I'm Your Huckleberry

July 1, 2023 to July 2, 2023

Rest Day and the Road to Ferndale

Coffee in a diner mug at the Buffalo Cafe

July 1- Zero Day. Downtown Whitefish is charming, and the area is incredibly bicycle friendly. A path runs 3 miles or so next to highway 93 between the State Park and downtown. Drivers are also pretty good. I talked to a few interesting people, ate at the Buffalo Cafe, uploaded a Cycleblaze entry, charged my phone, rode to Ace to buy $12 fuel, talked to Jen, talked to my mom, posted to Facebook and Instagram, ate pizza and had a beer at McKenzie River pizza, and had a spinach smoothie as well. Need to stop for a few groceries in the morning. It was a relaxing, touristy day.

Spinach smoothie- it helped my severe vegetable deficit.

Pizza is delicious. And my first beer of the trip.

July 2- Whitefish to Ferndale- 46 miles, 1755 gain. After 2 nights at Whitefish State Park I headed out towards Ferndale, but first needed to get important supplies- Pop Tarts, a banana Triple Shot, trail mix.

A couple of miles out of town I ran into August and family, riding from Whitefish. They stayed at the Whitefish bike hostel for two nights and had high praise for the place.

The ride was all tarmac, through nice rural neighborhoods and ranch areas. Beautiful. It got into the high 80s by the afternoon, and the climbing got tough.

The idea and food and ice cream sounded good, so we rode a couple miles off route to a store to get drinks and food. It was so stinking hot that we really wanted a way to bypass the hill and heat to get to the campground, so I suggested that maybe we could get a ride. I walked over to a shuttle bus driver (Robert) and asked him if he'd take us to the Wayfarer campground, and he agreed! I walked back to our table and proudly told the Kiwis, "I'm your huckleberry", which they didn't understand because for some unknown reason they had never seen Tombstone! I hope they rectify that as soon as they return to this "New Zealand", where ever that is.

The campground was similar to Whitefish Lake- hiker biker site $8, showers, water, plug ins.

Robert took 3 of us and 2 bikes to the campground on his own time and wouldn't accept any money.

Bill's new favorite food is (are?) the orange peanut butter crackers. Very tasty and natural.

Today's ride: 51 miles (82 km)
Total: 357 miles (575 km)

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