Glacier National Park

Originally Posted July 7, 2004 by Chad

Thanks to everyone who has been sending us comments. We don't have time to reply to each one, but we do read every one and are happy to know people are reading our site. 



 
We saw lots of wildlife in the park: bears, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, mosquitoes.
Here are some pictures from Glacier National Park




Going to the Sun Road:
Looking back west toward Logan Pass on Going to the Sun Road

We had dinner and camped with Mark. He was riding from Coeur d'Alene to visit his father who lives in Alberta.




Posted by Chad at 01:03 PM

Comments: Glacier National Park

So glad to know where you are and that the bears didn't get you. Is that the same bear I saw in the Libby News? Grief! Yellowstone bears are next!

After our recent plane ride for Carl's filming work, I ALMOST wished I was on a tandem bike instead of a plane.

Love, Melanie
Posted by Melanie Harris at July 13, 2004 03:24 PM

Libby, MT

Originally Posted July 6, 2004 by Chad

Today we're in Libby, Montana. We hope to make it to Glacier National Park tomorrow, where we'll ride up Going to the Sun Road on Thursday. Here's some pictures.

Posted by Chad at 09:50 AM | 

Comments: Libby, MT

Chad & Mags
Hey there guys, how are things?
Had lunch with family for Aunt Joyce's birthday and Shirley had to tell us all about you. So I thought I would read up and then just had to drop a line. So interesting and only for the young, I will add. I have driven over some of those mountains etc. Definitely not for the aged! Did I say that?
You know I was raised in Kalispell? So I got a little nostalgic just reading the name from your ball game. Do you really think you will make Maine? If you want to then I hope so.

Congratulations on both of your graduations, what a feat and one to be proud of. You also have fun in Alaska when you go. We have been there,done that also.

Shirley said you are coming through here and she may have some people and family over to see you when you arrive, if she does we will try and see the mighty bikers!!

I need to get out of here and take a trippie so bad, I am getting cabin fever. Eldon would like to go the Northern route, Montana area, he loves it there. I have family in Canada and maybe we better head that way get out of the heat and go to the cool. I have a cousin in Vernon, up the moutain into Canada from Spokane. That might be fun to head up there. Got to make some kind of plans it is getting late and summer is passing.

You two take care and I will check you out every so often. Don't let the bugs get you! Love you Aunt Monta and Uncle Eldon

I don't kjnow how much space I have here so I am kind of lumping everything together, sorry.
 

Posted by Monta Rae &Eldon at July 6, 2004 05:53 PM

 

This is very cool, you guys!! I have been reading along but haven't jumped on the bandwagon to comment until today. First thought is - what a loaded bike. How do you get it going? Second thought - when I mention to people that my sister and her husband are biking from Seattle to Utah they can hardly believe it. I guess at first I wondered what, why and how, but now just because you are actually doing the deed it seems so possible and not at all strange. I think there is a message in there somewhere. Love you!!

P.S .M&C - get in touch with me if you want to get directions to see Tanya.

Posted by Heidi at July 6, 2004 09:19 PM

 

When I read this today in USA Today, I too had to smile thinking of Margaret and Chad on their own "Tour de America." 

"I was just smiling on the bike. It was like a dream." --Armstrong, after his team won the stage.
Learned some interesting facts about bikes in an accompanying article. Armstong gets his bikes from Trek Bicycle Corp of Waterloo, Wis. They create a custom bike for Armstrong that they make into a stock bike for consumers later which they "buy off-the-rack." Last year's bike cost $5,000. They sold 3,800 of them.

Melanie

Posted by Melanie Harris at July 8, 2004 12:31 PM

 

Just checked on the Libby Website and they have a warning about bears and mountain lions in the area. Not to take up space on your webspace, I sent you an email. You know, concerned Mom, etc.

Posted by Melanie Harris at July 8, 2004 05:01 PM

 

Hey you two! Hope you enjoyed Glacier. I'm glad to see you've already found so much kindness and hospitality along the way. I'm sure it must make the trip easier. Despite all the flash floods and steep climbs.
Take it easy
Michael

Posted by Michael Dossett at July 10, 2004 11:47 PM

 

Independence Day in Sand Point

Originally Posted July 5, 2004 by Chad

I had a wonderful Fourth of July. We were in Sand Point, Idaho. The local Lions Club put on a fireworks show over Lake Pend Oreille the night before, because “Mormons aren’t allowed to be patriotic on Sundays” said our waitress at Griff and Wiley’s downtown. I guess there's a lot of Mormons in Sand Point. We wanted to get a hotel on Saturday night so we could clean ourselves up for church the next day. But there was a Babe Ruth Firecracker baseball tournament in town that filled up every hotel room, even the campgrounds were full. The owner of the Meandering Moose Motel let us set up our tent on his lawn. 

The next morning, the Fourth, we looked for showers but didn’t find any in time for church. Instead we went to Harold’s Super Foods, home of the Dainty Maid Bakery. The dainty maid working there that morning had the sleeves on his grubby flannel shirt rolled up to his elbows so we could see his naked lady tattoos. His handlebar mustache was in need of grooming and he had an unlit cigarette hanging from his mouth. I bought some brownies from him that Mags didn’t dare eat. I had to eat them all myself. 

When I had finished my brownies we went back to the Meandering Moose, where there was a room ready for us. I finally got my shower and napped while watching the Mariners drop another close one.
Later in the afternoon we walked downtown and beyond to City Beach. Most of the shops were closed but we did find an Italian restaurant to rip us off. For a night cap I left Mags at the Meandering Moose and went to Memorial Field to take in some Firecracker baseball. Panhandle, the hometown team, scored 2 runs in the bottom of the ninth to beat Kalispell 3 to 2. 

We’ve been passing through a lot of little communities lately. Some seem to have it going for them, some don’t. Kettle Falls, WA was a community without a plan, while Winthrop, WA (aka Win-Throw-Up) was a community with the wrong plan. Sand Point; however, seems to have benefited from some thoughtful city planners. It’s just the right size, compact, and has a lively downtown right on the lake. It’s close enough to Spokane to keep you from feeling isolated. 

Unfortunately, all that is about to change. The Idaho Department of Transportation wants to reroute US 95. As it is now, the highway goes right through the downtown, feeding the area with travelers’ money. IDOT wants to bypass the downtown with a limited access freeway right along the waterfront. Some local businesses were protesting the project, saying that it will suck the life out of the city and ruin the beach and waterfront. But it may be too late, one hotel on the beach advertised “Only 62 more days to stay at beach before US 95 comes through.”

The whole thing reminds me of a situation in my home town. The land occupied by the out-of business Geneva Steel is certainly too contaminated with lead and other heavy metals to build subdivisions on, although some money-grubbing developers already are proposing just that. Like Sand Point, the mill is right on the lake. Perhaps urban planners in Utah Valley will have the foresight to build a waterfront park for the entire community to enjoy. Granted, Utah Lake will never be as beautiful as Lake Pend Oreille, but with the steel mill gone, and better control of fertilizers and other contaminants the lake can be cleaned up. It may be too late for Sand Point, but Utah Valley still has a chance to make the city beautiful again. 


Posted by Chad at 09:24 AM

Comments: Independence Day in Sand Point

I'm jealous. The land from Spokane to Darby, Montana is to die for (or to ride a tandem bike through, which must be a bit like dying). I haven't been on Going to the Sun highway since 1977. My memory of it suggests that you will need to allow plenty of time to do the deed. My mother grew up in Kalispell and the family still has a cabin on Flathead Lake. Beautiful country. I look forward to reading more of your escapades and enjoying your prose. The pictures are nice too.
Posted by Doc at July 6, 2004 04:43 PM

 

Road Grime

Originally Posted July 4, 2004 by Mags

We've been passing through some timber towns the past couple of days- Kettle Falls, Colville, OldTown, Priest River. Generally the timber mill is located between a highway and a river and the town kind of sprawls out from the mill. The older parts of town are located closer to the mill while the newer parts of town are located near the highway. The older parts of town are mostly for sale and closed while the grocery stores and the live parts of town are near the highway. I was looking forward to getting to Kettle Falls because we had just climbed two passes: Wauconda and Sherman Pass, the latter which took us over the Kettle Range of Washington. Kettle Falls was a big disappointment: the only restaurant that was open served us recently thawed pizza courtesy of Sysco corporation from KD's diner. The town was just faded and treeless, flowerless yards, trucks jacked up several feet beyond normal and sarcastic glares from the lovely denizens. We rested a bit and then headed out of town back into the hills and camped illegally in a tree farm (Chad's idea- not mine) where mosquitoes buzzed my ears the whole night. Yesterday we did 108 miles- the longest I've ever gone in a single day on a bike. We apply sunscreen about 4 times a day and the grime from the road really builds up on our skin- Chad gets bugs sticking to his leg and arm hairs because of the goopy sunscreen. We really stink. Thankfully, today in Sandpoint, Idaho we're staying at a hotel and got some showers. The country is beautiful here, farms interspersed with large ponderosa pine forests- yesterday we saw a farmer's field where I LOVE U had been mowed with letters about 50 feet tall. When we rolled into Sandpoint last night at 7:30 every hotel in this town of 7,000 had been booked due to the fireworks and a Little League tournament. I almost cried- we needed showers so badly. However, the owner of the Meandering Moose Motel let us set up a tent on the motel's lawn and saved us. Today we have a room and we're taking the day off to recover and then are headed out again tomorrow. 

Comments: Road Grime

Mags--is the reality of what your in for setting in? Your adventures are both impressing and scaring me.
Posted by Funk at July 5, 2004 09:56 AM

 

Mags?? so is that what you go by now. Sounds like your having a great time as far as adventure goes. We were having a discussion at the crowther reunion how you were making these posts to the site. Are you carrying a laptop or something else?
Showers? 4 layers of sunscreen and you will probably have to take two showers. The first shower to get off the heavy dirt and the second to get smelling normal.

Aaron

Posted by Aaron Harris at July 5, 2004 12:07 PM

Flash Flood

Originally Posted July 1, 2004 by Chad

The weather report in Twisp indicated possible thunderstorms. I can handle rain. Then came the hail. That can be a little painful, but still no problem. Next was the lightning. This wasn’t distant lightning, oh no. It was surrounding us. Fine, I figured we’d just have to stop and wait it out in a low place away from the trees. We laid the bike down and huddled under our tarp, sure that the storm would pass over in a few minutes. I munched on salted peanuts. Time passed. We huddled closer for warmth. How much longer could this storm last? Then we felt the bulge against our backs. Something had crashed into our tarp. We threw the tarp off, turned around and there we saw it. What had been a small little gully only 30 minutes before was now a gushing river of mud. And we were sitting right in its path.

Mags is sitting about where the flood caught up to us.
I shouted something that my mother wouldn’t approve of while we gathered our gear and ran for the bike. I spilled my peanuts. The pounding rain kept me from riding as fast as I wanted down Loup Loup pass, back toward Twisp, but that was good because otherwise the mudflows across the highway would have taken me by surprise. We found a barn a couple miles down the hill and I steered inside. Mags went to the house and asked if it was OK, not that we were going to leave if it wasn’t. 

Comments: Flash flood

How in the world are you posting this? Don't tell me there are libraries in Twisp?
Posted by Melanie Harris at July 2, 2004 02:24 PM

 

I hate you... I hate you... I hate you... What I wouldn't give to be almost swept away in a flash flood in the most beautiful and spiritual places on earth. I miss the freedom you both currently enjoy! Which brings me to my second point:
Shouldn't you be slaving away in the "Salt Mines?!" like the rest of us? Pay your taxes? And shouldn't a little Harris jr. be coming soon?
What I need right now is a inner-tube, a map, my 4 runner, and a little bit of water flow in the San Rafel.
Posted by Jeremy Bunting at July 4, 2004 06:37 AM

The Road to the Real West

Originally Posted June 29, 2004 by Chad


Yesterday we crossed Washington Pass (elev. 5400 ft) in North Cascades National Park and entered the arid west. Wallace Stegner called it the real west, and I agree with him. The smell of sagebrush and the haze of distant wildfires welcomed me home as we came down from the mountains. We made it all the way to Twisp, WA, 98 miles from where we started in Marblemount on the west side of the mountains. Today we’ll rest a bit while it’s hot out and then try to get over Loup Loup Pass (elev. 4020 ft) and maybe to Omak this evening.

7% Grade

Originally Posted June 29, 2004 by Mags

7% GRADE FOR THE NEXT 7 MILES. What a lovely yellow highway sign. We have just crossed Washington Pass and are now officially on the eastern side of the Cascades- downhill finally! 35 miles of feet-numbing, heat imploding pedaling from Newhalem to Washington Pass. I broke down at Rainy Pass and had to refuel on some Annie’s parmesan mac n’ cheese. One word of advice- never, ever, ever drink “cleansing” laxative tea before climbing a mountain. But now that we’ve made it the view is tremendously beautiful- the car driving tourists are also impressed by glacier-gouged Liberty Bell and Early Winters valley but since we’ve worked so hard to get here- the view is an accomplishment- not just a desultory stop along a pleasant afternoon drive. We’ve driven this route before but on a bike it’s such a different experience- besides all the pain and drudgery involved with the pedaling there are also rewards- cold air soaks you as you pass a mountain stream, time to study the pattern of snow wrapped around the base of a peak, the smell of fir and pine, feeling the tilt and contours of the ground. Speaking of the pain- for the last 10 miles before the pass my legs have been churning but were just going through the motion- there was absolutely no power left- I think Chad’s horse legs are what pulled us through.







Original Comments

It was fun to read your reports - what a great adventure. We look forward to watching your progress from our easy seats in the office - and grateful to share the adventure with you (and without pedaling ourselves). It was great to see Carl and Melanie, Aaron and Valerie and baby at the Crowther reunion and hear about you. Saw your graduation pictures too. Congratulations on much hard work for both of you.
Good luck - may it all be downhill to Heber.
Kris
Posted by Kris Harris at July 13, 2004 03:59 PM