WINDY!!!!! Holy Hannah!
These mountain winds can be something! It was a good 35-40 mph straight winds most of the afternoon, and of course I had to buck it all day long
. Read below.
So woke up this morning to a brilliant sunshine just coming over the mountains to the east of Kalispell MT, around 6:30am. I could get used to this! :) I was pumped to go - just didn't know what direction to head out! It was between either heading back northeast and running through Glacier NP again, this time from the west to the east, or continue on my westward journey and run through Libby, Bonners Ferry, and down into Coeur D'Alene, ID. This option would put me way a head of schedule, which isn't all that bad, but I would eventually need to make use of this extra time somewhere down the road.
I decided to head back to Glacier and to a west-to-east run, since I didn't really get to appreciate the western slope of the pass much the day before because of the rain showers. As it worked out, this was a good choice. It was much different than what I saw on Sunday. The traffic, however, was much more congested today, and the construction wait lines were a lot longer and seem to take much longer before they started moving again
. There were times when the traffic was moving so slow that even idling in 1st gear wasn't even slow enough. So I just simply have to stop and let the traffic get a ways in front of me and then start moving again until I caught up to them again, and then repeat. The other alternative is slipping the clutch, which definitely isn't something you want to do on the mountain.
In addition to running back through Glacier, I was planning on spinning up the 20 miles or so north of the east entrance to check out the Many Glacier resort, which if you haven't seen pictures of it before, it is quite an amazing building. However, since the construction in Glacier slowed me up more than I was expecting, I decided to skip the trip up to Many Glacier, and head south instead to hook up with Hwy 2 to head back towards Kalispell. Someday Kim and I will come back here and stay at Many Glacier, so I'll save that experience until then.
I saw a little sandwich shop in East Glacier that looked like a nice stop for lunch
. When I walked in, I first thought that the 3 girls behind the counter were speaking in a weird foreign language. But as it turned out, they were speaking English, but with a strong Lithuanian accent, because I found out that is where they were from.
I took my sandwich outside to sit on the patio to eat, and ended up talking with a foreign exchange student from Turkey that was working in East Glacier for the summer. He was in the US primarily to learn English, so he could get a good job working for his government. Interesting fellow.
I jumped on Hwy 2 heading west back towards Kalispell. The wind was definitely making the 'Wing work for its gas! Stopped quick in Columbia Falls for gas and took off again for Libby, and hopefully up to either Bonners Ferry or Sandpoint for the night. In an attempt to try to avoid having to drive right through Kalispell to get on the westbound Hwy 2, I took some local roads that I really had no idea where they would take me, but they headed in the general right direction
. I passed some really nice looking properties on these roads, and did eventually run into Hwy 2 west of Kalispell. It is fun sometimes to jump off the main roads and see where you can end up on the small paved roads. Most of the time it will take you by some cool things you wouldn't have seen from the main road. In this case, the road was quite fun, with its small rolling hills and tight corners, and views of nice looking houses as a bonus.
Of course, the road from Kalispell to Libby was flooded with campers. Some were able to move along ok, but some just were dogs going up and down the hills. The speed limit was 70, but you get behind one of the bigger porta-potties and you were down to 50 or less. Oh well, there were frequently good straight aways where you can blast past them. I guess I just don't understand what the thrill is of hauling or driving these things around on your vacation. Must you have all the luxuries of home with you all the time on your trip? You are far from what camping really is, and you can't even enjoy the thrill of what these mountain roads give you because you're driving a tank
. I could hack driving a car on these mountain roads instead of a cycle, even though it would annoy me. But I could never enjoy driving one of these things around. But to each their own...
Made it to Libby around 5:15pm. This is where I was scheduled to land for the night, according to my plans. I did want to make it over to Idaho today still, but the wind was definitely taking a toll on me today, and I was ready to call it quits. Plus, it looked like a decent rain cloud was coming in from the northwest, exactly where I needed to head to get into Idaho (of course!). So, I made up my mind that I would call it quits early today and enjoy the evening off the bike. BUT WAIT! I had to have the crazy idea of being adventurous and try finding a campsite for tonight instead of motelling it. But the campground was 23 miles up hwy 37, past Libby Dam and on the Koocanusa lake. So I was on the bike again heading northeast this time. Very nice road, great scenery. I don't think there is a bad road anywhere out here
. I finally got to the campground (resort, really), and checked out the spots they had. This resort would be a great place to have a camping party, because it is right next to the lake, has a restaurant/bar on-site, and is very scenic. But after talking with the manager lady, she said they were expecting a strong storm overnight with potential of strong rains. Yuk! In the end, I decided to forget camping for tonight, as I didn't want to have to ride out the storm in a tent, and potentially get no sleep and get wet - not to mention having a tree fall on me, which would not be a good start for the next day. So I headed back to Libby and checked into a quite nice motel. Now I don't have to worry about getting stormed out, if it decides to rain tonight. Not so many miles today, but I welcomed a shorter day after all the wind today.
Miles Today: 291
Day 3 - Monday
Monday, July 12, 2010
Libby, Montana, United States
Other Entries
-
1Prelog - The Start
Jul 093 days priorHarwood, United Statesphoto_camera0videocam 0comment 3 -
2Day 1 - Saturday
Jul 102 days priorWilliston, United Statesphoto_camera3videocam 0comment 0 -
3Day 2 - Sunday
Jul 111 day priorKalispell, United Statesphoto_camera130videocam 1comment 11 -
4Day 3 - Monday
Jul 12Libby, United Statesphoto_camera33videocam 0comment 3 -
5Day 4 - Tuesday
Jul 131 day laterLolo Hot Springs, United Statesphoto_camera33videocam 0comment 11 -
6Day 5 - Wednesday
Jul 142 days laterBoise, United Statesphoto_camera12videocam 2comment 2 -
7Day 6 - Thursday
Jul 153 days laterArco, United Statesphoto_camera42videocam 1comment 0 -
8Day 7 - Friday
Jul 164 days laterYellowstone National Park, United Statesphoto_camera45videocam 0comment 1 -
9Day 8 - Saturday
Jul 175 days laterCody, United Statesphoto_camera49videocam 1comment 1 -
10Day 9 - Sunday
Jul 186 days laterLead, United Statesphoto_camera30videocam 1comment 0 -
11Day 10 - Monday
Jul 197 days laterHarwood, United Statesphoto_camera8videocam 0comment 0 -
12Postblog - The End
Jul 208 days laterHarwood, United Statesphoto_camera0videocam 0comment 0
Comments

2025-02-08
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Tony
2010-07-13
Hey Jon,
Please give me a call at 701-412-1630 when you get close to Boise, ID. One thing that is happening in Downtown Boise on Wednesday is "Alive After Five" where they have a free concert out-doors with food venders. I went down there on June 9th and had a great time: http://www.downtownboise.org/m_events/dba_alive_after_5.cfm
Otherwise, we could meet at my house for dinner: 5165 S Apsley Pl, Boise, ID
Let me know if either of these are of interest - Talk to you soon,
Tony
Kim
2010-07-13
Looks like you are having a great time on your trip! I wish I could be with you.. Maybe someday.. :)
Love you!!!
Linda Steffen
2010-07-13
Very interesting, Thanks for sharing..... ride safe :)