Wednesday, June 30, 2010 76 of 98 miles Libby, MT

This just has to be the very best day of cycling I have ever experienced!!  Following US 95 for a few miles, then onto SR 200 and later SR 56 - the scenery today

was simply breathtaking all day long. Although we had lots of rollers and even some long climbs, the route was never very difficult and the shoulders seemed always to be good. Therefore, it was easy to just look all around and up the mountains as I peddled. For long distances we seemed to ride between steep inclines of dark green forests with higher snowcapped peaks in the distance. I did myself a favor and cut my ride short which may be one reason why I feel so good tonight. Toward the end of the afternoon I stopped at Kootenai Falls. We'd been following the Kootenai River for some distance. The rivers out here are just beautiful - like one big MS R after another, except the water is so beautiful, not muddy. Getting to the falls was tricky. The path was about 1/2 mile long (maybe not quite), paved and then dirt and then up a steel staircase and then another dirt path. I'll include a picture of the staircase and steps. It was so far off the ground that I was terrified. When my eyes weren't closed, I was looking straight out. Kept saying to myself, "I road across America. I can do this." I took one slow step at a time and hung onto the rail. The terrain turned out to be worth the effort as the falls were truly beautiful. The little excursion took me about 30 minutes. I declined to walk to the swinging bridge as I KNEW I wouldn't be walking across that. A tailwind took me in the last 10 miles; I felt like I was flying. It was just a glorious day of cycling.

Almost forgot to mention that we crossed another state line today.  We're now in the beautiful state of Montana.  I'm looking forward to seeing my good friend Patsy Cloud soon and spending a couple of days with her in Kalispell.
Happy Birthday to Danny. . .

 

A little more yard art. . .BTW, all the vegetable gardens are enclosed with high fences which I'msure is to keep out the deer.  A deer actually paced me today for a minute or so.  He was slightly hidden in the trees but I saw him clearly.  Another gal got a picture of a baby bear and another saw an elk amble across the road.  It was an eventful day.