Sprague Creek Campground to Lori's House and THEN......a Rest Day

Friday - July 26 - Boy are we glad we are going out of the park instead of into it!

Sunrise on Lake MacDonald

We first met Justin and Abby a couple of nights ago at the restaurant in St. Mary. They have followed the Northern Tier route from their home in Connecticut and plan to end at a friend's house in Seattle. He is originally from Allen Park, right next door to Doug's home town in Michigan. They stopped here last night because they were having trouble with their rear wheel. He kept their speed below 8mph all the way down from the pass. We told them about the Glacier Cyclery in Whitefish, gave them our phone number in case they needed assistance later and wished them well. They were really happy to be in the mountains after 2 weeks coming across the plains.

NO problem.....it is only 8 a.m.

Just click on the picture and it will get bigger and easier to read this eloquent passage.

Breakfast #2 in West Glacier. We are really glad that we are not going to be on the road in the park today as the traffic headed east was already pretty heavy.

That is 5 girls. Wait until they are all teenagers! Those parents certainly have some really interesting times ahead of them.

So far so good for Justin and Abby. They also stopped for breakfast #2 in West Glacier.

The Flathead River.

It says, "YOUR CAR IS YOUR CAGE". Guess we won't go in since our "cage" is really minimal.

At Columbia Falls we stopped for a milkshake. Just as we were leaving, Justin and Abby came by. They had another flat tire but since they were only about 10 miles from Whitefish they were feeling a lot more optimistic about making it there with the funky wheel.

We left Highway 2 and took the Columbia Falls Stage Road south, a route we had scouted in June when we were here for granddaughter Abby's eighth grade graduation ceremony.

It looks flat but it really isn't. Our legs were still tired from the last 2 days, the afternoon was hot and we had a headwind.

We knew we were ready for a rest day when we took 2 shade breaks in the last mile to daughter Lori's house, which just happens to really be uphill. We arrived just before 3. The shower and the hugs were awesome.

How many hands does it take to put a chain back together? In this case it took at least 5.

Saturday - July 27 - REST DAY - We even slept really late for us....8:00. We had a VERY leisurely breakfast with scrumptious biscuits fixed by Lori.

Grandkids Abby and Cody joined us for an afternoon of casual shopping. We did go into Whitefish for lunch and to Glacier Cyclery. There we found out that Justin and Abby were in earlier today. Their back wheel had a split rim! Sandpoint was the closest place with a replacement so they had rented a car to get there. After 2 weeks of sameness coming across the plains, it is sad that they had to drive instead of bike this very scenic section of their tour. BUT, we are also really glad they made it down Going To The Sun road safely under those circumstances.

An evening BBQ at Chad's house, Lori's friend, completed our day of relaxation. We were celebrating Chad's recent birthday with friends and family.

At the end of the evening Mya gave the younger girl the bike since she had outgrown it.

Cody and Yance working up to going off the newly built ramp for the first time.

The fire felt good in the cooling evening air and it brought out the storyteller in Chad, who entertained us with stories from his younger days being a hunting guide.

In fact we talked until midnight. Of course it didn't get dark until 10:30!