Road Medly

June 27, 2024

Stillwater Getaway to Kalispell; Jim & Genny beat the rain (almost), Wide Load redux, Last supper

Heart

Comment

I had one of those sleepless, or almost sleepless nights. It wasn’t noise or even the spiders in our cabin that I was successfully ignoring. My heart was beating too fast and my legs were achy; I think my body is over-tired and not fully recovering between rides. This was worrisome since I have two more ride days before a two day rest. So I tossed and turned and got frustrated. A moderate rain started up at about 3 am and the delightful noise on the roof of the cabin lulled me into a fitful sleep.

At 0700 I was up and exploring the kitchen in the common building for this campground. It took me a few minutes to find the light switch. The coffee pot was set up and ready for us so I turned it on. Then a few minutes more to find a suitable and clean pan to fix eggs. Then I turned on the front middle burner, which I had been instructed would take 10 minutes to warm up and was the best burner for eggs on this very old and tired Viking stove. By this time Amber, Rich and Jim were helping and soon the four of us had a good breakfast of eggs, toast, yogurt and bananas and, of course, coffee.

The sky was overcast and occasionally spitting a bit of rain, but the weather prediction was for a break between 10 and 1, with SE winds then increasing to over 30 mph after 1:30. So we really wanted to try to beat that potential headwind into Kalispell. Jim and I pushed off by 9:40.

I knew right away that I had no legs today. Lack of sleep, not enough recovery, or both, but they didn’t have any punch to them at all. Good thing today was fairly flat because I was feeling every upward incline. Our first few miles were on Hwy 93 but then we turned off to the right on Farm to Market Rd. The next 10 miles or so was a nice country lane with minimal traffic. Then we wound around on a couple of other roads until we were once again on Farm to Market. But now the road was like a highway alternative with heavy, fast traffic and variable but generally narrow shoulders.

At some point we picked up a Class 1 bike lane for about a mile. Fortuitously, a very Wide Load passed us while we were on it. About a mile past the bike lane, the Wide Load broke down, so we passed it. About 2 miles further we heard it coming so we pulled over and let it pass us again and we followed it as Farm to Market road became a gravel road while the busy, highway-like road zigzagged off to the right. We heard later from Amber and Rich that there was a lot of construction further on that we missed by going on the gravel portion of Farm to Market.

The gravel portion was not great riding since it was rocky and washboarded but it was better than contending with the speedy traffic and after about a mile it was paved as it passed into a residential neighborhood on the outskirts of Kalispell. We wound our way through the neighborhood and popped out into an urban environment near the hospital. Our motel is literally right across Hwy 93 from the hospital.

The last time I was anywhere near the Kalispell hospital was probably 20 years ago, and it is at least 4 times larger now and surrounded by modern specialty offices. It mirrors the grown of Kalispell in general-it has grown from a moderately sized town into a small city.

We ate our last dinner with Amber and Rich at a newish Himalayan restaurant with excellent food. We all remarked on how fast the trip has gone by. Although the trip was marred by Amber’s unfortunate injuries, overall it has been fun and we have enjoyed the beauty of the parts of Montana that we passed through.

Tomorrow Jim and I will ride to Bigfork while Amber and Rich head back to California. We will spend 2 days there before riding back to Whitefish to catch the train home.

This used to an idyllic road all the was to Kalispell but not anymore.

Someone’s little slice of Heaven here in MT.

The pavement at the bottom is a short bike lane that luckily we were on when this overtook us the first time.

Today's ride: 29 miles (47 km)
Total: 492 miles (792 km)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	5
Comment on this entry	Comment	0