A little bike trip

On Wednesday Steven and I rode to the post office to mail some stuff. This is about 2 miles from town, on the county rd. That's Steven way ahead n the yellow shirt! It took me a while to get my camera out, so he got away from me!

Barbara went to Kalispell for 10 days on Thursday, to work while Bonnie is on vacation. I hitched a ride with her as far as Wal-mart, then loaded up my bicycle bags to ride to Becky's.

There's Barbara by her car.

I rode 17 miles to where I camped NW of Columbia Falls. I rode in behind a gate and camped along an Elk trail. The mosquitos were terrible! As soon as I had my camp set up I jumped into my tent and read for the rest of the evening!

My camp from the other side of the tent. During the night was was worried about grizzly bears or about being trampled by elk, but the worst that happened was coyotes being really noisy between 10:00 and midnight!

Becky had a real treat for us...Godiva chocolate! Mmmm, delicious!

It was cool when I woke up in my tent this morning. I could see my breath, and my tent was dewy. I packed up camp, wet tent and all, and rode to Becky's house. I got there around 9:30 and she made us some chocolate bear mush (coco wheats, basically). Lunch was the Godiva chocolate! We sat out in her driveway for a while, talking and looking at her flowers. She was working on laundry, so I got to watch someone use a real wash machine and dryer! I still don't miss it... :)

On the way back down to Kalispell I passed a junkyard we used to buy car parts at, and they've been creative with the by-product of the cool, wet summer we've been having!

The wind was howling out of the SW, and I had to fight to pedal into it all the way. It was kicking up a lot of dust and my eyes and throat felt gritty by the time I got to Tim's house. I was in low gears most of the way, on a mostly-flat road. Nice and warm out, but the wind made it a disappointing ride. The plan was to spend the night in Kalispell and ride home the next morning (Saturday). At least it wasn't windy Saturday.

Steven went shooting out at the shooting range near Eureka with Tristan, Randy, Brent, Isaiah, and a couple of other guys late Saturday afternoon. He came home and said he had a good time.

Who is this beautiful young lady making my sandwich for dinner?

It's EMILY, the subway queen! Hardworking and sweet as can be. I'm so proud of her!