Saddle Soar

Libby to a  campground about 20 miles outside of Clark Fork.  We are still in Montana just barely.  Today was hot, in the triple digits for most of our ride today.  Luckily our National Forest campsite is on a lake.  We rode 52 miles today with 3000 feet of elevation gain.   Some gorgeous views...  too hot tonight for the rain fly.

Smokey...that was yesterday from Whitefish to Eureka, MT.  This morning the sky already looked better, thankfully.  Eureka to Libby Montana was absolutely beautiful - nice shoulder, barely any traffic, and cloud cover keeping things cool for the first half of the day. stunning views along Lake Koocanusa!  Turned out to be a fantastic day for air quality.   Finished the 70 mile day with a wonderful birthday dinner for Laurie! Happy birthday friend! Megan

Minnesota has great bike trails!  We enjoyed trails for two days, staying in small city parks along the way in Bowlus, Roethsay. It is amazing how these small towns open up to strangers and are generous hosts. In Dalbo we stayed at this bunkhouse, our generous host Donn converted an old milking barn into a bunkhouse for cyclist.   We made it to Fargo, ND yesterday with a generous tail wind we traveled 45 miles in under 2 hours!  Greg and I are celebrating our 21 st wedding anniversary.  We found a great coffee shop and enjoyed cappuccinos which was our drink of choice on our honeymoon in Italy.   Tomorrow Laurie and I take the boys on the Amtrak to Whitefish, MT.  Greg and Mike are driving the bikes to Whitefish.  We will start on the trail again in MT. Here are some fun things we have seen along the road.

Crossing into Wisconsin on Monday July 12, 2021 Mississippi River from short hike by Effigy Mounds, Iowa The boys at the top of a long ruthless hill in Iowa.  Surprisingly, Iowa is very hilly in parts of it, and it’s very beautiful too! We ran across this beautiful Consecrated Catholic church in Petersburg, Iowa. It had recently been restored, meaning painting and also all of the intricate and ornate artwork touched up or repaired.   Field of Dreams movie set  in Dyersville Iowa.  *Amazing* warm showers hosts in Illinois, Danny and Donna.  What a blessing and reprieve they were to us! We discovered Casey’s convenience stores and got sick of them, all in the same day 😆.   I grew up in Illinois and the smells, corn fields, and seeing some special people like my best friend from high school Jessica, ( who brought us dinner!)  brought back great memories.    River boat tour on the Mississippi River on a paddle boat replica in Lacrosse, WI. ...

By Laurie There was a time in my “young” parenthood life that I had ideals.  My kids would NEVER eat at McDonald’s.  This seemed reasonable at the time since fast food is evil,  and we made it about one year until I went to a Women’s retreat and called Mike to check in on how things were going with Eli, who was about one.  They were at McDonald’s when I called.    Eli had already eaten. And now he was crawling on the floor ( late walker) and picking up random food and placing it in his mouth as roaming crawlers and toddlers do.  Oh my.  Ideals gone. Expectations shaken.  And guess what, I learned and continue to learn that my ideals and expectations are very frequently unrealistic.  Even though there is a good desire in there with ideals that ought not be ignored , there is a process of letting go and embracing realities. This could be a lengthy discourse here but I’m tired and lacking energy.    And so, I have now morphed, com...

By Asher The biking days are very boring. All we do is bike to a campsite most days. We do not go fast enough and that makes it more boring. It is just fun at the campsite and we get there late because we go slowly. Our average miles a day are 50-60 and we go around 12 mph. I want to go 15 mph but we have to stick together… We also stop to use the bathroom too much for my liking 🤨. But the rest of the trip is very fun. We do frisbee golf, swimming and lots of other fun things!    👌👌👌👌

I have been riding with a flat spot on my front rim since early on in the tour.  We were cycling on a back road in Maine when I struck a large pot hole while hovering too close to the cyclist in front of me, Eli.  As he swerved out of the way I had no time to turn. The impact was significant.   Though the rim is bent it remains structurally sound.  However, each revolution of the tire results in a small drop in the wheel that makes me crazy while riding on a smooth road.  I can't feel it on most of the roads as the cracks and rough surface hide the flat spot.  Due to the lack of inventory in the cycling industry, I will probably make it work for the remainder of the tour. Each of us have endured some wound, annoyance, and discomfort thus far in the tour.  Road rash from a crash, stitches from a crash, broken bike components, mangled bike chain, unceasing bug bites, flat tire, blistered butt cheeks, numb fingers, numb feet, chain grease imprinted o...