississippi, then over to Madison and Milwaukee, and across the great lake into Michigan and Canada again!

Love to all.

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!