Here we are last Friday as we departed Rick Smith's home in Butte, MT. The past five days have been fabulous, although tonight in Fort Steele, British Columbia, is the first campground where we've gotten Internet access.
Reminder of riders, left to right in the photo above:
Bert Stock - high school friend of Bob Brown's and also friend of mine from Valencia, CA. He and Bob rode on the Blue Ridge Parkway with me in Sept 08. Age 60.
Bob Brown - ride organizer, works for Pepsi, used to work with me at Carnation/Nestle, age 60, lives now in Chicago although long-time Plano, TX. Pepsi has given him a three-month leave to do this ride. He started his ride May 22 with son Derek in Minneapolis and rode to Butte in 24 days.
Me
Rick Smith - Friend of Bob's from Texas, but he retired to Las Vegas for the winters and to Butte where his daughter's family lives. He's 64 and is a pro bike mechanic, working in the store in Butte owned by Rob Leipheimer, Levi's older brother. He suffered a heart attack a few years ago, and this ride to Alaska means so much to him as he conquers his goal to regain his good health.
Derek Brown - Bob's 22-yr-old son who just graduated from Kansas Univ.
Day 1 Friday, June 15. Butte to Garrison. Distance 61 mi. My distance 48 mi
Excitement as we did final preparations and last-minute trips to the store. It was a perfect day for bike riding, although by the day's end we had pretty strong headwinds.
I was the day's first RV driver. Each day, two of us split the driving. The other four rode a few miles to Leipheimer's bike shop, and I drove. We waited for the local TC news station to come but they never did. The bike shop is like a mini Levi Leipheimer museum:
There are tons of mementos and jerseys and photos of Levi's illustrious cycling career. Here's a picture of Rob Leipheimer, who I think looks a lot like Levi. Such a nice man too; he gave us half off any purchase we made.
We gave up on the TV station and all five of us made our departure before family and many of Rick's friends. The plan was for me to ride for 45 minutes and then turn around and scoot back to get the motorhome and chase them down. Within two miles we learned the TV guy showed up, so we waited for him to drive to where we were and he aired this short segment on us that night: once on their website, go to the videos at the right and click on 6/15/12, and after a short intro about football, you'll see us: http://www.kxlf.com/sports/
THE FUNNY STORY OF THE FIRST DAY - GETTING THE HECK OUT OF BUTTE!
After the TV guy was done, we continued our route out of Butte. But what a funny and auspicious start we then had for our epic trek to Alaska! By the time we'd gone only 4.5 miles, we were lost. We found ourselves on a dirt road, and we knew that wasn't right, but no one knew where we were or what to do next. We decided to keep going, figuring it was generally in the right direction. Finally we KNEW for sure it was wrong when we came to a big pile of dirt completely across the road. We had to dismount and climb our bikes over the wall.
We finally came to a paved road. Bob got out his map trying to decide whether to turn left or right. He finally said left, so off we went and after only 50 yards, we heard a man yelling from a distance away: "No, this way. Turn around!" It was one of Rick's friends who had just sent us off from the bike shop who had driven ahead to watch us. We turned around and rode up to where he was parked, and he finally set us straight on our route to Alaska. We could only laugh.
After 8.5 miles with the others, I turned around and took the correct route back to the bike shop. I put my bike on the RV rack and drove off to find the boys. I ran into them and we had our first SAG stop:
The other four continued on and I drove the RV to the 30-mi point, which was halfway for the day. I did stop to take this picture of Bob, Derek, and Rick as they pedaled along. Note the open, "deserty" landscape. That first day was pretty flat and sprinkled with old, large ranches. Lots of pick-up-truck graveyards too. And Big Sky.
When I found a wide spot in the road at 30 mi, I got out my bike and rode about 4 miles back until I met them and then we five could all ride together for those 4 miles, where it was Bob's turn to drive. The other four of us continued on through wide open sage land, hitting only one city, Deer Lodge. Here's Montana's famous old state prison, a major tourist attraction.
Only four miles from our destination, we had to take Interstate 90, and here we are entering the highway. It's pretty strange riding on an interstate, although we did it for quite a few miles when I rode across the country five years ago.
Eventually Day One's ride was over, and we celebrated our first recovery Happy Hour.
The only bad news was: No Internet. We had a nice taco dinner on the picnic table, and eventually organized the motorhome so that we all could sleep. It worked! I was very happy that the motorhome served us well to accommodate five guys and their bikes.
Day 2 Sat., June 16. Garrison to Salmon Lake. Distance 78 mi
Beautiful scenery, rolling hills, crossing rushing rivers, ending at a campground on a lake that reminded me of Yosemite. We saw these antelopes, plus lots of deer, and a stately eagle perched in a tree.
Here's a shot of Derek and Bob cresting one of the rollers.
One of the many beautiful river scenes we had on Day 2.
After our hamburger dinner, we took a hike along the lake.
We were gradually getting the hang of maneuvering ourselves in the tight confines of a 26-ft motorhome, with all our bags, computers, techno devices that need charging, sleeping quarters, meal prep, dish washing, and route planning. Bob and Derek sleep over the cab, Bert and I sleep on the back bed, and Rick converts the dinette into his bed in the middle.
Day 3 Sunday, June 17 Father's Day. Salmon Lake to Swan Lake. Distance 64 mi. My distance 47 mi.
If you look at the map I posted on the blog before this one, you'll see our route over the first four days and the circled night stops. You can see that today was a straight northerly course, through a valley along lakes and rivers and with high snow-capped mountain ranges on both sides of us.
It rained on and off, so I did not get many pictures. I was the driver for the first half. After the other four left, I emptied the holding tank, filled with water, and drove to the halfway point. Here's a photo of Rick in all his rain gear.
We had our usual peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and then I rode the rest of the way in some rain and steady headwinds. The photo here shows Rick working on Bob's bike. At the end of each day. Rick gets out his bike stand and tools and fixes stuff. Here, he gave Bob and Derek new chains.
After our lasagna dinner, we took a hike to Swan Lake since we still had no Internet, despite their advertising to the contrary. Here are Bob, Bert and I on a cold evening.
Day 4 Monday, June 18. Swan Lake to Fortine, MT. Distance 94 mi.
Today was VERY rainy and ended up VERY cold! But it was also VERY scenic, with majestic mountains and rushing rivers. You can see how pretty it was as Derek, Rick, and Bob pedaled along.
Again, not too many photos during the day due to the rain. The best story of the day was arriving at the campground and warming up. We ran the RV heater until the inside felt like a sauna. There were no showers, so all five of us showered in the RV, making the sauna effect even more pronounced. I put out the awning because of the rain, which meant it immediately stopped raining (but it did all night).
We also did not feel like cooking a dinner given that at Jerry's RV Park was Jerry's Saloon! Once we'd thawed out, we felt like drinking.
We'd already had happy hour on the RV, but that didn't stop the pitchers and wine from flowing while we waited forever for our food. It took so long, the waitress/owner/new friend Nancy gave us another pitcher free. Oh no! It all got pretty funny as we loosened up with stories of our past adventures and exploits. Dinner finally came, it was wonderful, and we finally staggered back to the RV, Rick fixed bikes, and we hit the hay.
Day 5 Tues, June 19. Fortine, MT to Fort Steele, British Columbia. Distance 84 mi. My distance 59 mi.
Here's a picture this morning as the boys were ready to roll. Rain was still predicted, so note their clothing.
I was the first driver, so after they left, I took down the awning, emptied the holding tank, and called Janet. I will have no cell phone service in Canada, so I made use of my final day of cell phone coverage, until Anchorage, by calling her three times! I'm just glad there was cell phone service in that remote section of Montana. I also called Katie and Janet's son Aaron for his birthday today.
Then I drove to the border and we all crossed together.
As usual, I drove ahead to the halfway point and rode 7 miles back to them, turned around, and rode those same 7 miles to the RV for lunch. Those 22 miles were straight and flat, except when we took a steep descent and climb at Elk River:
In the second half, we had intermittent rain and hillier terrain, and when the clouds parted, we had spectacular mountains to the east of us. Here's a photo descending into Fort Steele where we are tonight.
Not only is tonight's campground in a majestic setting, but we FINALLY have Internet. All three computers have been running non-stop, and it's now 11:10 and Bert's trying to sleep next to me in the bed where I'm typing this. You should look at the other "official" Five For Alaska blog too, since all the photos will be different (I may be in them) and of course the stories will come from different points of view.
The other thing this campground has is laundry! Today we had to wear wet and cold shoes and gloves and other things that did not dry out over night. Now they are all clean and dry. Each of us did a laundry load. Plus we had to wash our bikes and re-lube them after all the rain and resulting muddy deposits. So we've been busy since we arrived here. It helped that the sun came out too, as you can see in this photo from our camp site.
We sure hope we have more frequent Internet service in Canada, since such a long posting is hard on me and on you, the reader. We are looking forward to a day with no rain tomorrow. We ride to Radium Hot Springs. See ya!
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