Highway Heaven

June 25, 2024

Koocanusa Marina to Eureka; Genny and Jim ride on wrong side; device quandaries; Osprey sightings

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The Wi-Fi tonight is irregular and slow so bear with me on the map and pics.

Last night after dinner we found some abandoned firewood and carried it back to our cabin and built a campfire. We sat around it until almost 10 pm, eating chocolate, drinking wine (Amber and Rich) and chatting, before calling it a day.

I was up at 0700 and the first thing I did was turn on the full sized coffee pot that I had set up the night before. Good thing I turned it on first because, OMG, it was the slowest coffee pot ever. I watched it for several minutes to be sure it was actually working before walking away. I suspect the water pump is about ready to fail. But the coffee was decent.

Breakfast was 2-day old pizza leftovers and pop tarts that Jim bought at the camp store, washed down with coffee. I haven’t eaten a pop tart in years. As I was opening the foil pack I noticed that there were funny things written on it like, “let us out” and “the foil is protecting us from cosmic rays”. I tried to take a photo but unfortunately the writing on the foil wasn’t legible.

We were on our way by 9:15, a little earlier than usual because on paper, this ride is 44 miles with over 3000 feet of climbing. We suspected that RWGPS was over-estimating the climbing but didn’t really know. Also, it is supposed to be pretty warm today so we wanted to try to beat the heat.

As we exited the gravel road into the marina, there was a sign that said “Wait for Pilot Car”, which we ignored. The 2-lane highway here was freshly asphalted with a 2-foot shoulder including the rumble-strip. And no traffic. As we rode along, we got passed by a pilot car leading a couple of vehicles going in our direction. Later we saw it coming back toward us with more vehicles in tow. Shortly after that we saw two huge tanker trucks parked on our side of the road nose-to-nose. At this point, our lane turned from perfect asphalt to freshly chipped pavement that was not yet sealed. So we did what almost any cyclist would do-we crossed over and rode on the shoulder on the opposite side of the road, facing traffic, except there wasn’t any. A few miles further, we passed the road crew and machines, and the surface returned to regular, pretty good asphalt. So we returned to our side to continue our ride.

Amber and Rich were following us in the truck and told us later that they also ignored the pilot car sign and Rich was actually admonished by the pilot car driver. They did their best to look like ignorant tourists and were waved away.

Today’s route basically followed Hwy 37 all the way to Eureka. As we entered the highway at the start, Jim’s Wahoo said 43.3 miles to Que while mine said 21.6 miles, even though the routes were downloaded from the same site. My route simply finished at the mid-point and we don’t know why. Maybe mine was loaded during the solar flares and the cosmic rays affected it-perhaps foil would have protected it?😉

We rode almost all day alongside Lake Koocanusa, which was virtually devoid of activity on the lake. I saw 1 boat on it all day. There is very little development along the lakefront. Until we were within 5 miles of Eureka, the only signage I saw along the lake was for two boat ramps. I wanted to stop at one to use the restroom but there was a steep grade down to the lake and I didn’t need to stop bad enough to ride back up it. Fortunately I found another pit toilet bathroom right on the road a short distance further on.

The ride, though, was really beautiful. The views of the lake were stunning and the highway undulated up and down through dramatic cuts across rocky hills. Several deer ran across the road in front of us and we saw several nesting Osprey along the way.

About 2 1/2 miles from Eureka the road abruptly lost its shoulder but almost at that very same moment I spotted a rider going the opposite direction on a bike path. So at the first opportunity, we crossed over the highway and rode into town on it.

We turned right at the intersection with Hwy 93 and our motel, the Ksanka Inn, was right there. We have stayed here twice before because they were essentially the only act in town, not because it is so great. But Eureka looks quite different now- it is larger with another motel and a Harvest Foods-type grocery store. The convenience store where free coffee is available for Ksanka motel guests is now also a Subway. There are additional food options further into town. I guess it has been 7 or 8 years since we were last here.

We ate dinner at the Casino/Pizza/Grill down the street-pretty decent food. Tomorrow we will try Jax Diner further in town for breakfast before Rich and I saddle up to ride to the Stillwater Campground for our first “glamping” experience.

Osprey in nest. I noticed her after she cried out as we rode by.

Osprey in nest and perched above and plastic goose on pole in front. Does anyone know the purpose of the plastic goose?

Osprey nest on 1 pole and a plastic goose on the other. Is the goose there to scare off other birds?

Today's ride: 44 miles (71 km)
Total: 426 miles (686 km)

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