Days 10, 11 & 12 + The Baby Squirrel

After departing Libby, we made our way to Dunn Creek Flats Campground (free, but no water), situated along the Kootenai River about 15 miles east of Libby.  It was hot as blazes (around 95), and it wasn't long before some thunderheads started forming.  We happened to be camped under the two tallest trees on the flats, so rather than fret about the weather, we decided to go back to Libby for dinner.  We saw part of the storm passing through as we dined, but it seems things were more violent back at the campground.  We returned to find Cary's tent hanging on by one tent peg, jammed up against the picnic table.  We learned later that our neighbor wedged it into the table after seeing it look as though it would go sailing up river.  We were only gone perhaps an hour and a half, but when we returned the temperature had dropped more than twenty degrees (thankfully!).

For Day 11, Alea and Cary had a hilly ride heading north and skirting Lake Koocanusa for much of the morning.  They got off to an early start, in an effort to avoid the forecast highs in the 90s, though they may have left a little too early, since it was chilly at first.  But they made it the 58 miles or so to our planned destination (Eureka) early in the afternoon.  The camping there wasn't to our liking, and we had considered staying in a motel, but the only option in town left a bit to be desired.  So I offered to ride in the heat the 19 miles or so to the next closest campground, North Dickey Creek Campground.

Oops!  Alea was too speedy, but I got Cary!
Near Rexford, MT and not far from Eureka.

Along the way, I met a family of five who were cycling the Great Divide Route from the Canadian border to the Antelope Wells, NM, expecting the entire journey to take about 11 weeks.  They were headed for our campground, but it was no surprise in the 90+ degree heat that they appear to have changed their plans and found something closer.  I'd be surprised if their youngest daughter was 10 years old, so asking her and the other kids to do another 10+ miles in 90 degree heat was probably wishful thinking.

The campground was nice enough and only $10 per night.  But we had some crazy old geezer in a pickup truck and towing an open utility trailer camping next to us.  With a forest fire raging on the hill above us (and the helicopter bucket brigade as constant reminder of this fact), the guy proceeded to scour the campground for firewood and stoke up a miniature bonfire, with a huge log popping burning embers high into the air.  After he had spent quite a bit of time several feet away from the fire with his back to the flames, we decided we'd had enough and ratted him out to the campground host.  Within two minutes the fire was doused.

The nearby fire, as seen 1/10th of a mile from our campsite.

This morning was my turn to ride, which was a distance of about 40 miles into Whitefish, MT, site of Cary's planned rendezvous with her friend Joanie.  We're camping at the Whitefish RV Park (mostly long term residents) just south of town ($42 per night), which gives us a chance to recharge our trailer battery, do laundry and shopping, and arrange to hand off Cary for her return trip back to Seattle. 

Joanie comes to steal Cary away from us!

We've thoroughly enjoyed our nearly two weeks traveling with Cary (roughly 600 miles on the road together - Cary says her records show that she rode 309 of those miles), and with the monotonous prairies looming ever closer, we figure she's the smarter of us for bailing out at this point (but that'll change once we get to the Midwest and beyond).  I believe we've all had a great time thus far, but if we continued on together that mindset could change in short order if we encounter a couple of days of prairie headwinds (though probably not, neither Cary nor Alea are afraid of an occasional tough day in the saddle).  Luckily for Alea and I, we're currently running a bit ahead of schedule, so we can always take some time off if headwinds become a bit too troublesome.

We'll have a short day tomorrow, only going as far as the west entrance to Glacier National Park.  Our plan will be for me to climb the Going to the Sun Road early on Friday up to Logan Pass.  The recent fires have been on the east slope of the Park and currently bicyclists are not allowed to ride through the fire perimeter, so Alea will pick me up at some point on the downhill run and we'll drive together to St. Mary's (presumably the eastern edge of the fire periphery).

To say our final goodbyes, Alea, Cary and I drove down to Kalispell, MT to join Joanie, Mark and their friend Audrey for an end-of-trip/start-of-trip celebration for Cary.  We found out after choosing this location that they don't serve food, but luckily there were a few places that delivered food that could be consumed in the brewery.  So we had two humongous and tasty pizzas and quaffed some locally brewed ales.

After dinner we unloaded Cary's stuff from our van, and then Joanie and Mark helped her pile it all into their SUV.  A few hugs later and each vehicle drove off in different directions: we had laundry to do and Cary's crew had some further organizing to do preparing for their trip through Glacier National Park on their way back home.

Our Final Goodbye: Steve, Alea & Cary
(photo taken by Joanie)

As Lana and I were sitting here blogging this evening we had some interesting entertainment.  A small bird of prey (perhaps a kite?) swooped down and grabbed a baby squirrel near the rear passenger side of our camper, which also happened to be near where Lana was stationed.  The bird hadn't realized that Lana was there, and in it's haste to avoid running into her, it dropped the baby squirrel.  So for about the last hour the baby squirrel has been hiding on top of the camper's passenger-side brake drum, occasionally coming down to investigate, only to find Lana staring intently at its every move.  Needless to say, Lana is totally fixated on that rear wheel...