Two Wheels: September 5-11

Sunday, September 5. All across Wyoming we’d pointed our front wheel toward Yellowstone. Then at the very doorstep, we had second thoughts. Heavy holiday traffic with no shoulder to ride on…mmm, no thank you! Instead, we found a gravel road that cut west across  the northern end of the Tetons into Idaho. “We can do gravel!” we said. So we did! We ended up at a very nice and eerily quiet campsite near the top of our climb across the ridge.

Monday, September 6. Today was meant to be a relatively easy day. Mostly downhill and flat into Ashton, ID. Instead, in the words of a fellow cyclist, the road was “kind of chunky”. Loose, bone jarring chunky gravel road. Not so easy, it turns out. Turns out, also quite by accident, we found ourselves, on the Continental Divide mountain bike route. Consequently we came across more riders in one morning than we’d met our entire trip so far. All were planning to ride all the way from Canada to Mexico. That’s some pretty hard core stuff.

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In Ashton we gorged on excellent pizza, then rode another six miles to a spot along the Henry Fork River. What looked to be a quiet place to camp was a veritable animal menagerie. We caught the Sandhill Crane rush hour after work. Hundreds came flying over on their commute home, all making their distinctive call. Up the road hundreds of cows were bellowing and bawling…not really sure what was going on there. Nearby a lively community of coyotes was having choir practice. Not to be outdone, the elk joined the chorus. Interesting night!

Tuesday, September 7. Best stop so far. Falls Drug store in St Anthony. We enjoyed a hearty breakfast for $3.77 each! You read that right. Unheard of! The huckleberry malt we had for breakfast dessert cost more. (You realize breakfast dessert is a thing, right?) The rest of the day alternated between sublime and sadistic. Sublime, flat, smooth, tailwind assisted riding gave way to rough gravel that led out into a sadistic Mad Max waterless wasteland. Back in civilization, Shane at the sheriff’s office gave us permission to camp next door in the Dubois city park. A lovely end to a long day.

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Wednesday, September 8.  To say the landscape today was butt ugly would be an insult to ugly butts everywhere.

In addition to the bleak landscape, people here seem not “too full of the milk of human kindness”. Those who acknowledge our presence at all, do so with a sort of sullen indifference. Sorry Idaho, you’re not winning hearts and minds. After forty unpleasant miles we decided to bag it and hitch a ride north. Right! Did I mention sullen indifference? What kind of people ignore two frail (yet friendly) senior citizens – literally in the middle of nowhere? For an hour and a half! In 90+ degree heat! We were not thinking kind thoughts of Idaho or Idahoans when Rob circled back to see if we needed anything. He then drove us 20 miles past his turn off to drop us in the nearest town. Well played. Faith in humanity partially restored. (Note to Idaho…the rest of you are not off the hook yet).

The scenery did improve as we moved north. Unfortunately we could see very little of it because of the dense smoke and ash from all the fires. The smell was so overpowering we sought refuge in a B&B in Baker.

Thursday, September 9. Another unhealthy, smoky, smelly day. We biked into Salmon and decided to play thumb roulette again. Craig seemed awesome. Offered to drive us forty miles north to the top of Lost Trail pass. Conversation started with his high end custom car building business. ( He’s the real deal). By the end we were hearing about gov’t death threats because he’d discovered a cure for cancer. We were super grateful for his generosity. We were super grateful to have survived the wild ride in his mega customized (insanely fast) 1,000 hp pickup truck. We were extremely grateful to be out of the truck and back on two wheels again! Apparently hitch hiking is also of like a box of chocolates…

By days end we’d arrived in Darby, MT. Local veterinarian Tom and wife Barbara graciously allowed us to set up behind their clinic. Not only that, but also gave us great local beta on the best food, and stopped by after work to make sure we had everything we needed. Thanks Tom and Barbara

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Friday, September 10. Early start. Huge breakfast in Darby then our longest day yet! I’d like to talk about the beauty of the Bitteroot mountains, but we could only just make out their faint outline through the smoke. Basically, just a long day! We were excited to stay with Ethel, our Warmshower host for the evening. We met 83 year old Ethel bike touring through Alaska! She and her 70 year old friend biked from Seward to Fairbanks. So what’s your excuse? While at Ethel’s we met Whitney, her other guest for the evening. Whitney has biked most of the way across country by herself and was a joy to be with. By evening’s end we’d made plans to spend some time biking together.

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Saturday, September 11. After biking 12 miles across town, Mark graciously ferried us 62 miles into Polson. From there we rode another 13 miles along Flathead Lake to Blue Bay campground. Meanwhile, Ethel’s neighbor Ann was showing Whitney the sights and eventually dropped her off at camp. We had a fun evening with Whitney swapping stories around the first campfire of our trip.

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Perhaps you noticed that during this past week there has been a significant amount of vehicle assisted travel. While we are still very much looking forward to more bike touring, we are ready for this portion of our journey to be over. So today we purchased a ride on Amtrak to take us from Whitefish to Bellingham. We still have a few days to bike and see the sights of northern Montana, but the end is now in sight. Definitely a bittersweet moment, but after 3+ months of two wheel travel we can begin to imagine some new adventures. Maybe a bicycle tour with Whitney around Mt Rainier. Perhaps some hiking, or sea kayaking, or day rides on empty bikes. So many different ways to seize the carp!