Day 17 – June 20 – Condon, MT to Columbia Falls, MT – 72 Miles

It was cold this morning.  The only thing that awakened me during the night was when it began to rain.  I fell back to sleep quickly, powerless to change anything.  My alarm went off at 6:00.  I slipped out of the tent around 6:30 to find it overcast. The general store had showers for campers, but would not open until 7:30.  There really was no hurry to get going.  Our goal was Columbia Falls, MT,  and reasonable riding distance that would put us close to West Glacier.

Mike, the owner of the General Store arrived at 7:30 and opened the shower room.  The warm shower chased off the chill.  The general store had a nice selection of muffins and coffee was brewing.  After getting the tents and equipment packed up the three of us went into the store for breakfast.  Interestingly enough, many of the same faces for coffee and the general store this morning were the same at Liquid Louie’s the night before.

We set off around 9:30.  Just a couple miles down the road, still in Condon, MT. I saw a strangest thing nailed to a pole and the intersection of Kaufman Rd and Route 83. (See Photo).  I had to make a U turn and get a shot of this.

Today’s ride, seemed to be the best of the trip so far.  Not really any reason why, but for David, Joe and myself, it just felt good.  The coolness of the morning gave way to bright sunshine and warmer temperatures.  I rode most of the day with shorts and a long sleeve shirt.  Jackets were removed mid-morning.  The traffic was typical, but the grades were not challenging.  We seemed to have good sight lines for oncoming traffic most of the day.

Today we met the most touring cyclists yet.  The first group of four men, we met mid-morning.  We stopped and talked a while.  The next group was three women.  Both groups were headed to Missoula then on to Yellowstone.  We saw and met a number of individual riders as well.  There is a camaraderie among long distance cyclists when passing in opposite directions, the protocol is to pull to the side, exchange bits of information about each ones respective rides and origins and then send best wishes for safe travel.

Our pace was relaxed, but we seemed to make good time.  The only problem of the day was our first flat tire of the trip, only five miles from our destination.  Some of the shoulders we were on today seemed to have an unusual amount of debris.  At some point Joe’s rear tire picked up a piece of glass that caused a puncture.  Even that could not dampen our ride today as it went flat in one of the most beautifully scenic spots.  At the top of a hill with the panorama of the Rocky Mountains laid out before us.

We are camping this evening at the Columbia Falls RV Park.  It has everything we would need, clean, hot showers, a laundry and wifi.

Tomorrow we head toward Glacier.