Caught By The Rain- Better Than Being Caught By A Bear

We had a good night’s sleep and started the day ready to go on what was already anticipated to be a long ride day.  Joe had an early start and it became Joe’s longest ride ever – 78.6 miles.  In Joe’s words, “Today was shit.  It started out overcast.  Garmin was bound and determined to send me down a long deserted, gravel country road which added 2 miles to my ride today”.    Luckily, later on, Joe ignored Garmin telling him twice to make a U-turn.  About 1 ½ hours into the ride, Joe called me from a restaurant in West Glacier, Highland Café, where he stayed for a bit (even had time for a coffee) as he waited for a heavy downpour to end.  He couldn’t outrun the rain today, it was following and chasing him all day. 

Neptune and I had an uneventful pack up.  Neptune is a bit wary of the RV since the alarm incident the other night.  We passed Joe at about 40 miles left and finally found a safe place to wait for him at 30 miles left.  It was cool, but the rain had stopped, temporarily.  Joe showed me a picture of the bear he saw!!  About 10 miles outside of Columbia Falls he was riding and a truck stopped and told him that there’s a bear up on the left.  And in his words, “so I took out my phone and approached with caution and saw the black bear run into the woods”.  He has a video of it, too.  Because that is what we do when there is a bear or other wild animal- we take out our phones.  Ugh!  What ever happened to safety first? 😊

Joe went over Marias Pass at elevation 5216. Joe was able to take some good pictures of the scenery around Glacier National Park. At one point he stopped to take a picture of the scenery and looked to his right and saw a mama and baby mountain goat. They didn’t even notice Joe was there. 

The last 30 miles started with 20 miles uphill and then 10 miles downhill.  He couldn’t outrun the rain.  The last 4 miles, the skies opened up and he got wet from the rain, the road spray, and, of course, the bike got wet, too.

Neptune and I set up the RV (with some assistance with back up). Soon after arriving a BNSF train came by.   Joe arrived about 1 ½ hours after us.  He really did have a long day today. Over 7 hours on the saddle.

Tomorrow is a “short” ride of 50 miles.  We’ll be meeting up with Bill, brother in law, at the RV site tomorrow.  Bill and his bike hopped on the train yesterday and arrived in Shelby, MT.  early today.  Bill will be biking solo to Cut Bank, MT and will be part of our journey for a couple weeks.  Safe travels tomorrow to all the bikers and drivers.

And thank you to all the people who are reading our blog and experiencing this crazy escapade with us.  This is an outrageous adventure for us and we also recognize how fortunate we are to be able to do this.  We appreciate all your support. It helps keep us going on those long days.  Thank you!!