Top of the Mountain.

If you have just started reading this vacation blog, it's best if you start at the beginning.

... So we now have .5 mile to go. I thought a photo at this point was important because we both can still stand.

Before we made it to the top, a truck full of guys yelled encouraging words, "It's(the top) just around the corner", I called back, "so is Christmas". My mood was souring. WE MADE IT. This photo will now become a mural in my living room. Yep, over the Continental Divide, 6600 ft. No wonder it was hard to catch my breath. We took a break here just to take it all in. I checked out the gift center for postcards, Karen opted to inhale the view instead. She made the right decision. The gift shop was up about 30 steps, and my legs felt each one of them. Uuuggh. After Logan Pass we still had 24 miles to ride to get to the nice hot shower and soft cushy beds that would envelop us that night. The good news is the comfort in the knowledge that what goes up, must come down. Yep, it took us around 7 hours to make it to the top of the mountain and 25 minutes to get down, another 30 minutes to cover the flat ground and we were in Rising Sun at our cozy little cottage. Thank you Baby Jesus.

After showering, changing and downing a handful of Advil we headed out for dinner. From dinner we walked to St. Mary's Lake and took a boat tour. Thank heaven, all we had to do was sit and listen to the facts. I don't think I would have been good for mch more than that. The mountain is now behind us. It should be smooth biking from here on out.

Latest Member of the Family

We interrupt this riveting vacation blog to introduce Chloe Gunning. Kathy adopted this darling little chihuahua/terrier mix at Pet Smart 2 weeks ago. Kathy told me all it took was holding her in her arms. Congratulations Kathy.

How much further? Part Deux

...Okay, I haven't seen Karen for about 30 minutes and my water situation is dire. I decided to flag down a car and asked if they had any to spare. They were very kind after giving me the "I can't believe your biking this road look". After thanking them profusely, I continued with my quest. I finally catch up to Karen, she had other ideas on filling the water bottles. Now getting to this water source was not quite as easy as the photo makes it look. Thanks Karen. We now not only have water, we have ice cold glacier water. Who cares about micro bacterial infection? With all water bottle filled we are on the road again.



About 15 minutes later our paths crossed with a Park Ranger. It was around 1:00. He informed both Karen and I that we would have to go back to the last pocket in the road and wait there until 4:00. Well, at the break neck speed we were traveling, that would have gotten us to Logan Pass around midnight. So being the law abiding citizens that we are, we both responded,"Yes Sir" at the exact same time. I mean come on, it's not like he could turn around in an extra lane or pull over on the non existing shoulder to see that we followed his orders. Trust me when I tell you that at this stage in the game, backtracking was not an option. We waited until he turned the next corner, and pushed forward.
Now along "GTTS" Highway there were some amazing sites. As Karen liked to say, "We saw that particular strip of highway like no one ever has". Every point of interest became an excuse to stop and catch our breath. As we got closer to the top the mountain goats became more numerous. We also got our photo taken in front of what remained of an existing glacier.

I'm telling you I hated leaving the glacier. It was a welcome relief from the relentless
afternoon sun. We are now about 1.5 miles from the top of Logan Pass. I have now gotten to the point where the drop to my right is more than my psyche can stand, so decide to walk. I know, I've only got 1.5 miles left, but believe me when I tell you it was the SAFE decision. You can see from the photo that not only is there no shoulder, but there is no guard rail. What you can't see is how far the fall would have been. I do not regret my desicion, and because of it you have the pleasure of reading about it. We are almost there. Stay Tuned......

How much further?

Today's ride(day 2) starts extra early due to the fact that bicycles are not allowed on "Going To The Sun" Highway between the hours of 11:00am-4:00pm. Karen and I started in semi darkness to avoid any delays and arrive at Logan Pass long before the curfew goes into effect. Well we all know what the road to hell is paved with, but I'm getting ahead of myself. We've had about 9 miles to ride before we start the still undetermined, 4-7 point grade, of the 15 mile trek up. The scenery was straight out of "A River Runs Through It". The smells and sounds of all that surrounded us was incredible, but of course it was still early in the day's ride. When we get to the rest area before the climb we were surprised to find that it was only a bathroom, there was no potable water. Not Good. We probably had a bottle each, but we had just started. Don't Panic. Baby Sips.

Karen took this shot at the beginning of our upward climb. Now the road doesn't look that daunting in this photo, so let's add a few obstacles. Let's throw some gravel road in for 3 miles. I am not a fan of gravel roads when they're flat, add an incline, and I am not happy. For fun let's close half the road down for construction, allowing one way traffic every 20 minutes for the next 2 miles. Remember we're on a time schedule. Now all this was fine when the mountain was on my right, but now I've got a shear drop there instead. Have I mentioned the absence of any shoulder whatsoever. Some fun now. Oh yeah! We're out of water, 7 miles to go, and it's 11:30am. Stay tuned.......

Operation Giddy Up-Day 1

Ah! Day 1. May I just start by saying how achingly beautiful Montana is. Karen and I got a leisurely start after our Continental breakfast. We pulled out of the hotel about 10:15 with Apgar as our destination du jour. The ride was very pleasant. The perfect Carolina Blue sky, easy rolling countryside, huckleberry pie and ice cream, but I knew better. The mountains in front of us (behind me in photo) were going to have to be tackled on tomorrows ride, but that's tomorrow.
On today's ride we went through West Glacier. It's one of those cutesy, log cabiny, you're in moose, bear, coyote and anything else wild, kinda places. It reminded me so much of one of our many family trips across country. Yellowstone comes to mind. In West Glacier, Karen and I picked up breakfast and lunch for tomorrow's ride.

At the end of our day, this was the view from our hotel window. We were right on Lake McDonald, in Apgar, which is where the photo was taken. Now, I have found in my experience, landscape photos (at least mine), never give you the intense color or feeling as actually being there. This photo of Lake McDonald is no exception. From this vantage point I could see 12 other mountain peaks. I think my photo only shows 7. I could see the devastation caused by the wild fire from 2 years ago, I could also see my toes in the water when I was waist deep. We made it to "Fast Eddie's" for an early dinner. Karen took a long hike, and I opted to sit in front of Lake McDonald with my book. Life is good. Tomorrow is going to be a big day, stay tuned.

The Adventure Begins

I know many of you have been waiting patiently for the "Holiday Highlights", so here goes. So many things happened on our 10 day biking sojourn, that I'm going to try to give you the condensed version. I will also be splitting it up, or you can just wait for the movie to come out.
I though it was important to get a before shot, so here Karen Karos and I are at O'dark:00 getting ready to board the flight to Adventure Land. We arrive in Kalispell at 1:30 and catch a shuttle to our hotel, then on to Bikology to pick up my rental and Karen's bike. Now we have been planning this trip for some time, and I know Karen set up my bike rental back in February or March. Karen had her bike shipped 2 weeks prior to our arrival. They knew when we would be arriving, so we were very surprised when our bikes weren't quite ready. Now 30-40 minutes is understandable, but 3 hours is a bit much. We are now on Montana-time. The workers at the shop were great, but boy did they love to talk. All that there was time to do afterwards was head to Red,Wine and Blues for dinner. We both had our 1st taste of Yak in the form of burgers. Yummy. More on Yak later. Get a good night sleep, tomorrow we hit the road.

Gold & Silver

When I was in Girl Scouts we learned a song that went something like this; "Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other's gold". Those words have stayed with me throughout life.
Earlier in the week I had the pleasure of being invited to an old and very dear friend's house for dinner. Once there, Pat and her partner, Pat O' made me feel right at home. I had met Pat O' before, but only briefly. Never really long enough to get to know her. The girls and I have a passion for travel. When I tell you that some of their travel adventures are worthy of a TV Sitcom, I kid you not. I can't remember the last time I laughed so much. Each of their stories were funnier than the last, and all true. After a delicious meal of grilled steak and vegetables we retired to there screened in porch to continue with the merriment. It was one of those evenings that you hate to end. I actually stayed until 9:30, which most of you know is 3 hours past my brain functioning.
I left with a happy heart and the top two podiums in friendship.

Packing Perils

On August 11th I'm heading to Montana, with a friend and a bike to ride through Glacier National Park. Now I don't know about you, but I don't usually get psyched for a trip until I am on the plane. The preparation for the trip is exhausting. I have been on quite a few long distance bike trips before, so hills, weather and all the other incidentals don't really concern me. What's different about this trip is that it's just Karen and I. Which means there will be no support van. For those of you who don't know the importance of a sag wagon, let me just explain a few of the perks I will be doing without on this trip.
1. I will have to carry all my own clothes in 2 small panniers, that pretty much means no new outfit for each evening. Who am I kidding? After biking these hills, I'll be lucky to make it to dinner in sweaty bike clothes. Hell, one of my sports bra will fill up 1 pannier, stuff it with socks and there's my 50lbs. of checked luggage
2. I will have to carry all water, water purifying tools, snacks for fuel and BEAR-B-GONE spray. That's right, "Ther's bear in them ther hills".
3. Carry all my own tools, fix my own flats, pump my own tires. Now, these are all things I can do myself, but it really was nice to wake up every morning and just hop on my tuned up, ready to go bike. The things I do in the name of adventure....
Now as far as the packing goes, believe me when I tell you I will be packing as little as I can get away with. So what if I'm in the same clothes all week? Waaahh! For those of you who know me well, you know how hard that is. Good heavens! I'm going to one of the most beautiful areas in our country. Life is good. To be continued....