Day 11Through the Cabinet Mountains to Lake Koocanusa

Got up to a chilly damp foggy morning. Oregon Bill got an early start while Kevin and I pulled up the rear. I was using Kevin’s iphone to order a new set of waterproof rear panniers. It took a while for the people at Performance Bike to realize I was standing in the Montana outback and didn’t have the stupid catalog numbers with me. BTW Alltel doesn’t have much coverage up here so I do have an excuse for the delayed blog postings. (I opened the panniers last night at Kevin’s Uncle John’s place and it had a sample size of Speed Stick Pro Extra Dry Antiperspirant I didn‘t know the iphone came with smell-a-vision)
Upon departure Tulsa Bill reminded everyone that the next 51 miles were without services, nothing until we reached the town of Libby. Those 51 miles in the Cabinet Mountains were great(pic,pic,pic,pic) some up’s and down’s but little traffic and nature’s beauty lapping up to the edge of the shoulder. I shot a video at a scenic vista (Video). The miles clicked by Tulsa Bill and Rick pulled out ahead after 30 miles. Approaching the intersection of highway 2 I was just ahead of Oregon Bill and Kevin. On a fast downhill I managed to swerve and miss two sets of rumble strips designed to wake up drivers and forewarn them of the stop sign ahead. Bill and Kevin, however, went across the strips with their BOB’s in tow, bouncing along the way. Kevin lost a pad from his handlebars and stopped to retrieve it. Bill and I entertained ourselves with snacks and weighing our bikes and ourselves on the truck scale at the weigh in station at the junction (it rounds of to the nearest 20 lbs). Kevin decided to stay behind and warn the girls to avoid the rumble strips. Bill and I continued toward civilization in Libby along a busy stretch of highway 2.
Oregon Bill was ridding strong I was having trouble keeping up. The first restaurant coming into Libby from the west is Fiesta Bonita Mexican. Low and behold that’s where we found Tulsa Bill and Rick sitting down with huge plates of food on the table. We joined them for lunch then went on into the heart of town. We found a green patch of grass in front of the Chamber of Commerce and spread out our wet tents to dry and laid on the grass to nap. About an hour later Kevin, Susan and Diane showed up. Diane had had pedal/cleat problems and hitched a ride into Troy for a basic pair or platform pedal and toe clips. She was riding in a pair of tennis shoes borrowed from Susan and looked tired and stressed. We still had 25 miles to go to get to our campsite (making up 10 of the miles we lost yesterday). The first 10 miles were nice and easy riding beside a wide river but the last 15 miles were tough. Relentless big steep hills in the heat of the day pushed even the strongest riders to their breaking points. Rick and I got to the beautiful shore side campground first, made the arrangements and set up our tents. Oregon Bill came next and he and I bought a six pack of carbs and celebrated the 75 mile accomplishment and chatted with some dog walkers before heading over to set up camp and share the brew. After wonderful dinner at the camp’s restaurant I found myself getting chilled so I rode over to use the restroom on the way back to camp. When I sung my leg over the saddle to dismount my right hamstring locked up in a cramp. I rifled through my handlebar bag to find some Tum’s (the calcium usually helps my leg cramps) and in the process my camera fell on the concrete sidewalk. The camera doesn’t work now but I managed to get the photos off and will use Rick’s photos and camera till I can replace or repair it. The end of another stressful yet awesome day.