July 22, 2016
Whitefish - Swan Lake, MT
We had a leisurely breakfast with Jim and Genny at The Buffalo Run restaurant right next to our hotel. My Denver omelet was good, but service was slow. We didn't get out of town until 8:30. Oren had decided to stay with us today and take the back roads. Yesterday was that much fun, getting into Whitefish.
Luckily, our motel was right on the corner of 93 and E. 2nd Street. We took a right hand turn onto E. 2nd Street to Armory Street. Quickly we were in the country. This was very nice riding. Whitefish might be a nice place to live and learn all of the back roads to ride. Being a bicycle tourist passing through is only medium fun.
The directions for the day were complicated - lots of turns and different roads. Bertha gave me one direction out of the motel and then she never spoke to me again. Sigh. Jacinto's Bertha was talking. We needed to stay with Jacinto. Oren stayed with us until the first dirt road. He made such a fast U turn that the rear wheel almost peeled out. Jacinto got quite a kick out of that. At least Oren knew where he was to get back on the highway. I had no idea where we were, I had a basic idea when we were heading south.
Jacinto has been in charge of taking photos again, since the Yugo phone wasn't working as well as I hoped. I have him all trained to take old barn photos, tractor photos, and old Ford truck photos. Jacinto took 4-5 barn photos today. He is hoping there aren't any barns tomorrow. He turned around to take a photo of a barn that had llamas in front. Down a hill. How about that? But I got way, way ahead. I passed several cross roads. No Jacinto. What if I went too far? When Riverside Road turned to dirt, I stopped and tried to call Jacinto. No answer. But I could see his bright orange shirt down the road. Yes, this is the correct direction. A little more dirt. I didn't remember Jim saying there's any dirt today.
When we turned to 209, who happened to be right there but Oren. We rode together until the previously mentioned dirt road. Oren said he would see us at the grocery in Big Fork. We turned this way and that way and I was getting tired of the back roads. Maybe I should have gone with Oren down the main road.
As we reached Big Fork, traffic picked up. We had gone through Big Fork earlier in the trip, in driving rain. My memories aren't so happy. At least today it was sunny and warm. Plus we stopped at a fruit stand for Flathead area cherries. $5.00 for two pounds. That's a positive.
Sure enough, there was Oren at the grocery store. He was about ready to leave, but agreed to wait while we went inside. This was an excellent store. A full deli and bakery, an excellent produce department. Everything you could want. We bought a very few things. Dinner tonight is at a bar down the road from the B&B. They advertise dinner at the B&B, but tonight they aren't serving because they are catering a wedding. Bar food it is. We did discuss carrying deli food from Big Fork, but decided hot food is better than a can of Stag chili. Plus, since this is a B&B, there's no microwave or fridge in the room.
We tried to estimate how many miles from Big Fork to Swan Lake. Since we hadn't taken the same route, we weren't sure. Jacinto told Oren it was ten miles, but he had a big grin on his face. That wasn't true. I slugged down a V-8 standing outside of the grocery and was ready to go.
We had three miles of dirt bike path. There were any number of people walking along the river path. It was a nice diversion, but I was getting tired of diversions and was ready to be there. The path spit us out almost at highway 83. Good. At least we were on the right road. Jacinto said to stay on his tail, he would block the headwind. I said I"d try, but I could tell I was losing steam. It had been a long day with much more mental effort because of all of the roads. My favorite days are the kind I get going down a road and never have to turn again. Tomorrow is a day like that. South on 83 all day.
83 turned out to be a very nice road to ride. Not at all like parallel 35 going in to Big Fork. That was a very not favorite road with far too much traffic.
It surfaced in my brain that the website had said the Laughing Horse was located between mile 72 and 71. We were at mm 81. Yes! Ten miles to go. Wait a minute. Is my rear tire feeling squishy again? I stopped to check. Damn. Yes. Very slightly squishy. I told Oren I was okay to go.
I kept watching the mile markers, ticking them off. In the meanwhile we had attractive Swan Lake to distract us from the headwind. I stopped again to check the tire. Slightly squishier, but with only four miles to go, I wanted to try and make it.
We stopped at a pull out for some photos. Man, I was SO ready to be there. It had been a long day. We've had seven riding days without a day off. Two more to go. We would have taken a day off, but lodging availability was a problem. The Laughing Horse is the only place to stay in Swan Lake. They had a bunk room open tonight, but nothing at all tomorrow. We could have had a day off in Seeley Lake, but with only two riding days to go, decided to tough it out. I'm getting tired. It's a good thing these are fairly flat days and 'only' in the 55-60 mile range.
When we got to the B&B, there was a sign outside to just go to the room. The guys knocked on the door asking for the wifi code, etc. Kathleen was very busy with the wedding preparations, B&B guests were low priority. I asked for ice, but the young man I talked to said they are leaving right now. There was no time for ice.
I had asked another couple outside if they knew where the ice was. They very kindly picked us up a bag of ice when they went to the store. Too bad they didn't give us a ride to the bar! Oren says it is .4 miles. I'm not very interested in walking, but I am hungry. I guess I'll go.
OK - we are off for dinner. It had better really be that close or I will whine.
As we exited the B&B, we could see a sign down the road. Ah! The bar really was .4 miles away. However, it was really the cabins and store. I was not a happy camper. I bet the bar really was a full mile away and I didn't want to walk that far. A full blown tantrum was averted when we discovered the bar was the next building, hiding behind some trees.
As we walked inside, it appeared to be a regular restaurant with a bar to one side. That seemed hopeful. The special for the night was halibut - 3 piece dinner for $10.50. There were also 6 piece and 10 piece choices. That is a lot of fish! I ordered the special. When my meal came, I had three skinny strips of fish, each about an inch wide. That's why there's a 10 piece choice! I could have eaten the 10 piece, but it was $25.
I was still hungry as we left the bar. We stopped at the little store for an ice cream. The lady was very chatty. I told her that I had called early in the season, hoping to get a cabin, but couldn't talk her into bedding. She said she was going to have a hip replacement in the fall and was doing the bare minimum this summer, please come back next summer.
She had an Adventure Cycling group camped out back. I looked on their website. This is the second day out for the Great Parks North group. They have a good route with a shuttle back to Missoula. $2,200. or ~$100. a day to camp and eat PB&J. I hope they have better weather than we did.
Our breakfast is included in the morning. I hope Kathleen isn't too tired from the wedding to make a good breakfast. We shall see. Breakfast isn't until 8 AM. Tomorrow is a 57 mile day, all on highway 83. Head south and keep pedaling. I've cut Jacinto loose tomorrow. He was very happy. Then I retracted the offer, since I've had flat tire issues. I need a tire squeezer.
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Today's ride: 55 miles (89 km)
Total: 1,600 miles (2,575 km)
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