The Final State!

We survived the plains, barely... the Rockies taunted us with their beauty for two days before we actually got to play in them. Now we are definitely in the mountains!

Glacier National Park provided an excellent welcome to the mountains. It was 18 miles of attempting to climb. There was a lot of stopping... not because the terrain was that difficult, but because the views were that breathtaking. It was impossible not to pause for a minute to take it all in... every half mile. The ride down the hill was a lot of fun. A lot of break squeezing so you could make the turns, so for a change the arms got a workout.

The end of the day was a little less fun. Due to our lovely van. The van has had more breakdowns then the bicycles. And there are a lot more bicycles, so that's definitely against the odds. Kevin and I were the sweeps for Glacier, the two people who ride in the back and make sure everyone is ok. So after we were done with lunch (at mile 55 at 7:15pm), the van set off for the church. Less than a mile after exiting the park we again found ourselves at the van. It was supposed to be going uphill, but instead it was sitting blocking the right lane (there wasn't much of a shoulder). It had just stopped working. Again. So after we opened the hood, pretended to know what we were doing, and failed miserably, I called Triple A. And then had to wait for them to come. So that kind of put a damper on the rest of my day, since sunset came and I was still 25 miles from the church!

But it was all good, because Whitefish was supposed to be a day off. It was the most active day off I've had on this trip! A group had gone through the park early in the morning to avoid getting stuck at the "forbidden zone" (an area closed to cyclists from 11-4), and while eating lunch they had met the President of a local Habitat Chapter. So we had an impromptu build on the day off!

About 15 of us went to the build for the morning. My job included playing with a screw that was definitely possessed, it beat up 3 electric screw drivers, and moving a portapoddy (long story).

After lunch 5 people stayed at the build site, but I got my opportunity to finish the ride from the day before. So I rode back to Glacier and had a delightful afternoon. The ride was down hill both ways!

Now we're in Washington. Our last state before BC. So far, it has a lot of hills!