Remembering Why I Do This

Today was one of "those" days... again! Even while I was swearing and muttering stuff like "I'm getting tired of being a "'good sport'..." I knew it would turn out ok. I managed to get a flat tire before I even left the motel this morning - and as I began to fix it I encountered a ridiculous number of mishaps, including being unable to open the new tube of glue to put a patch on the hole (the guy at the shop eventually took an awl to it).

Just dumb stuff. But: I fixed it, went back to see my friend Mark at the bike shop (to buy a couple new tubes, so I won't need them), borrowed his good pump to get the tire fully inflated - and finally, finally hit the road. Heading north!

And within a few miles I'd put all that crap behind me... instead ringing my bell to celebrate the sky, the mountains all about (but the road being pretty flat - today, anyhow), the sense of being in the middle of nowhere and exactly where I want to be. I actually said to myself: This is why I'm doing this.

(Plus the bonus of Colleen's espresso shack at a very obscure corner, where she served me up a frozen berry smoothie - yes, it's all about the snacks. Seriously, it was about 90F so I really needed it!)

And now, Thursday night, I'm actually writing this from my tent! In a little RV campground called Blue Lake, which also has wi-fi even over here on the tent-lawn next to the lake! I came into the tent because... well... it's starting to sprinkle and the thunder & lightning are getting a little closer... But in the scheme of things this is fine. I got to swim in the lake, hang out with some really nice folks on the deck, have my dinner & even wash the dishes before it started to rain a little - and then it quit long enough for me to have dessert & brush my teeth. And it's getting dark anyhow...

Tomorrow, finally, I get to Canada, a little town called Creston, where I'm staying two nights (in Scottie's RV park - across the street from the regional brewery!). I don't have time to ride as far north as I'd planned, but I'm going to take another day-ride on Saturday without all my stuff, to get to ride along part of Kootenay Lake. Sunday I head back south and then Monday I turn east to Montana - back on track to get to Glacier National Park for my birthday.

Where it turns out winter was so intense that the road across the park still isn't open! More Plan B to come - just hiking at lower elevation, I guess. Me and a thousand other people, and a couple hundred hungry grizzly bears...