Muskegon to Glen Arbor, MI

7/1.  After an 11:00 AM (opening time)  visit to Leon's to get Wisconsin's best Frozen Custard, boarded the 12:30 Lake Express to Muskegon, MI.  Arrived at 4:00 PM.

A short (20 mile) ride to Whitehall.

7/2:  Fresh Perch fish and chips for lunch at Bortell's, about 45 miles north of Whitehall.
Middle of nowhere, but draws a pretty good crowd.

Settled in to Manistee after 79 mile ride.

7/3:  Rode only 40 miles to meet Cousin Steven and Shira in Beulah at L'Chayim deli for coffee and macaroon.  
Staying at their lovely house, which is walking distance from downtown  Glen Arbor.
Grand Tour of Glen Arbor included Cherry Republic, where they have lots of samples of cherry salsa, jams, candies, and even cherry wine tasting.

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.