None of us wanted to get out of the tent when the alarm went off in the morning, with the rain thundering down outside, so we slept in an extra half hour. After breakfast we set out on route 93, a rather busy two lane road with not much hard shoulder. The road conditions were very poor, particularly on the edges, and at a number of times we were glad for the sturdy steel frames of our Dawes Galaxy bikes. Later the traffic became very heavy and the drivers were not as switched on as they have been so far, making for a stressful morning.
It was a gradual uphill most of the day, and certainly faster going than yesterday, with more towns and settlements to look at as we passed. We leapfrogged a couple of other cycle tourers carrying a lot more kit than we are, which made us wonder what they could need with an extra three panniers
(two on the front and a large one on top of the rear rack).
We stopped for lunch at Whitefish, the first large town in 100 miles of cycling. By the riverside we had a run in with a family of ducks. They were not phased by humans at all and the ducklings were clambering over and around our feet looking for food. They would nip at us occasionally if we put our fingers too close. It was one of our more unusual and enjoyable lunch breaks!
10 miles on and we made it to Columbia falls where we are stopping for a rest day tomorrow before tackling the main pass through the Rockies on Tuesday. A barbeque and beer tonight presents a welcome change from the usual spaghetti we have been living off!
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