Day 13: the ride into Whitefish

This morning Sean and Pam drove Diane, Kevin and me back out to the Dickey Lake campgrounds. Pam was joining us for the ride to Whitefish after being inspired by Diane to get her bike out of the garage and begin riding just 20 days ago. Sean carried all the baggage and drove sag. About 10 miles out the fast boys stopped at a coffee shack (drive thru) and took a break. We had coffee and muffins and flirted with the girl running the place. Today is Oregon Bill’s birthday and we arranged for her to put some candles in a muffin for him. We all studied a small Subaru utility truck that was for sell in the parking lot as a potential sag wagon to use for the rest of the trip. Right side drive, rear engine and only 44,000 km on the dial. Unfortunately the whisper price was twice what any of us expected. Bill arrived shortly and was surprised (pic) by the muffin and coffee and all us hooting and hollering. After the brief celebration we saddled up. A while later a white car with a pole mounted to the roof passed us. Tulsa Bill said that car had passed us yesterday. A mile later the car was pulled over to the side of the road and I arrived to find Bill quizzing the driver about the contraption on his roof. The driver told us it was a 360 degree camera and that he’s collecting the photos for Google Maps. He only stopped because a bug had struck the lenses of the front facing camera. He said that there were around 200 other cars doing the same thing in the US. He showed us the route he had driven the day before and it coincided with our route and he remembered seeing us too. He said it would take about a year for the photos he is shooting today to be available on Google Maps but that we would be able to see ourselves captured on these two days by his camera equipment, immortalized in the Google databank.
In Whitefish we ate lunch at LouLa’s which I highly recommend, though it is slightly pricy, and hung around Glacier Bikes for an hour or so getting minor repairs fawning of some of their offerings. Rick decided to share the room with me at the lodge while the others, except Diane, planned to stay at Kevin’s, Uncle John’s and Aunt Jane’s house about 3 miles away.
We all went over to John and Jane’s for some dinner including Pam and Sean (Pam cycled all 35 miles, way to go). Excellent Cornish hens, and all the fixing’s including John’s famous sourdough biscuits and homemade brownies. John has had quite a life as a veterinarian and shared dozens of stories about cowboys, livestock, snakes and stupid hunters. Everyone was stuffed to the gills and looking forward to a restful nights sleep.