June 19, 2021
Highway from hell
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While setting up camp last night the campground host (ch) stopped by for a chat. It went something like this:
Ch: Hi. You guys riding down to Whitefish?
Me: Yep.
Ch: You better be careful. That hwy 93 out there is very dangerous. The cars treat it like a race track and speed like crazy. They have no respect for bicyclists, never move over. There is no shoulder at all the entire way. There are logging trucks that have crap fly off, and cattle moving trucks speeding by. It is very dangerous.
Me: We are getting off the road at Farm to market road.
Ch: That don’t matter. That road is too far down the road. You will get the worst by then. Do you have a mirror?
Me: I do.
Ch: Good, you ride in the back and warn the others when a truck comes by.
Me: We all have mirrors.
Ch: Even better. I am serious. It’s like a race track out there. Take it very carefully.
Yikes! Nothing like scaring the crap out of us. To me it sounded like the famous line from the Princess Bride movie “Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. … Prepare to die!”
Given this dire warning, we decided we needed a plan. We thought that tomorrow being Saturday that drivers would get going later, so we will get an early start and try to get off the road as soon as possible. We all agreed that we should be on the road by 7:30. This is where the plan started to go awry. Janet wanted to get up at 5:30 and Ross and I wanted to get up at 6. We never resolved this part of the plan, but, I did not set an alarm. This morning Janet’s natural alarm (she had to pee really bad) got her up at 5:45. I started getting ready at 6 am. We made record time in packing up the camp and were on the road by 7:15. We had 35 miles on the highway from hell to get to Whitefish, Mt. After 25 miles we had an option to take a small country road that would add 3 miles to the route. Our plan worked at first. There was very light traffics to start the day. The weather was very nice for riding, sunny and temps in the upper 60’s. The traffic slowly increased throughout the morning, but, no logging trucks the entire way. The Montana drivers drive fast, the speed limit is 70. The majority are very courteous, giving us a wide space when they pass. There are always the idiots that don’t move an inch, but, hopefully they won’t ruin our day. Campground host was correct that the road had no shoulder. After 18 miles we came upon a grocery store, rv rental, snowmobile rental place. We got something to eat and took a little break. The place had a neat picnic table that we ate on. At the small country road turnoff, we decided the hwy from hell wasn’t too bad and we would keep on it for the last 10 miles. It was a good decision until the last 5 miles. The road turned to crap over the last 5 miles, with no shoulder, crumbling asphalt, high traffic and a 5 mile climb into town. We survived and got into town just before noon. We stopped at a bicycle shop so Ross could get some new bike shorts and Janet had her derailleur adjusted. Next we went to our landing spot for the night, The Whitefish RV park. We needed a shower and some laundry done and the RV park provided those facilities and was not too expensive. We spent the afternoon doing those chores and are hitting the town for dinner.
Tonight it is going to rain. Tomorrow we have a shorter day going to West Glacier. Maybe on Monday we make our attempt on the Going to the Sun hwy and Logan’s pass.
Today's ride: 36 miles (58 km)
Total: 767 miles (1,234 km)
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Buddy Hall
2 years ago