Biker will cycle 2,400 to raise money

I’m staying here with Dave & Mary McTamaney. Dave gave me an extensive tour of all the work Habitat has been doing here–new buildings and renovations. They’re doing some GREAT work in these parts. Newburgh has a large number of historic districts, second only to Brooklyn, NY. George Washington had an encampment here during Revolutionary War.

Tomorrow looks like another day with significant climbing. Got to get an early start for a big day. I’m definitely goinna sleep well tonight.

He will be taking “secondary roads,” not highways, and will sleep at the homes of people affiliated with Habitat.

He describes his bike as a specially built touring bike “built like a mule.” He has been acting for the ride by riding with weights on the bike, since he will be carrying his belongings in a basket.

http://www.brooklyneagle.com/categories/category.php?category_id=33&id=13540

 I was greeted at the San Luis Valley Regional Airport by a sweet homecoming crew and then whisked off to a great spaghetti dinner with Alamosa family. 

I’ve been gradually adjusting to the altitude, being back at work, and attending to post-ride/ fundraising planning and engagements.  Sure is a much busier life than getting on a bike everyday. 

I think this will be the hottest day of the ride. They say it’ll reach 100 degrees by noon. Better find a nice mosquito-free tree to nap under and wait out the hottest part of the day, though not sure if I have time to nap. Still miles to go before I sleep….Going all the way past Pekin today.

It feels like the home stretch. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. A week from tomorrow, I’ll be in Sandstone Minnesota. I’ll have been on the road for five weeks. That will be the end of my solo ride. On Sunday the ninth, I will join the group of riders taking part in the week long Habitat 500. Looking forward to riding with old friends.

Last night I woke up a little after 4 am the wind was howling.  I didn’t sleep much after that.  It’s been a side wind from the south.  For breakfast this morning,
I had some toasted oat cereal, two eggs(sunny side up), three pieces of bacon, two pieces of toast, orange juice and coffee.  Needed all of that to have enough energy to ride into the wind today.  Lots of head wind. And lots of heat.
The sensation of a hairdryer on low, blowing against my face.  That’s how it felt riding in the heat today.  It got hot and muggy and I started to feel like a baked potato–my legs felt like two overcooked, soggy french fries.

I found a rifle cartridge on the road.  300 Winchester, very large.  It was a road hazzard.  My plan was to give it to a police officer.  Right outside of Rugby was a state trooper so I pulled up to him.  Being a responsible citizen, I handed it over to the officer.  It was the safe thing to do.

I was in Rugby, the geographical center of North America.  That was one of the hightlights of this ride.  Spent some time in Rugby feeling centered.

Rode by a dead porcupine.  I gave it a wide berth so the quills didn’t puncture my tires.  It would have been disastrous to pull a quill from my tire.

Stopped at a cafe.  Had two pieces of rubbarb cream cake.  I’m all about rubbarb.  Rubbarb is like super fuel.  The more rubbarb I get in my system the better off I’ll be.

Tomorrow, I was supposed to stay in Devil’s Lake.  But since there is no lodging for me there, I think I will ride on down to the next scheduled stop–the Red Willow Bible Camp, just south of Pekin.  It should only be about a little over 100 miles tomorrow.

Today has been mostly reading and eating. After lunch I offered to help John, but he doesn’t need any help. He’s out with the baler, making large rolls of hay. Velda was at the Lutheran Church in town playing the organ. Finished reading a recent newsweek magazine. Took a short walk around the farm. It is nice to have a day off.

Exciting news! Tomorrow. I’ll be pedaling through Rugby, which is the geographical center of North America! Alright, maybe it isn’t so exciting. Velda tells me I’ll be travelling through what is known as the Prairie Pothole Region, lots of ponds and lakes which where carved out many millenia ago by glacial action.

Speaking of ponds, yesterday on my way to Minot I passed by many tiny ponds. Many of the ponds had a mama duck and ducklings swimming about. I noticed that as I rode by, the little ducklings would frantically swim from various points around the pond, back to mama duck. Each of them left a mini wake behind them, intersecting at their point of safety.

Hopefully my legs will be rested tomorrow for the long ride to Esmond.

Started off the day with Forest and Julie and a fine breakfast.  Eggs and pancakes.  Turned out to be a long day, riding through the haze.  I was plugging away, pedaling away.  Nothing too exciting.

Riding on Rt 23, I passed a bunch of missile silos.  Passed a couple of giant wind turbines.  Stopped to check that out.  They were 200 feet tall.  Each had 3 blades.  Each blade was 100 feet long.  Massive things.

Came into Minot.  Looked for a bike shop and tried to get my bike tuned up, but there was a two day wait so I gave up on the idea.

Tonight’s dinner was very good.  Potatoes, beef, green bean, salad, rhubarb pie. Staying at a big farm house with John and Velda.  Tomorrow is a rest day.  I’m looking forward to that.

Tim’s Tuesday Update

They have not set a date yet for the all-day event. But if you are here in town, and need to buy something special, please keep in mind that ten percent of what you spend at Fireworks that day will go to help build a family a home. If you are not local, you can visit their website at firedworks.com. Art and jewelry are only two of the types of items that are featured at Firedworks.
As soon as we know the date of this event, it will posted on the blog.

Daily mileage: 74 miles

Got into New Town. 74 miles on less than two whole bottles of water. Lucky it was cloudy and not too too hot. My route took me away from any place that I could get any water. Green rolling hills all the way. Route came close to Lake Sakakawea occasionally. Beautiful country.

About 40 miles into the ride, I was coming down a big hill. Towards the bottom of the hill there were about 30 cattle on either side of the road. They had broken through their fence. A car was coming through and some cows started to cross the road. The car was not slowing down. These cattle were in danger — I had to do something. As I came down the hill, I slowed down and yelled at the cattle in the best cowboy bicylcist voice I could muster. Sounded something like, “HYAAAAH!!” It worked. The cows all ran back across the road and into their field. I looked back and they were still running.

Animal sightings: one prairie chicken, many prairie dogs, some live and some squashed on the road, one hawk that flew close overhead and called? Screeched? It was a wild sound. Made me want to join it up there soaring around. You’ve heard it before, like in the movies.
Since I’ve been on this trip, I have noticed that anytime I ask someone how far it is to the next town, their estimate is anywhere from 7 to 10 miles shorter than the actual distance. I wonder why that is?

Left early at 7:20 am and got in a lot of riding while it was still cool and there was no wind.  Stopped in Bainville at a cafe and had a bowl of Mac-n-Cheese and a banana smoothie.  Yum.

Soon after that, I got into North Dakota, another time zone.  I stopped to take a picture of the welcome sign and immediately got swarmed by mosquitoes.  The mosquito situation in Williston is horrendous.  In fact, the headline on the front page of the Williston Herald read, “Mosquito Madness.”

No animal sightings today, unless you count mosquitoes.  Actually I saw lots of dead prairie dogs.  I’ve been seeing them for days.  They get hit by cars.

Staying with Brad and Stephanie tonight.  We went to Gramma Sharon’s Restaurant where they had very good home cooking.  I had a large pancake, caramel roll, hash browns, sour cream raisin pie, and two pieces of toast.  Sounds like I had breakfast for dinner, but that’s just what I felt like eating!

I was riding really quickly for the first forty miles today. Then there was construction and they wouldn’t let me ride through on my bike, so I had to sit in the back of a truck for ten miles.

My mom who grew up in Pretty Prairie Kansas (she was Patti Kay back then) sent me this excerpt from the book “If You’re Not From the Prairie…” by David Bouchard
and Henry Ripplinger. Kinda neat dedications: David Bouchard’s is “For my Mom and Dad, who, unlike so many others, chose to remain on the prairies” and Henry Ripplinger’s: “To the memory of my parents, Christian and Philomena Ripplinger, prairie
pioneers.”

“If you’re not from the prairie, You don’t know the sky, You can’t know the sky. The bold prairie sky is clear, bright and blue, Though sometimes cloud messages give us a clue. Monstrous grey mushrooms can hint of a storm, Or painted pink feathers say goodbye to the warm. If you’re not from the prairie, You don’t know the sky. If you’re not from the prairie, You knot know what’s flat, You’ve never seen flat. When travellers pass through across our great plain, they all view our home, they all say the same: ‘It’s simple and flat!’ They’ve not learned to see the particular beauty that’s now part of me. If you’re not from the prairie, You don’t know what’s flat. If you’re not from the prairie,
You’ve not heard the grass, You’ve never heard grass. In strong summer winds, the grains and grass bend And sway to a dance that seems never to end. It whispers its secrets–they tell of this land And the rhythm of life played by nature’s own hand. If you’re not from the prairie, You’ve never heard grass.”

“If you’re not from the prairie, You don’t know our trees, You can’t know our trees. The trees that we know have taken so long, to live through our seasons, to grow tall and strong. They’re loved and they’re treasured, we watched as they grew, We knew they were special–the prairie has few. If you’re not from the prairie, You don’t know our trees.”

“If you’re not from the prairie, You don’t know me. You just can’t know ME. You see, my
hair’s mostly wind, My eyes filled with grit, My skin’s red or brown, My lips chapped and split. I’ve lain on the prairie and heard grasses sigh. I’ve stared at the vast open bowl of the sky. I’ve seen all those castles and faces in clouds, My home is the prairie, and I cry out loud.”

“If you’re not from the prairie, you can’t know my soul, you don’t know our blizzards, you’ve not fought our cold. You can’t know my mind, nor ever my heart, Unless deep within you, there’s somehow a part…. A part of these things that I’ve said that I know, The wind, sky and earth, the storms and the snow. Best say you have–and then we’ll be one, for we will have shared that same blazing sun.”

I got blown off the road today by the wind. I went off onto the shoulder and stopped. Pretty strong side wind.

Here with Maxine and Joe McPherson. We’re having a cookout!

Thirty miles to go till Glasgow and I had to lay down.  It was the hottest part of the day.  So I swung into the town park, laid out my stuff and took an hour long nap.

Stopped by one of these little towns and looked for a library.   It was closed and the sign said something like the library was open on Tuesdays and Thursdays…for a total of 5 hours a week.  My goodness.
Animal sightings today included three large, healthy looking antelope, a couple of muledeer.  I saw seagulls but ddidn’t know what that was about.  I’m very curious. I saw a marker on Route 2 saying explaining that wild buffalo used to roam there.

Got another hole in my front tire.  A different hole.  The culprit–blown up tires, the steel belted radials.  They leave behind wires that get into the my bike tire.  I had to stop and patch it up in the hot afternoon.  Then of course, swarms of mosquitos and biting gnats descended upon me.  Luckily, Art and Sue from last night gave me some spary.

I’m here tonight with Milo and Arlone Simonson.  We’re right by the Amtrak train track. Had a tasty dinner of potato salad and fried chicken.
My new strategy: ride early and rest or do something else during the hottest part of the day.

This morning I spoke to the combined Vacation Bible School of the Episcopal and Presbyterian Church.  I rolled in my bike and talked to about 20 grade school students.  My message was basically that this is my way of showing my love in action.  Each of you can show love in different ways.  Doesn’t have to be big ways.  That’s how we stretch and grow, and grow closer to God.  After my little talk, they asked some questions.  And then they gathered around me and put their hands on me and said a little prayer.  Each kid said some little thing.  I think one kid prayed for no hail and for good weather.  We went outside and they made two rows along the sidewalk.  I rode through their two rows and was on my way.  I rode from 9:30 this morning to 7:20 this evening.  Took a few breaks, not too long.  It got pretty hot today.  For about half the day I was riding into the wind, not a strong wind, just steady, enough to wear away at me.

I got a flat at some point.  A wire got into the front tire.  I patched it up and got going again.  About 45 miles into the trip, I got really thirsty and tired from the sun.  Stopped and got a power drink.  In my loopy state of mind, I convinced myself that my dehydrated body needed a big bag of Doritos.  Luckily I came to my senses and bought a small bag of Doritos instead.

In the town of Harlem, I met up with a couple of bikers.  Two women nurses were going across the whole country to raise funds for children with HIV.  I had seen them in the Chester Library and elsewhere on the road.  They were done for the day.  And I had miles to go yet.

I went through the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation.  Saw hundreds upon hundreds of prairie dogs throughout the day.  Saw a couple of bullsnakes that were hit by cars.  Saw one muledeer hopping like a Kangaroo.

When I got near my lodging for the evening, my host, Art came out to the road to greet me with his grandson, Blake, Age 4.

94 miles.  Whew!  I’ll be sleeping well tonight.

It’s a series of little towns every five to ten miles out here on the prairie. I tried to find a cafe in each town but couldn’t find one. When I finally found one, it was quite an interesting experience. I sat down, the guy came out and didn’t even look at me. I ordered coffee (50 cents), one egg with hashbrown and toast ($2.50). He brought me coffee but didn’t even ask if I wanted cream, or sugar. Then the lady sitting with a few other people at the next table asked me if I wanted cream. I said yes, and she got up and got me some. When I wanted a refill of coffee, I went and served myself. I kept wondering what was taking them so long with my breakfast. It took them a good thrity minutes to serve me. Real strange. Not customer oriented. Marvin said that many of the towns out here are dying. No jobs. Kinda sad.

Apparently I was in the Havre Daily News yesterday. I was riding into town and these two girls on bicycles saw me. One girl yelled, “ARE YOU THAT GUY?” I said, “yes, I’m that guy.” Another woman pulled up in a van and said, “Are you the Habitat Biker?” I answered, “Yup.”

In 1905, the town of Havre was burned down. But there were all these basements in tact. So they moved all the businesses to the basements and connected the basements through tunnels. Even after they rebuilt the town, they still kept the underground going. There was a blacksmith, dentist, pharmacy, butcher, bakery, bordello, and opium inn. Marvin in Chester told me about it and I took a tour of the underground when I got here. There’s a very interesting history in the Havre Beneath the Streets.

I’m staying here in Havre with Gail and Doug Wheatley. We had chicken, potato, and broccoli for dinner. Very tasty.

I’m very tired. Riding around 90 miles tomorrow.

I had oatmeal with Michelle and Joe this morning, they are super nice. Michelle made me a lunch of two peanut butter and honey sandwiches, a banana and a piece of her homemade pumpkin bread.

I met briefly with Linda Bruch from the Cut Bank Pioneer Press for a photo in front of the chamber of commerce. Then I got on the road a few minutes after 8:00, setting sail on the praire sea. The town of Sydney is about 24 miles east. I made it there in about an hour. I was moving along, with some help from the wind. Laura Ingalls, run in and tell Ma and Pa there may be a prairie fire!!! Tell Pa to grab his wooden fire rake! My tires were smoking I was moving so fast.

I took a rest break at the Sydney welcome center. In 1923 Jack Dempsey fought there. It was the only fight that he went the whole 15 rounds. Apparently some folks still talk about that fight. It must have been a doozy. There is a bust of Jack’s face in the visitors center. It appears to be a pre-fight bust. There was also a stuffed cougar to welcome visitors. This cougar had wandered into town years ago, perhaps looking for food. It looked a little thin. Townfolk grew nervous and killed the cougar, stuffed it and named it Sydney. It has kind of become a town mascot. Like Sydney, I was hungry when I wandered into town. The friendly ladies at the visitors center fed me tea and cookies. Lucky for me one mascot is enough.

The wind was at times a tailwind and at times a side wind. Haven’t seen much sun today. It’s on the cold side. I had to put on my jacket and my hood. Chester is a very small town. I’m staying with Marvin Krook and we just had potluck with some nice folks from the Methodist Church. Met a local musician–Philip Aasberg, a pianist.
There are lots of books in this house!

My prairie strategy: Leave early to avoid the brunt of the wind.

Tim’s Update from the Road – June 19th

I’m back in the States! The border crossing was no big deal. I thought I was going to have all my baggage gone through, questioned, etc. etc. I don’t think they had had many customers come through. The border patrol officer took my passport, asked where I was going, what I did for work, if I had any alcohol or tobacco product. The most important question was if I had any beef! I did have ham on me, two ham sandwiches made by Ardith. Ham no beef. Not much interest in the ham. No mad pig disease.

Nice Canadians eh? Ardith and Otto, their daughter Pauline, and some other nice folk wrote some checks for the ride. I sent them in today! Yes. Fundraising on the road. Speaking of fundraising, I understand that checks keep coming in from some nice folks in New York as well. That’s all the news I’ve got on fundraising….will have to check in with Audrey at SLV Habitat. I’m wondering how fundraising in Alamosa is going myself, Christina. Thanks for your concern. There should be another update under “supporters” on the website soon, and we’ll get a new total.

It’s been a cool, cloudy day. It’s 62 degrees here. Very, very little traffic. I think five cars may have passed me in the 40 miles to Cut Bank. I had a nice time drafting off of a large tractor for about 8 miles. I hardly had to pedal and was crusing along at about 20 miles an hour. Saw lots of wildlife– several prairie chickens, one with 4 or 5 tiny little chicks, prairie hawks, prairie dogs, two praire badgers (just kidding. I don’t know if there is a prairie badger. At this point I’m just putting the word prairie in front of every animal I have seen). Two cute little red foxes.

I’m staying with Joe and Michelle Litton. I have my own little guest house. For dinner, we had venison, potato, and salad. Very tasty.

This is one of many in a series of small towns on my way east. Flat. No more mountains. I may get some rolling hills, but in general flat. A new chapter has begun in the Habitat 2500.

I was feeling tired all day. Fell asleep in the car on the way back. Actually, had a nap after breakfast before church, had a nap after we got back from Waterton too. Had several naps today. My legs are feeling really tired.

Forgot to mention yesterday that as I was riding toward Cardston, I saw half mile stretches of honeybees. It was like riding through clouds of honeybees. I kept my mouth closed cause I didn’t want them to fly in my mouth. Then I started thinking that I’m allergic to honeybee stings. But I got away safely. Further down the road I saw honey boxes. Canadian honeybees are very friendly, eh?

daily mileage: about 30 miles
hitchhiked from East Glacier to Babb

Last night I stayed at the Backpacker’s Inn for twelve dollars. Not a bad deal. It was a room with a few bunkbeds. I met Ronnie, the craps dealer from Las Vegas. He said, “I just want to talk to you a little until you fall asleep.” He told me about the life of a craps dealer and the different levels of dealers there are out there. He told me about rules and regulations. I listened to him for quite a while. He expresses himself in odds. “The chances are 7 out of 10… 1 out of 100.” I guess you’d expect that from a craps dealer. Sure enough, I fell asleep while he was talking to me.

Super windy today. Funny start to the morning. I had just finished an order of pancakes at the local cafe and was headed up route 49 north when who pulls up behind me – Lorna and Tiki Spady, the folks who gave me my first ride from last night. I joined them for coffee while they ate breakfast, then we loaded the bike in the back of their truck. We stopped to look at a falls on the way north. On the way we saw a spectacular rainbow. They dropped me off in Babb and headed west towards Logan Pass. Tiki bought me a souvenir sticker from Glacier and Lorna gave me a couple of her homemade brownies and a hershey’s chocolate bar. I gave them a habitat keychain. It was fun to spend the morning hanging out with them, they also thanked me for spending time with them. Really great people.

I made it through customs. Getting in wasn’t too rigorous, but from what I hear going back will be. Very windy on the way up here. I rode from Babb, about thirty miles.

Now i’m in Cardston, Alberta, birthplace of Fay Wray, damsel in distress from the original King Kong movie. There is a Fay Wray Memorial Fountain, complete with a sculpture of King Kong clutching Fay in his big gorilla hand. Very cool. On the tourist attraction sign there is a picture of Fay and King Kong.

i’m here at the spacious home of Ardith and Otto. We had dinner at the Legion. Good steak, baked potato, baked beans. Will be here for two nights.

daily mileage: 28 miles
Hitchhiked the rest of the way

My bike got more work done on it than I had expected, but it needed it. Chris, at the Glacier Cyclery gave me a new chain, a whole new derailleur, derailleur hanger, brake cable, new tire, and then he tightened up some things. Pretty much a whole tune up. Good guy, Chris. The bike rides much more quietly now. While at the bike shop, my front tire deflated. There was some wire that got in there.

I didn’t get my bike until 1pm, $215 later. Good work, not cheap. But I also bought some neoprene booties for $32 to cover my feet in the rain and some energy gel. I pigged out in town before I took off. Had some orange juice, a danish, a raspberry filled doughnut, a bag of honey dijon potato chips, and a couple bananas. I stopped by a photo shop and the library to download some pictures, but it was taking so much time, I gave up. By the time I was ready to go, it was around 3ish.
Not long after I left town, my rear tire got flat again. What’s up with those heavy duty Armadillo tires? I was standing on the side of the road when two guys stopped and said, “We’re bike techs.” These were guys that put together bikes for companies like Kmart. One guy was training the other. Not quite bike mechanics–but bike techs.

Well, with the new longer detour route through the south and the late hour in the day, I knew it would I would be engaging in some hitchhiking if I wanted to get to Cardston, Canada by tomorrow afternoon. You just never know what will happen with hitchhiking. You don’t know if you’ll get a ride in the first place, you don’t know who’s gonna pick you up…

The first people to pick me up recognized me from the local paper. The wife said, “I read your article in the Hungry Horse! The Lord works in mysterious ways!” She made me pose for a picture with her husband.

Another guy who works half the year in Glacier National Park picked me up and took me some distance.

Then these two guys who had just graduated from high school picked me up. They were full of questions about my ride. One of them had been the captain of the wrestling team. He showed me his captain’s pin. When they dropped me off they were like, “Thanks for riding with us! Hey take some Milk Duds….”

It took two and a half hours of hitchhiking but I’m finally here in East Glacier. I’ll be staying at the Backpacker’s Inn. I got poured on some more throughout the day. Extreme weather…for an extreme ride, I guess. I’ll be staying in a bunkroom with some other folk. Good thing, cause it was looking like I would have to camp out in the middle of nowhere.

I hope I’ll sleep well tonight. Long day tomorrow. Have a lot of ground to cover to get to St. Mary, and then to Cardston.

daily mileage: 52 miles
total mileage: 669 miles

Stayed with Terry and Sue Utter last night, in a little cabin next to their house. It was lit with lanterns. Cool! Terry and Sue were super nice folks.

Cold and raining all day. Bank thermometer at Whitefish read 48 degrees. I could see my breath at various points during the day. Had on my neoprene face mask. My gloves were meant for the cold, but not for the rain. In the rain, they just soaked up the water and made my hands cold and numb. My feet were also freezing cold and numb. Not feeling your feet affects your balance and it gets dangerous to be on a bike. I got off the bike at times and started walking, just to get the feeling back into my feet. All these places were flooding because of the heavy rain. I felt pretty good riding this morning, but the freezing cold and wet weather plain wore me down. Just as I was coming into downtown, up a little hill, I heard a crunching noise. I looked down, my derauilleur was hanging from a place it shouldn’t have been hanging from. The hanger had snapped in two! I was only about a block from the Glacier Cyclery bike shop. It took a while for them to decide what to do with the bike. The replacement piece is being shipped overnight from Seattle by Federal Express and hopefully will be here by noon tomorrow. I walked to the army navy surplus store and bought a pair of neoprene gloves. I expected some rain, but not in combination with temperatures in the 40′s!! shoo whee! What a trip.

Tonight I’m staying with Kathy and Louis Bowne. I’ve been trying to download pictures from my digital camera at every computer I’ve been at, but no luck.

My plan tomorrow was to go through Glacier National Park. But because of the heavy rain, there have been 10 rock and mud slides in that area. Roads are closed and I’ll have to go around the southern part–much longer and out of the way. I have to keep up the pace because I have to be in Cardston, Canada by Saturday night. I’ll be speaking at church on Sunday morning. Can’t let those folks down. Gotta get creative soon.

How funny. People say how beautiful this part of the country is and how beautiful Glacier is. And I’m here, in the midst of the beauty, but all I can see are the raindrops on my glasses.

This is a lesson in not trying to plan too much, in being open to change. I wanted to follow the same path that my sister and brother-in-law took back in ’91. And I have been doing so, until now. Here is where our paths diverge. But this is all part of the adventure of the Habitat 2500, and daring to fail miserably on a daily basis.

Tim, you are doing a fabulous job! I can’t tell you how exciting it is to hear about your progression. We’re all so proud. Keep it up!

Here’s the second week of Tim’s daily call-ins from the road. There should be daily updates after this.

Very best wishes, Tim!

Everyday is a new adventure on the Habitat 2500. Tough start this morning—rainy and cold. I got about 15 miles out of Libby when my back tire went flat. A piece of glass went in and cut a big gash. That’s my kevlar lined back tire, the Armadillo. No amount of patching would do the trick. I had to replace it. Well, I hitched back into town and called Suzie Rice. Libby had no bike shop, so Suzie, who is nothing less than a powerhouse, lent me her truck to drive to Troy, 18 miles northwest. In Troy I went to the house of Dennis Hedges, who has a small bike shop in the shed beside his house. Really nice guy. Dennis has been teaching elementary school for the past 39 years and is currently teaching 4th graders. I got a new tire and tube, and a spare tube from Dennis. I also had him switch the tires, so the back tire that takes the load has the armadillo tire. I’ll have to get another Armadillo tire when I get to Whitefish. Dennis was a very nice guy. After the tire stuff, he invited me into his house for a glass of apple juice made from the apple trees in his yard. Very yummy. He said last year he got 71 gallons, and froze them. He could have made more, but that’s all the freezer space he had. We also talked at length about composting. He is an avid composter and gardener. He also farmed worms for a time. He used to keep a large box of dirt in his classroom that contained 5,000 worms in it. He said kids could put their unfinished lunches in it and the worms would eat it up.

After I got back from Troy it was about 1:30. I had some chicken and rice soup that Suzie had made and got my clothes out of the dryer. Suzie offered to take me up the road so I could make it to Eureka by late aft. I took her up on her offer and almost fell asleep on the drive up. We stopped at the Koocanusa Dam. They currently have the spill gates open because the water is extremely high. I got a closer look at a bald eagle probably about thirty feet away. Down at the bottom there were ospreys circling around catching fish. On up the road two mule deer were crossing. Mule deer don’t run like white tail or black tailed deer do. They kind of hop like a kangaroo.

Greg and Suzie were so great. Suzie is very involved with the Habitat here. They are both avid bikers and they were very helpful. My water bottle cage fell apart and they gave me a spare one that they had. If it weren’t for them lending me their truck to go to Troy, I don’t know how I would have taken care of all this.

Mileage for today – about 35, half of what it would have been had I ridden the whole way. But, I am in Eureka!

Staying at home of Greg and Suzy Rice. Greg is an avid biker. He races in the Masters category.

This morning I started out biking down a wooded road. Eight miles into the ride, I thougt I saw a small horse. As I approached the animal, it turned out to be a moose! It saw me and crashed off into the wetlands on the left side. it was obviously a sad moose…
cause it had a long face!

A little later, I crossed over to Montana into Mountain Time Zone. Lost an hour of biking time. Gone, like magic, never to return again.

Most of the day was spent along the Pack River, then Kootenai Falls. I saw a bald eagle flying overhead.

Twelve miles into Montana, I stopped at the Food Pantry. I had a chocolate vanilla swirl soft serve ice cream cone and a homemade blueberry pastry. Relaxed there for an hour. Could have stayed longer. There was another biker who also stopped there for a break. I chatted with him for a little while. The dude had TWO mp3 players with 30 albums. MY mp3 player is the sound of the chirpping birds.

Almost crashed into a butterfly. It cruised by my right ear. I could hear its fluttering wings.

In the town of Clark Fork, there was a sign in someone’s front yard. It said in big black letters: DRIVE SLOW OR DIE FAST. There was a handgun painted under the words “DIE FAST.”

I was crusing along, going at a good pace. A car came from the opposite direction and kicked up a piece of gravel. It smacked me on the helmet. I heard a loud crack. Good thing I had my face down or else it would have hit me in the face. Tomorrow morning I’m going to have to examine for structural damage.

The temperture got up there close to 90 degrees as i came into Libby. A considerable amount of time today was just spent on the bike…in misery…in the heat…wilting. Luckily Susie was ready for me with a glass of cold orange juice. I drank two more glasses of cold water and Susie showed me to the shower.

It was a full day of important sightings.

Lots of wind today, but really beautiful getting here. The route was mostly along the Pend Oreille river. Got to downtown Sandpoint and met Elizabeth and Steve Willey at the library. We drove fifteen miles out to their home. Seems like today wasn’t so much about riding my bike. It was more about FLYING…in the Robinson Beta 2 helicopter with Steve!

Crazy. I was a little bit scared. It was such a little bubble of a thing. No doors, for better picture taking. Just sitting there…in the air. We hovered to about 1,ooo feet then dropped to 300 feet, then went up again!

Saw Clark Fork, Idaho, flew over Lake Pend Oreille, went over the David Thompson State Game Preserve. It was something else flying over the mountains, over Pack River, looking down at all the little houses and boats. Flew over a flock of geese, watched them fly away. The wind blew, and the helicopter swayed. Pretty crazy….

Going to a one theater movie house tonight. Catching The Da Vinci Code.

Not bad for a day off.

I’m a little tired.

I’m here at the beautiful home of Dwight and Eloise Opp. They have horses in the field. This is actually a wooded area, out of town. Took a nice shower and then had a nice…cold…beer. Henry Weinhard’s Summer Wheat Ale. Really good, especially after riding 92 miles.

Rode all the way to Newport on 2 bottles of water. What does a biker eat on a cold rainy ride? An Almond Joy, a Snickers bar, 2 packages of GU, some wasabi peas, Cliff Bar, and Gatorade powder in my water. Boy, looking forward to a nice dinner tonight.

Today was a day of wildlife encounters. As I was leaving the Weeks home this morning, turning off their drive onto the dirt road, there was a mama turkey with about eight little turkles? turklets? turklettes? They all just flew in the air around me like Teradactyls. Flying dinosaurs. It was cool.

Along the road, I saw serveral deer, a pheasant, a few hawks, a woodpecker, and ducks. Kept looking for a moose but couldn’t find one.

It rained pretty much all day. I had lots of layers under my rain pants and rain jacket. Much of the ride was through the wilderness, logging country.

Bet i’ll be sleeping well tonight. I have the day off from riding tomorrow. Maybe do some laundry. Speaking at the American Lutheran Church here in Newport.

Got to Colville in the afternoon. I went straight to the Habitat thrift store, got a couple of books, then called Frank Weeks, who happened to be out back of the store. I went with him to pick up some lumber then to Kettle Falls to drop it off at a Habitat house there. Technically, you could say that I have contributed to the construction of a habitat house here. : )

There had been a press release in this area and this guy read it and he took me over to the local paper and I got interviewed.

I’m staying with Frank and Marty tonight. It’s about 10 miles from town where I met him. I turned down his offer of a ride and rode here myself. I am getting into the biking groove, feeling good.

We had a nice potluck tonight. Cattle grazing in the fields now. Sun’s going down. Mountains are off in the distance. I’m tired.

It got chilly as I headed east, and I ended up wearing my jacket most of the day. Fifteen miles of climbing today. Another pass down – Wauconda. Today was the fourth day of climbing. More climbing tomorrow. Sherman pass is the tallest pass in Washington at 5575 feet. I’ll be glad to take a break from all the climbing.

I got my head shaved at the local barber shop soon after I got into town. It feels good, all spiky in the back. The scar on the side of my head makes a nice design above my right ear.

Encountered a very large dog today. Kinda reddish. Part hound and part something else. He wanted to play and chase me. I had to be firm with it. Stay…stay…stay! No…no…no…. SIT….. He wouldn’t sit for me. Just walked away.

My lodging is settled. Up the hill overlooking the town sits the Catholic church and parish hall. I met Father Morbeck outside the parish hall trimming a tree. I’ve got the whole hall to myself, kitchen, bathroom, plenty of space to spead out. I’ll also be finding dinner and breakfast on my own. Think I’ll get some stromboli from the pizza shop.

It’s really beautiful here. Blue skies, evergreen trees. Really green.

Looking at my itinerary. It’s going to be loooong trip!

Tired…think I’ll read a little from Pastor Terry Kyllo’s book tonight. And “Salmon Doubting” from the book of essays that Gladys gave me.

The temperature increased considerably. Got to take a break in the cool airconditioning of Okanogan Public Library in the early afternoon. Think I’m just going to have to get used to the heat from here on.

There was some road construction today at the end of some downhill cruising. Apparently some people had a hard time coming to a stop fast enough. Two cars got rear-ended and that backed up the traffic. But they let the biker come through.

Road treasure today included a pair of scissors. Stopped in at two thrift stores!

It is absolutely, incredibly, gorgeous out here. Staying in Tonasket with Joan Smith. She and her husband started the local Habitat for Humanity affilate here in 1996.