Date:
28.06.2018
Altitude:
3175.9 ft (968 m)
Distance:
96.21 mi (154.83 km)
Total
Altitude: 110354.5 ft (33636 m)
Total
Distance: 4149.96 mi (6678.71 km)
Today
I left Montana for good, after two weeks in Montana with a short
stint in Canada in between. My time in Montana couldn't have been
more diverse, from the really bad start where I had to cycle on the
interstate to probably the highlight of my tour in Glacier National
Park. I'm now in Idaho, the 15th US state (+ two states in
Canada) on my trip. I will only stay for a short time in Idaho. When
I crossed into Idaho I not only entered a new state but also a new
timezone, I'm now in the Pacific timezone. So now there are 9 hours
time difference between myself and Germany.
After
the weather was really nice the last couple of days, today it was
less than perfect. Already in the morning there were dark clouds
hanging in the sky, but I was still hopeful that it would stay dry.
Unfortunately it didn't stay dry, it was raining a few times during
the day. In addition to the rain, it was even more chilly than the
last few days. Besides
the weather, today's trip went again through some fantastic nature
and led me from Libby,MT to Sandpoint,ID through some National
Forests. I actually went further than I originally planed. I figured
I take advantage of the extra hour, due to the time change. The route
went almost constantly up and down through forests, along rivers and
lakes. Using a variety of roads from small roads with no traffic to
major highways with lots of traffic. There were also quite a few
logging trucks on the road, today. Even with the traffic it was a
really nice ride. When I arrived in Sandpoint, it was not easy to
find a hotel that still had some vacancy's for a reasonable price,
especially for two nights. I was quite surprised by that, but I guess
lots of people are already on their summer vacation. I still found a
place for two nights, so I can have my rest day tomorrow. This is
going to be my fourth rest day on this trip. I decided yesterday, to
do a rest day in Sandpoint, after I already made such good progress.
This will give me the chance to recharge my batteries for the last
few days to the Pacific. The last few days to the pacific will be
quite challenging with a few longer
Today
I had a stretch on my route, where I stopped quite a lot. In this
short stretch, I met so many touring cyclists going east. I stopped
at least four times to talk to them for a while. All in all I
probably “lost” almost an hour on this short stretch. But this
gave me the chance to talk to some really interesting people and hear
about their trips. The first guy I met was standing by the side of
the road and had some issue with his bike, so I stopped and offered
some help. It turned out he had a flat, since he had only a really
small bike pump that was not the best to get enough pressure into the
tire, I lend him my bike pump. He started in Seattle and didn't
follow the Northern Tier, he only had a few places he wanted to go to
on his trip across the country and kind of found his route with
Google Maps. An interesting approach to crossing the country. The
second really interesting encounter I had was with an old couple from
Scotland. They are doing the trip on a Tandem and started in
Vancouver, but are in general following the Northern Tier. They
didn't set themselves any goals for the trip or even for any given
day and instead, so they told me, just went as far as there legs
would allow them each day. They also told me, that I'm the first
cyclist they met that is going west on the Northern Tier. Although I
arrived about an hour later in Sandpoint, because I stopped so often,
it was great to meet all these interesting people.
Conclusion
for the day:
With
July approaching it is getting harder to find places to stay at, I
probably have to start booking hotels in advance.
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