Madison to Milwaukee

Big Thanks to Carl and Maryann for their hospitality in Madison during a rainy Friday evening Saturday.

Sunday's 82 mile ride included stop at Ripley's bakery in Cambridge.  Shop next door had kitties sleeping in the window.

Wisconsin is known for Frozen Custard.   Last stop before hotel was Kopp's in Brookefield..

Tomorrow (Monday, 7/1)  morning, will be dropping into my ATF custard stand, Leon's (pictured below) on my way to the ferry across lake Michigan.

LaCrosse to Madison WI / Updated route maps, La Crosse to Ottawa.

6/26-6/27:  Took Amtrak from Havre to LaCrosse WI (25 hr train ride) to:

1. Avoid Williston ND.  The oil boom in ND means there are no hotel rooms available, and too many drunks on the road to make biking through the region reasonable.
2. Accelerate my progress to line up with my cousin's availability in Glen Arbor, MI (want to be there around 7/4).
3. Enable me to visit my friends Carl and Mary Ann in Madison WI.

After arriving in Lacrosse 4 hrs late (around 3:30 PM) on Tuesday 6/26, biked about 30 miles to Sparta.  Slept like a rock that night, since I only had about 3 to 4 hrs sleep on the train.

Thurs 6/27:, followed WI 71 and the Sparta to Elroy bike trail en route to Wisconsin Dells.  The Bike Trail is a sand and dirt trail using an old railroad right of way.  It includes tunnels to get over the hills.  The price you pay is having to ride on sand/dirt.    I used the trail only for the last of the hills  (1 of the 3 tunnels).  The tunnel was 1700 ft long with no light.   Since it's pretty hard to see where the trail is, it's necessary to walk it.

Wisconsin Dells:  It's theme park tourist attraction honky tonk on steroids!!!

6/28:  Arrived in Madison with the rain on Friday afternoon.  Will stay here through Sat. night.












New Route Maps for remainder of trip:
La Crosse To Milwaukee

Ferry across Lake Michigan from Milwaukee to Muskegon, MI.  Bike to Glen Arbor, then cross into Canada at Sarnia.  Continue to Niagara Falls to Rochester NY:



The remainder of the trip follows the route outlined in the May 30 post.

Great Falls to Havre via Fort Benton

Easy ride on Sunday to Fort Benton, about 42 miles NE of Great Falls.  Tons of mosquitos.  Really bitten up.

Staying at the Grand Union, Montana’s oldest 
operating hotel.  Room overlooks the Missouri river.

Odometer indicates 1000 miles ridden since beginning this trip .

Fort Benton has a thing about this dog.

Rode 75 miles  through more mosquitos and other annoying insects to Havre.
Met 3 other older cyclists at the Super 8 here.  They are also riding Portland OR to Portland ME, and are taking the Adventure Cycling (ACA) route which veers south near Wolf Creek .

Much of ND is in the grips of a fracking oil/gas boom.  This means that there are no hotel rooms within about 100 mile radius of Williston ND.  To avoid this problem, I will be taking the train tomorrow from Havre to LaCrosse WI.  This bypasses the Williston problem, and also will enable me to see some friends in Madison, and then spend 4th of July with my cousins in Glen Arbor, MI.

Missoula to Great Falls via Lincoln

Two consecutive days of over 80 miles each.  Made it to Lincoln on Friday night.  Elevation gain of about 1000 ft.

Crossed the Continental Divide Saturday, a 1200 ft climb from Lincoln.

The road after the pass is up and down all the way to Simms (about 30 miles SE of Great Falls) where it finally flattens out.

Missoula in the Rain

Staying at my cousin's house in Missoula until the rain clears... This gives me a chance to update the blog with some pictures from Elias's phone.

New pics added to the following posts:
6/4:  Columbia River Gorge : Troutdale to Hood River OR ,   6/5: Hood River - The Dalles - Rufus,
6/10:  Moses Lake to Spokane via Odessa, with tour of Grand Coulee Dam
6/13:  Bonners Ferry, ID to Libby, MT.

Hummingbird candy shop in Arlee, en route to Missoula from Polson.

A critter grazing on the grass behind my cousin's house.

Mariah, one of Missoula's friendly folk.

Scoring breakfast (Maple Bar with Bacon)  at Treasure Donuts with Cousin Bert.

Glacier National Park - Elias Departs for San Jose

Rented car to explore Glacier.

Falls on the way to 2 Chiefs Lake near East Glacier

The next day, attempted to drive up Going-to-the-Sun Road, but it was closed just north of Lake MacDonald.

Elias had a good time skipping rocks on Lake MacDonald.

The high point of the day was our trip down the Middle Fork of the Flathead River with the Montana Raft Company / Glacier Guides.  

Sent Elias off on Amtrak's Empire Builder around 10:00 PM so that he can go back to Argentina on 6/23.

I will miss him.  Next stop Missoula.

Libby to Whitefish via MacGregor Lake

Cold wet 59 mile ride from Libby to MacGregor Lake with elevation gain of nearly 2000 ft.    Fortunately Happy Inn was open, about 2/3 of the way there... we were pretty hungry by the time we got there (around 3:00) since we had used up the limited food we had with us... just some nuts, 3 oreos, and 2 bb bats.

View from the porch of our cabin at MacGregor Lake.

Next morning, easy (1000 ft elevation drop) ride to Kalispell for lunch.  Arrived in Whitefish.   Next 2 days will tour Glacier with rented car.

Elias goes back to Palo Alto via train departing Monday evening.

I take car back to Kalispell 

Bonners Ferry, ID to Libby, MT

After mailing a couple of pounds of extra stuff back to Palo Alto, and fixing yet another flat tire, we made it up the hill to Bread Basket, a Mennonite bakery for some good old fashioned Pennsylvania-style donuts.

Adjoining grocery/gift shop sells Kutztown sodas... so we know it's the real thing.

Then, onward into Montana.

After lunch in Troy, stopped at bike shop (amazed that there was one in a town so small!) for a new tube and pump up.

 Onward to Kotenai Falls, and the Swinging Bridge over the Kotenai river rapids, about 10 miles west of Libby.

A tough negotiating session over rights to a picnic table above Kootenai Falls.

Spokane to Bonners Ferry ID via Newport WA

Elias was sick Sunday (6/10) night, probably from the burger he ate Sunday afternoon from a regional fast food chain in Airway Heights after we arrived from our ride in from Odessa.
We rode about 60 miles north to Newport WA starting out Monday (6/11). Elias wasn't eating much all day.

We had soup and bread from the Newport Safeway for dinner  (from soup to nuts?).

By Tuesday morning, Elias had mostly recovered... Nothing like a healthy breakfast of Cap'n Crunch and a Donut!

Entering Idaho on Wednesday morning.  Easy 60 mile ride through Sandpoint ID to Bonners Ferry.



View of Kootenai River from balcony of our room at the Best Western in Bonners Ferry.

Moses Lake to Spokane via Odessa, with tour of Grand Coulee Dam

After a stop at the Moses Lake Walmart (about 1/2 of Elias's socks disappeared in the dryer... and we needed a tire tube and more patches), we had intended to bike to the Grand Coulee Dam (70 miles) on Sunday, but the winds were not cooperating.
By the time we got about 23 miles north to Stratford (an alleged town with nothing in it but a grain silo and a few houses), we had headwinds.  Change of plans entailed following the wind to head towards Spokane, a 2 day ride with hotel stop in Odessa, WA.

Moses Lake to Odessa was 60 hilly miles with no food except for a pepsi machine in Wilson Creek, a sad little town that had 1 bar/restaurant, which was out of food due to a car show that had happened there the day before.

We finished up the cherries we bought on Sat. from Country Mercantile, and by the time we got to Odessa we were tired and very hungry.  I polished off a donut and 8 oz bag of Tim's potato chips at the local grocery store.   There were no restaurants open in town, so we nuked frozen dinners.  On Monday Morning we had Cap'n Crunch in the room before heading to Spokane.
Arrived after 65 mile ride to Airway Heights, near airport.

Rented car and drove to Grand Coulee Dam just in time for the last tour of the day.  Unfortunately, they are not giving tours of the power plant, my favorite part, since it's undergoing some upgrades / construction.  We toured the pumping stations instead, where the water (1 billion gallon / day capacity) is pumped over a 280 foot elevation.  Big machines!

Statue of Woody Guthrie, who was commissioned by the WPA to write songs about the Grand Coulee during its construction.

Elias, shot from visitor's center plaza.  The structure on the left is the new power plant, completed in 1973 which brought the dam's capacity to 6,900MW.

Umatilla to Moses Lake via Kennewick / Pasco

Hard to get Elias out of bed in Umatilla...  

Morning ride included a 18 mile climb, then a 10 mile descent into Kennewick.

After an excellent donut stop at Popular Donuts, we rode though Pasco, then Elias got a flat tire near the King City truck stop.  Took taxi to town and bought new tire and tubes.

Stayed in the hideous Knights Inn hotel, then headed out for breakfast and, chocolates and cherries at Country Mercantile the next morning (Friday 6/8).  Beautiful ride (with tailwinds) to Othello for Chinese lunch, then onward to Moses Lake.  

Friday's ride = 69 miles.  The last 10 turned into some headwinds.   We're pretty tired now.

Tomorrow we will try to get to the Grand Coulee Dam.

Rufus to Umatilla

All interstate until Boardman.  Very warm weather (95°).   Dry terrain.  76 miles.
Total trip to date = 210 miles.

Hood River - The Dalles - Rufus

Climbed bike trail en route 2 The Dalles.

 Elias finds snake near scenic view stop.

Lunch at Cousin's in the Dalles.  The shepherd's pie was excellent.

From the Dalles, it's I-84.  Elias ended up with a wire from a tire tread caught in his rear derailer.  Had to repair on freeway in 90°+ heat.

Finally made it to Rufus for the night.  Total ride = 58 miles.

Columbia River Gorge : Troutdale to Hood River OR

 Power breakfast at Shari's (regional chain) in Troutdale. The mass of sugar on the left is their cinnamon roll french toast topped with caramel syrup, candied pecans and whipped cream.
Fortunately, we split these..

60 Miles to Hood River, starting with a climb to Portland Women's Center.  Outstanding views of river and valley.  Many waterfalls.  Multnomah Falls pictured below


Planned visit to Bonneville Dam to see fish ladders was thwarted. They don't let bicycles up to the visitor's center because of some kind of grate that they have on the road. 


Had to content ourselves with the hatchery, which wasn't bad. Rainbow trout pictured Left.

Lunch at Char Burger in Cascade Locks... man we were hungry by then!!!

Char Burger salmon (what I had)  comes from some native Americans who sell fresh caught salmon out of coolers in the parking lot...

View from our table:

Portland, OR : Getting there is 1/2 the fun?

Amtrak Coast Starlight delayed 3 hrs waiting for connecting passengers who were on train from Bakersfield, which was delayed due to BNSF derailment near Merced. Train ride, although long (22 hrs). Due to delay, we were able to see magnificent scenery in daylight around Mt. Shasta area, which normal schedule has us riding through in the dark.



Arrived Portland. Ready to ride by 7PM. First Stop, Voodoo Donuts.

Arrived just before sunset to McMenamin's Edgefield in Troutdale, built in 1911 as a county poor farm... no private baths, but the shared bath rooms were very clean.  Dinner at the Black Rabbit, was excellent.