Day 68 Down Day in Libby, MT July 16

 Last night we sat down and scoured the bike tire for something that was puncturing the tubes.  Steve had looked before with no success, so he replaced the tire since it was the original one. Also patched the two inner tubes. Finally we found a tiny piece of very thin wire.  It was no bigger than this line  ___.

We were very pleased to wake up to a still-fully-inflated tire.  Gathered laundry and headed to the laundromat and post office.  Afterwards we were ready to eat, so we stopped into a small restaurant called Henry's.  Steve immediately spotted two bikers with their Adventure Cycling maps, asked where they were riding.  From their answers and their looks, I then asked if they could be Bud and Doc, whose blog we have been following.  Yes!  So excited to meet them, as we have been a day or 2 or 3 behind them for a good long time.  Their blog has been filled with good info on what to expect.

Andy "Doc" Henry and Bud Hall
https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/warriordeath1/

Steve needed to get into his routing and mapping, so I dropped him at the hotel.  I then drove 11 miles north of town to Kootenai Falls.  A nice trail in, across railroad tracks, and along the river took me to a suspension bridge or The Swinging Bridge.  Now, I am NOT a fan of heights, but I was determined not to miss a good view.

Here is the Swinging Bridge

View downstream
View upstream

Yikes.  I was glad there was nobody on the bridge with me!






There is a beautiful hawk in this photo, I promise.  When I was taking the picture I could see him clearly.



We hear that it is also possible to spot BigFoot around these parts as well.......

Steve had struggled through his mapping and was reserving places to stay when he was informed that the road across the Cascades after Winthrop, Washington is closed because of fire.  He has also been talking to our old friend, Hank Cramer, who lives in Winthrop.  We were excited to find out he would be in town as we go through, so we are planning to see him.  He is involved in the area and will be a great source as we make our decisions where to ride.  There are quite a few fires popping up in Montana, Idaho and Washington due to the drought and heat conditions.  We will simply have to wait and see how we will be affected.

Dinner was at a lovely restaurant called Black Board Bistro.  We had wine!  and salad! and homemade focaccia with oil and herbs!  It was just so NICE.  There was a family with an adorable 3 year-old boy, blond curls and big eyes.  He was a normal, active guy, and Steve smiled and made faces with him everytime he wandered over.  They left before we did.  No problem at all as far as we were concerned, but when our waitress brought our bill,  they had paid 2/3rds of it!  She said they appreciated our patience and kindness!  Wow, another nice thing to pay forward.






Comments

  1. UnknownJuly 17, 2021 at 8:32 AM

    What wonderful hookups with friends and other wanderers. Congrats on your suspension bridge adventure. Ride on!

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownJuly 17, 2021 at 8:39 AM

    Oh, and congrats to you steve for passing the 3000 mile mark. (Finally changed my profile from “unknown”). Rockies schmockies. Just keep saying whites greens and blues.

    ReplyDelete
  3. John BenzigerJuly 18, 2021 at 11:43 AM

    Allane, you are a brave one to head out on to the bridge. Great views! Glad you solved the flat tire problems.

    ReplyDelete

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