“Meet us where the pavement ends” was our request to Kathy for today. We had 43 miles of dirt and the last big pass to climb before we would see her. It was a crisp morning with a long, sweeping down hill before the climb so we were trying to enjoying every moment of being cool. This was one of the most scenic sections of the ride. We were directly west of Glacier National Park for miles and few people were on the road today.
When I saw three people stooped over in the woods with buckets, I had to stop. I asked one gentleman if he was picking huckleberries and he barely looked up and didn’t answer. He had the look of a serious berry picker so I walked closer and introduced myself as a blueberry picker from Minnesota and said I had always wanted to see a Huckleberry. Once he knew I wasn’t going to “steal” his patch, he invited me into the area he was picking, showed me the plants and offered me a few berries. He said he was from Wisconsin but his hands didn’t stop picking and he didn’t have time to chitchat. I hope he filled his bucket and someday I hope to come back and pick.
We reached the spot where the dirt ends and there rest of the ride is 30 miles of pavement. We were feeling good so we decided to run for the border. We inhaled some Pringles and Skittles and we were off to finish this adventure. The next ten miles were downhill, on a paved road, along a creek with tall pines. What a welcome stretch after some really hard days. The last 10 miles out of Eureka is when the Montana heat kicked in. I was trying to remember how cold I was back in February during the deep freeze but that wasn’t helping.
Finally we reached the border and Joel rolled up to the 4 guards and asked if we could take a picture. I am sure they got a good laugh at my happy dance photos but it was time to celebrate.
Thanks everyone for your support and encouragement and a special shout out to my sister Kathy for being a part of this adventure.
Joel will crunch the numbers and have a follow up post.
