Best of pics and final shaggy pic

Here it is, the final shaggy picture. I will be hitting the barber a little after this post.
To answer some of the bike issue questions. I would say I broke the chain around 8 times. I got 3 new chains then just fixed the link. I never broke a chain before this trip. An estimate on flat tires would be 15, but 5 of those were in 2 days and another 5 were because I kept using tubes with patches. I think I made it the last 1200 miles without a flat since I was using good tubes. I didn't have any busted spokes after I got the rear wheel fixed at Pinedale WY. I broke 2 good seats. Threw away 1 cheap seat and am still using the 2nd cheap seat.

I went through all of my pictures and picked out what I thought were some of the best.

Thanks again for following along.

Big A signing off.

Day 148

Miles 68.9 Total for trip 5497.25
Avg spd 11.85
Max spd 35.58
Climb 3022
Alt chng --800

Today was it, the last time I would be packing up my tent, sleeping bag, air mattress, sandals, etc. I was going to try and make it to Boise today since I would have a lot of slow downhill and only one big hill out of Horseshoe Bend. I made it to Banks by 1pm and saw it was only 14 miles to Horseshoe Bend so I figured it would be no problem making it to Boise. It is funny how you remember hills. I have biked the Horseshoe Bend Hill before and remembered it to be around 600ft in a few miles. Turned out to be 1600ft in 5 miles, took about 1.5hrs to get up it. From there it was downhill to my last Mcdonald's run. I was finishing up my cone and my parents stopped by and gave me a ride for the last couple miles.

I am really happy I made this trip. I suggest if anyone has ever thought about taking a long trip of any kind to try and do it, because you might not get the chance next month, or next year.

What to do now? I am not sure, but it will involve getting a hair cut and beard trim. I will be going through my pictures and putting a best of set in my cool pics in a week or so.

Oh yeah, I think getting a job will be high on the list.

Things I will not miss from the trip: blowing up my air mattress every night, eating the same dried food for breakfast and most dinners.

Things I will miss from the trip: waking up in a different spot each morning, meeting great people, talking with other bikers about their trips, riding in new areas, seeing nature, and many more I currently can't think of.

Thanks for following along. I hope everyone enjoyed the trip, I know I did.

Day 147

Miles 36 Total for trip 5428.35
Avg spd 13.43
Max spd 29.22
Climb 250
Alt chng --3200

Cold!Cold!Cold! I rolled out of the tent about 8am to find ice on my tent. Mike left his pot with water on the picnic table and it had 1/2 inch of ice in it. I figured if I could get to the top of the pass fast I could coast down and get warmed up. The top turned out to be less then 1 mile. If I only knew. I coasted for around 8 miles, then I had a nice slow downhill. I am glad I had an easy day cause I broke my chain about 3 miles out of Lowman. I had to use my last link to fix it. Traffic was not too heavy so I decided to try and make it to Banks. I only made it about 5 miles and my chain broke again. Luckily it was right near a campground. I had to take a link out to fix it. Who knows how it will work, I will find out tomorrow.

Day 146

Miles 54.72 Total for trip 5392.35
Avg spd 9.70
Max spd 22.56
Climb 1939
Alt chng ++1243

Still going up today. It has been a long slow climb for the last 3 days. I should reach the top today or come very close to it. I stopped in Stanley to take a rest and eat lunch. About 8 miles out of Stanley I ran into a couple my parents know by the name of Albers. They offered me something to eat & drink if I made it to Bull Trout Lake later today. Thanks for the offer, but I ran out of gas and stopped at a campsite right on HWY 75. I stayed with another biker that left Missoula a few days before I did. We talked for a while, it looks like Mike is moving to Boise and look for a job.

Feels like it will be cold tonight.

Day 145

Miles 56.63 Total for trip 5337.63
Avg spd 10.22
Max spd 25.74
Climb 1892
Atl chng ++1200

Today I would be going through Challis ID. I was still on the 93 and would be getting on HWY 75 at Challis. I actually found an Idaho Statesman in Challis. The first time I have read that paper in about 5 months. I found a nice campground. I was the only one there which was surprising for Labor Day Weekend.

A day of coasting...

It seems Big A rode about 35 miles today and lost more than 3000 feet of elevation.

From sitting in front of the computer it appeared to be a pretty easy day.

Ride time was about 3 hours so he was averaging 12 MPH.

Day 144

Miles 35.38 Total for trip 5281.00
Avg spd 11.89
Max spd 26.61
Climb 950
Alt chng ++642

I got to bed a little late last night so I got a late start today. Still riding on the 93. Not much going on today, just a very slow climb today, 600ft in 35 miles. Much easier then the climb into Idaho. Found a nice free camp spot. during dinner there was a very windy storm for around an hour. My tent poles are going to be retired after the trip. I have to put a band aid on one of them to keep it standing up.

Day 143

Miles 20.41 Total for trip 5245.62
Avg spd 10.70
Max spd 23.14
Climb 491
Alt chng ++370

I woke up this morning and found out I set up camp a little too close to some big trees. My tent was dive bombed many times during the night. I did some serious washing on the outside of the tent. It looks like the birds eat a lot of berries in this area. Had a short day to Salmon today. I found a nice place to watch the BSU/Oregon game. Go Broncos.

Day 142

Miles 42.23 Total for trip 5225.21
Avg spd 10.84
Max spd 30.95
Climb 2654
Alt chng --570

Today was the big climb. I would be climbing to around 7000ft. The climb turned out to be 2492ft. there was a nice rest area at the top. I ate lunch and rested for a couple hours. For the remainder of the trip I have no set plan on how far I will be riding on any given day. I will try to do from 35-40 miles and find the next good camping area. today I found a nice spot about 20 miles out of Salmon.

Day 141

Miles 46.89 Total for trip 5182.98
Avg spd 10.37
Max spd 21.40
Climb 1247
Alt chng ++1020

Waking up this morning I did not know how far I was going to ride. I am waiting for some serious climbing that will happen before the Montana/Idaho boarder. I have been real happy with the shoulder and occasional bike path on the 93. It has been a very slow climb all day today. I ended up making it to Sula MT, only 13 miles to Idaho.

Day 140

Miles 43.78 Total for trip 5136.09
Avg spd 11.09
Max spd 27.48
Climb 832
Alt chng ++295

Sorry no pics for today's upload.

Today I woke up early to get to the USPS and retrieve my food package. I took a quick glance at the map to get directions to the post office. I was on Reserve St and could not find the post office. I called the USPS finally got through to a live person and was told there was no post office on Reserve St in Missoula MT. I went to a convenience store grabbed a pop and checked out the map. The guy at the store told me the grocery store had a USPS pick-up location in the store. My package was not there and did not make it on their delivery. I called the main office and found my food package. I finally got my package around 4.00pm hit the locale Mcds and was out of Missoula around 4.45 pm.

My map showed a campground around 20 miles out of Missoula. I couldn't find it so kept on riding. It was getting dark, I thought I might have to ride all the way to Hamilton. Around 10 miles out of Hamilton I found a nice spot a little of the 93 that would work for a campsite for the night.

Day 139

Miles 25.05 Total for trip 5092.31
Avg spd 9.72
Max spd 35.58
Climb 1172
Alt chng ++318

Today looked to be an easy ride because of the extra miles yesterday. It all depended on the state of the construction on HWY 93. The construction was all done the first few miles out of Arlee. I saw a left lane closed sign and thought the next 10 miles were going to be rough, no shoulder and a very small lane. I noticed on the other side of the freeway there was a finished road except the asphalt had not been poured. I got on the other side and ended up riding the last 10 miles with a couple lanes to myself. I was lucky it was a Sunday and the construction crews had the day off. Looks like the KOA tonight and tomorrow I will pick up my last food drop at the post office.

Day 138

Miles 57.84 Total for trip 5067.26
Avg spd 11.73
Max spd 32.69
Climb 1839
Alt chng ++75 Yes this is a sunrise. I figured this morning would be my last shot at getting a nice sunrise picture. I got up around 6 am to get the shot plus I did not know how far I was going to ride today. I did not see any campgrounds along today's route.

I changed my bike seat last night and it seems to be helping. I was about 30 miles in today by 11am and felt great. I thought 45 miles sounded ok today. I spotted a sign saying $10 for campsites in St. Ignatious. I got into the town, went to the local grocery store to get a couple bananas(yes fresh fruit), soup, and some chocolate. I asked the teller if she knew where the campground was, she didn't. She did tell me I could camp at the dam, but to take a gun because of the bears. I had spotted a small motel down the road, for kicks I went in to see about the price. He said $50 cash and said the motel across the road would be cheaper. He also said the campground closed down. I went to the motel across the road which was $49, plus a $5 deposit and had no phone or TV. She said it was a bad deal and I might want to check the campground that the other guy said was closed. I decided to keep riding. I found a nice RV park outside of Arlee MT and was glad I kept riding.

I saw a the dreaded road construction sign next 14 miles just after the campground. I am hoping the construction will not be very bad. I had a great dinner of wheat mac, mushroom soup, and a cheese broken up in the concoction. MMM....good

Day 137

Miles 25.52 Total for trip 5009.42
Avg spd 10.26
Max spd 29.22
Climb 1277
Alt chng ++101 It is tough duty but someone has to do it. I got to Big Arm State Park fairly early. I set up camp and found a nice spot right on the bank of Flathead and read for a while. Possibly might have taken a nap. Watched the locals sail their boats. After a few hours of relaxing I went into the big city of Big Arm to see about getting some soup. I saw the grocery store, but it turned out to be closed for good. A local said that Big Arm is closed for business since the Italian Restaurant in town also closed. After such a hard day I should be able to sleep like a baby.

Day 136

Miles 40.60 Total for trip 4983.90
Avg spd 11.50
Max spd 32.69
Climb 1426
Alt chng --39 I officially feel like I am on my way back home. Today took me on the 93 along Flathead Lake. With the rolling hills I almost feel like back on the coast. I was told the West Shore State Park is a nice quite park. It was really quite. It was just me and the host on loop A with just a couple campers on loop B. I was talking with the host who said the park will be closing in just a couple weeks. I went by some hometown fast food places that said they will be closing Aug 31st. I guess once school starts it really slows down in this area.

The park has a couple mile trail that takes you to the top of a little hill to get some great pictures. I hiked for a little while around the lake and got some nice pics. Tomorrow it is just a little way to the next park I will be staying at.

Days 134 & 135

I had a couple days off. Rode around the area for about 30 miles, did some laundry, and went to see the movie Hangover for the second time on the trip. Tomorrow I will be riding along Flathead Lake which is the largest lake West of the Mississippi. I plan on camping at a couple state parks near the lake on the way to Missoula.

Day 133

Miles 53.59 Total for trip 4943.30
Avg spd 10.50
Max spd 31.82
Climb 2184
Alt chng ++511 It looks like I am on my way back home. I will be staying on or close to HWY 93 for the next 10 or so days and slowly make my way over the Idaho boarder. I road from Eureka to Whitefish MT today on the 93. There is some construction from Poulson MT to Missoula, but it sounds like it is winding down. If it gets too bad I will find a frontage road or another highway.

I got to the Whitefish State Park around 7 pm and got a nice hiker/biker campsite. I was going to go to Glacier for a couple days, but decided to just stay at Whitefish Lake for a couple. The park is located right on the lake, but is also located about 100ft from a much used train track. I was warned about it before I went to bed. If a person is a heavy sleeper I could see them waking up in a pool of sweat, thinking something is on its way through their tent. I had no trouble since I am a light sleeper.

Day 132

Miles 30.70 Total for trip 4889.71

Avg spd 11.57

Max spd 27.48

Climb 636

Alt chng --488 I tried to get over the boarder, but was denied. I made my way back to Eureka and was happy to find a city park where I could stay for only $5 per night. I met a real nice couple from New Hampshire. Joe and Maggie are going from Maine to Portland. Once they get to Portland they plan on living there. We stayed up sharing funny stories until around 11pm. The next morning they were going to try a Bubba Burger so I ate lunch with them. I tried the Aussie, it had a burger topped with fried onion, a slice of beet, and a fried egg. It was great.

If you would like to check out their blog here is their link: www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/5363

What border delay?

I crossed it for about 10 feet. Just far enough to turn around and cross back into the good old U.S.A. It seems that Canada does not want anyone from the states to come into their beloved country that has any transgressions on their resume in the last 5 years. I unfortunately have transgressed within that time limit. Oh well, I might spend a few more days in Glacier.

P.S.- I was just thinking on my ride yesterday that summer was just about over and many schools were starting up......hope everyone had a great summer and have a happy new school year.

p.s.s- It was a generic bean & bacon. I am not saying it wasn't good, I am just saying I am glad no one else was in the tent, or near the tent for the night.

What is the border delay?

Aaron has been at the border crossing for 20 minutes now. What is the hold up? I can't imagine he wants to chat will Canada's border and law enforcement personnel. Maybe, given the Canadian love for donuts, there is a Tim Horton's right on the border and Aaron decided to pick up a dozen. My guess is he is having the fun of unpacking his gear so the authorities can go through it. I'm betting he'll have a border crossing story from each direction. Any takers for the bet?

Bubba Burger!!!!!

Yes there is a burger under the shrimp and sausage. This burger was voted the best burger on Regis & Kelly show. The governor even stopped by and tried one. It was great and the double scoop of ice cream was just as good.

Off to Canada.

Day 131

Miles 51.42 Total for trip 4859.01
Avg spd 9.57
Max spd 33.56
Climb 2164
Alt chng ++2135 I started with a awesome 10 miles downhill today. So awesome I lost a brake pad. I will have to use only my front brakes until Eureka, where I hope to get a small enough metal plug so I can use an emergency brake pad I have kept. I was having a good day, but my bike was not. After about 24 miles my gears began to slip and it was making for a rough day. I ran into a couple who were biking and they pointed me to a nice spring that was along the side of the road. They own a cabin and all the people fill up their water from the spring. While I was stopped at the spring my rear tire was having trouble so I took off all my gear and expected to be there a while fixing my bike. What a nice surprise I got when I found it was just a loose bolt on the rear wheel that was causing all the trouble.

I made it to the top of the last hill on the U.S. side of The Divide Ride. I had a nice 2000ft drop into my campsite for the night. Did a little hiking, reading, and ate dinner.

Day 130

Miles 32.70 Total for trip 4807.59

Avg spd 6.32

Max spd 28.64

Climb 3408

Alt chng ++2492

I am getting back on trail out of Whitefish. Today is my last big climb. I will be going from 3200ft to about 5700ft. The climbing will take place the first 10 miles of the day and the last 10 miles. I went along the east side of Whitefish lake for the first 6 miles today. It is a nice ride on a paved road. It must be a favorite ride for the locals. I saw quite f few riders today along the lake. The road turned to dirt after the lake and I saw no more riders. I was going to stop at Upper Whitefish Lake and take a break, maybe stop for the night. When I got to the lake all the sites were full so I decided to finish the climb and stop at Red Meadow Lake. I was glad I did. It was a free campsite with great picnic tables. I was camped about 10 feet from the bank of the nice little lake.

I tried something new for dinner tonight. I don't recommend bean & bacon condensed soup after a bike ride.

It is official, New Mexico easily wins the worst road award. Montana wins for the best free campsites.

Day 129

Movie day.


I decided to take the day off and catch a couple more movies.

District 9, a rental. It was a different movie, sort of sci-fi/horror.

GI Joe, see it if you have 2 hours to burn and nothing else is going on. I didn't really want to see this movie, but figured since I got a free refill on soda and popcorn I would see it.

Day 128

Miles 29.23 Total for trip 4774.89
Avg 10.92
Max spd 31.82
Climb 461
Alt chng --13 I forgot to post this picture. It is at Logan's Pass on the top of Going to the Sun Road.

Today I road from Galcier to Whitefish MT. I was on HWY 2 again for most of the day. Not much going on since I had been on this leg a few days ago. I found a nice RV Park in Whitefish, Dan recommended it. It was right across the street from a movie theater so I thought I would catch a couple movies.

I saw Julie & Julia today and highly recommend it.

Day 127

The bighorn sheep were not scared of hikers. One sheep crossed the path about 10 feet in front of a group of 5 hikers.

The second hike was called The Loop. It started at Logan's Pass and ended at The Loop. It was 11.6 miles, with the first 7.6 miles above the road. The last 4 miles were down 2200ft. Going down is much harder then going up for me since I work my uphill muscles while I ride. My downhill muscles do not get much work when I ride so I am sure I will be sore tomorrow.

The weather finally broke. It was sunny all day and looked like the next week is also supposed to be sunny so I will get back on my bike tomorrow Aug 19th.

Day 126

Day off!!

I didn't do a whole lot today. Read some papers, planned my new route from Canada to Boise, and relaxed.

And by the way I was a little sore today. My downhill muscles have not been used for a while, like they were yesterday. Tomorrows hike will be The Loop.

Day 125

I found out there is a great shuttle system here at Glacier Park. It will take you to each camping area and from there you can get to some great hiking trails. I was going to use the first trip as my decision maker on whether or not I ride my bike over the Going To The Sun Road. The shuttle passed a few bikers on the road. All of them had road bikes and no gear. During this time of year no bike is allowed on the road from 10am-4pm. It is 32 miles to the top of the hill, with about 18 miles 6% grade with no shoulder and very few pullouts to let cars go by, and don't forget the construction. It didn't take long for me to decide not to bike up the hill. I decided I would stay at Apgar Campground for a few days and ride the shuttle to the areas I wanted to hike.

I hiked to Lake Okotomi and back. It is a 10.4mile hike. The first half of the hike is uphill. I did not take my altimeter to see how far it went up. I would have to guess around 1300-1600ft. It is not a real popular hike, I only passed 3 people on the trail. When I got to the lake I found there were some campers. There are 3 campsites you can hike to. There were some fishermen trying to catch trout from the small lake. I did not see anyone catch a fish, but they said they had caught some. It was cloudy and rainy on the way up. When I got to the lake the sun broke through and I was able to get some nice pictures of the lake. I got some great pictures of the little creek that flows from the lake. It was a great hike, I hope I am not sore in the morning.

Day 124

Miles 39.38 Total for trip 4745.66
Avg spd 10.65
Max spd 31.08
Climb 1022
Alt chng ++232

I decided to change my route. Today I went from Kalispell to West Glacier. Not much going on today, just went from small town to small town on HWY 2. Outside of West Glacier was this huge eagle that was carved out of wood. The picture does not do it justice. It had to be 20 feet high and 25 feet wide. I got to Glacier Park and decided to stop at Apgar Campground. I set up camp, had dinner, and planned my hiking trip for tomorrow.

Day 123

Miles 41 Total for trip 4706.28 (I put my tire on backwards so my speedometer did not work today oops) I woke up to some nice weather so I got out of camp fast to take advantage. I decided to stay on HWY 83 until I get to Whitefish Mt. It was a real pretty ride along the Swan River. I made it almost to Swan Lake with not trouble. Around 1/4 mile out of town I had another flat. I walked it into town and found a nice store with a picnic table out front. I got a paper, took a little break, The clouds moved in fast. I was in town for no more then 30 minutes when the lightning and thunder started. It was raining hard for about 45 minutes, then slowed enough for me to fix my tire. A couple of bikers pulled into town soaked, they were on their way to Glacier Park. It was still raining a little when I left. I got 15-20 miles out of Swan Lake when I was offered a ride to Kalispell. I was wet and tired of riding in the rain so took him up on the ride. He was a nice guy. His name was Roscoe, he was on his way to do a show called Sam Singleton. It is a one-man comedy show based out of New York. He does the show all over the country and in a few months he will be going to Canada for some shows.

I decided to get a hotel in Kalispell, do some laundry, shower, and dry off from the last couple days of rain.

Day 122

Miles 53.77 Total for trip 4668.28
Avg spd 9.65
Max spd 29.22
Climb 1891
Alt chng --567 I woke up to rain today. By the look of the sky it seemed like it would be raining for some time. I passed a couple bikers from Louisiana. They were going to get to Silver City NM then take a train back home. The rain continued all day so the trail was getting muddy. I was going to get of the mud in Seeley Lake and get on HWY 83. I stopped by the ranger station and was told it was supposed to rain for the next few days. I decided to get get to Lake Inez, eat an early dinner, and set up camp. I was in my tent getting dry, and reading when I saw some sunshine. I* got out of the tent, took a few pictures of the lake, and decided to pack up my tent. I wanted to try to get in a few more hours of riding since the sun looked like it was going to be out for the rest of the night. I was going to try to make it to mile marker 46 which would be about 22 miles from Lake Inez. It was a real nice ride, not a whole lot of traffic and there was a nice slow loss of altitude so I was able to keep a nice average for the 22 miles. I didn't think I would find a nice place to camp since it was private land, but a little after mile marker 46 I was back in the forest. I went down the first dirt road and found a nice little meadow to camp in for the night.

Day 121

Miles 38.89 Total for trip 4614.51
Avg spd 8.29
Max spd 27.48
Climb 2136
Alt chng --528 I got out of camp after a small breakfast of dried mangos, a kashi bar, and a power bar. I was really looking forward to picking some huckleberries. I am sure the road had more traffic then usual since the hucks were ripe. I saw a couple who looked like they knew what they were doing and asked them what the plants look like. I got a quick course on huck picking and continued my climb armed with enough knowledge to know what to look for. I was almost to the top of the pass and saw a nice spot to park my bike and try my had at picking hucks. I was told not to eat too many or I could be in trouble later in the day. I picked a few hand fulls of hucks and decided that was enough for now. I went another half mile to the top of the pass, took a break and had another couple hand fulls.

It was a nice downhill into the town of Orvando. I stopped for a while, fixed another flat tire(I have to remember to get new tubes at the next big city, all my tubes have patches on them now and do not work very well), and decided to make it to the Monture Campground for the night.

I got to the campground and was happy to see it was a full service campground for free. I still do not kn ow how the Forest Service decides which campgrounds are free and which are fee based. The site was on a nice little creek. I though it would have been nice to have a fishing pole, the brook trout limit was 20. 20 brook trout would have made a nice dinner.

Day 120

Miles 33.64 Total for trip 4575.62
Avg spd 7.62
Max spd 28.64
Climb 2398
Alt chng --65 I was surprised to see my food bags were still hanging this morning. I will admit I am not very good at fortifying my campsite against grizzly bears. The sign said it had to be over 10 feet high, I think mine was around 6ft high. Oh well, I don't think bears will be after my wheat macaroni, almonds, or dried mangos.

I wasn't sure how far I was going today. I was going to update the blog in Lincoln and did not know how long it would take. The library had a fast internet so it did not take a whole lot of time to update so I was able to make it out of Lincoln around 5.30pm.

Not much going on today. I was able to make it about 4 miles up Huckleberry Pass after Lincoln, and look forward to fresh huckleberries tomorrow.

Day 119

Miles 34.16 Total for trip 4541.98
Avg spd 5.94
Max spd 25.74
Climb 3767
Alt chng ++547 This morning I left my great campsite near Hwy 12 knowing that there would be a lot of climbing today. The first climb of the day was called Priest Pass. It was about 1600 ft up followed by another pass that was another 500 ft. I got a flat tire about a mile before the top of Priest Pass. I told myself a couple days ago the next flat tired I would rotate my tires to get more life out of them, and also change my brakes. I was happy where the flat tire happened. There were many trees so I had some shade, and big rocks so I could relax while I took care of everything.

It was slow going today as you can see with the avg spd of 5.94. I was trying to get a little outside of Lincoln today, but with all the climbing and bike work I still have around 2o miles to go. I ran into a biker going South. His name was Eric. He gave me some valuable information about Canada. I was going to cross the boarder right near Glacier Park on my way back into the states. He took the same trails I was going to take and found out you have to go back to Roosville MT to cross back into the U.S. It looks like I will be going to Glacier on my way to Canada since I go right by there on my way out of Whitefish MT.

Day 118

Miles 45.10 Total for trip 4507.82
Avg spd 7.44
Max spd 35.58
Climb 3410
Alt chng --659 I didn't know what to expect after getting out of camp today. It was going to be a tough climb to start, around 1300 ft. I passed a couple huge mushrooms along the path today. They would have made a great dinner, but I do not know anything about wild mushrooms.

After around 1200 ft I started to think Randy exaggerated a little bit about how tough the roads were. After a turn onto a less traveled road I decided he was not. I was happy I was almost to the top of the hill. The trail turned into a single track that had large rocks, and many tree roots crossing the trail. It was about a 3 mile downhill, but with all the rocks and roots I was still only at around a 4.5 mph avg. It was as trough as any road in New Mexico, but it was not a very long trail.

After the downhill I had to decide if I wanted to go to Helena or take a shortcut around it. I decided to check out Helena. I rode around the town a couple miles then hit the local Mcds. I ate dinner and got out of town. I rode out on Hwy 12 for around 8 miles. I was close to my turn off, but it looked like there was just private property. I saw a spot up 10 feet along the 12 were I would be out of sight so I decided to stay there for the night.

Day 117

Miles 38.10 Total for trip 4462.72
Avg spd 8.19
Max spd 20.54
Climb 2247
Alt chng ++806 Finally out of Butte, and dry!!! I made one more pit stop on the way out of town to get another chain, just in case.

The morning ride took me on the I15 for a few miles. It was nice to get back on the dirt after riding the frontage roads for a few days. The bike trouble may have been a blessing in disguise. When I got on the dirt roads there was still a lot of water. Most of the mud bogs were ride able. I saw a whole bunch of bike tracks in the mud and wondered if they were going up or down. I got to the bottom of the hill and it turned out the tracks went up and down. There was a group of 4 who parked their truck at the bottom of the hill and rode it up and down.

I had planned on getting up to Chessman Reservoir today, but I remembered Randy's tale of some tough roads ahead. I saw a great little place to camp right on a creek and decided I had gone enough for the day. I met Randy at the KOA camp. He got stuck on top of one of the passes during the epic hail storm(golf ball size hail). He was lucky enough to have a couple of trucks to sit under for most of the hail. He told me about some of the tough roads, it sounds like Montana will try to take the worst road trophy from New Mexico.

The camp spot I found is on my short list for favorite spots. The creek it is by was going really good after 3 heavy days of rain, and you can see an old mine on the other side of the creek. I tried to find a spot to cross, but with the high flow decided against it.

The tunnel was not very long, but was a little spooky with my not so bright headlight.

Day 116

Still in Butte. After I got a new chain a couple more bike issues came up so I am currently in my tent at 4.30 pm waiting out yet another thunder shower. I hope to get my bike fixed tonight so I can get out of Butte early tomorrow morning.

Booted from the theater!!!!!

It is not what you think. I set up my camp and was going to get going to the movie at around 3.30. At 1.30 I saw a big black cloud coming my way so decided to get to the movie early and maybe catch a double feature. I was in the first movie for about 20 minutes when I heard wind and hail. 5 minutes later the power went out. I stuck my head out the exit door and saw a blizzard of hail. I was a little worried about my tent. 15 minutes after no power I was given a refund and told everyone had to leave the mall. I walked around the mall and saw someone with a snow shovel clearing the doorways of the 4 inches hail. The power came back on just in time for the second movie. I saw Funny People, it was a good show.

My tent made it through the storm, I just had to put up one pole.

Looks like I will get a really late start today. My chain broke again, second one in 10 days. I am loading up my gear and walking to get a new chain. I figure to get out of Butte around 3.00 pm. Probably a good thing to let the roads dry out from the last 2 days of rain.

Day 115

I tried to get out of Butte, but did not make it. I woke up with a master plan of hitting the used book store(done), checking on a package at the post office(done), lunch at Mcdonalds(done), and finally getting a couple things at Walmart on the way out of town(not done). While I was at Mcds I spotted a movie theater and Funny People is playing, plus all the roads are probably muddy after a night of heavy rain, so I talked myself into staying at the KOA in town.

Looks like a nice day of a movie and relaxing. Have a good weekend.

Days 112,113,114

Day 112
Miles 30.74 Total for trip 4333.83
Avg spd 13.15
Max spd 19.96
Climb 165
Alt chng --596

Day 113
Miles 51.03 Total for trip 4384.86
Avg spd 12.12
Max spd 31.82
Climb 963
Alt chng --295

Day 114 Miles 39.76 Total for trip 4424.62
Avg spd 9.44
Max spd 34.42
Climb 2293
Alt chng ++656I decided my body needed to get off the dirt roads for a few days, so I took a detour along the frontage roads along the I-15. There was not much going on for the 3 days. The only real excitement happened on the night of day 112. I was staying at the Clark Reservoir. It was a nice spot. There was nice shelters over the picnic tables. I had just set up my tent. I ran to fill my water bag up, when the wind picked up and the rain started. I got back to my tent just in time to see my tarp get blown from under the tent. I caught the tarp and stuffed it somewhere while I tended to my tent. My tent was blowing so hard the stakes were coming out of the ground, so I ended up just balling the tent up an putting it in a bag. Sometime during the chaos my tarp blew away and was lost forever. I sat under the shelter for a couple hours and read. Luckily the wind died down enough to put the tent back up and get a decent nights sleep.

Days 113 and 114 had nothing going on, just rode on the frontage road along the I-15.

It was raining a lot last night and is suppost to be raining today, so I might have to stick to the pavement for another day if the dirt roads are too muddy. Looks like I should be in Canada in a couple weeks.

Day 111

Miles 34.22 Total for trip 4303.09
Avg spd 8.12
Max spd 26.62
Climb 1216
Alt chng --223 I really like it when I know where I am going. I woke up today and knew the road I needed was back and to the left. I went a few miles, and knew something was wrong. I stopped at the next intersection and stopped to read, really, read my map. I was leaning over my map, and heard some shuffling behind me. I ignored it for a couple minutes while I decided which way to go. I looked back and saw around 50 pair of cow eyes staring at me. They were all standing at the fence looking at a lost bike rider. I decided to keep going straight. I kept at it for around a mile and decided to turn back to the last intersection, and cows. I got there, stopped, looked at the cows again, and looked for other biker trails. I could not see any other trails, and turned around to go the wrong way for the second time. I went farther this time until I decided I had to go back to the start. This was by far the most lost I had been on the trip. I got back to the start, w went by my campsite, and was happy that my odometer did not work at the start of the day, because I probably would've gotten more lost if it had worked from the start. I officially got started on the right track today around 11.00 pm.

After the late start I saw 3 riders from Poland. They were riding the Divide without a water filter between them. I went over where to get water and told them a few days in WY there would only be water in a river and reservoir for 2 days. they seemed a little concerned, but said they would manage. We took some pics, and they were on their way. I made it to Lima today, and ran into a couple who were doing the divide on unicycles. We exchanged some info about the trail. They had all their gear in the hotel so I couldn't get any pics. I found the best deal on a ten spot, just $5.25. I had a craving for cheese, and found some ca jun cheese curds. Did some reading, ate, and went to bed.

Day 110

Miles 53.60 Total for trip 4268.87
Avg 8.43
Max spd 24.30
Climb 1977
Alt chng ++39 After an easy day I planned on about 32 miles today, and camp at the Upper Red Rock Lake. I road around Henry's Lake to get back onto my trail. I passed over the Idaho/Montana boarder about halfway into the day. It was pretty neat at the state line. It was right on the continental divide. There was a nice camping spot at Red Rock pass right on the divide, but it was still early so I pushed on. I got to the Red Rock National Wildlife Refuge and was looking forward to seeing a lot of different birds. It looks like I road through at the wrong time, because there were not many birds around. I saw a couple trumpeter swans, but they were very far away and could not get any good pictures. I arrived at my hopeful campsite and was happy with how nice it was, but it was still really hot so I decided to go farther.

I ran into a few other riders today. They were riding separately. the first 2 were getting water at a house, the third I talked with for a few minutes and told him where water was available, and the forth was right near where I had planned on camping for the night. I talked with him for a few minutes, and told him where I saw the other riders he was with. He decided to camp where I was going to camp, but changed his mind after he could not find a spot he liked. He decided to try and catch up with his buddies, since it was only around 6.30pm.

I cooked a good dinner, did some reading, then went to bed