Day 3: Heron, MT to Libby, MT

Miles: 57
Elevation gain: 4490 feet
Average speed: 16 mph

Today was my favorite day by far.

After a delicious homemade breakfast by our hosts at the Amber Bear Inn, we started out with a bit of a cheat. There is a specific portion of our anatomy which didn't feel up to bumping over a dirt road. Someone who shall remain nameless bought a brand new saddle a couple weeks ago, and only spent 80 miles in it before the trip. Oops. Jim drove us to the end of the gravel road, and then a bit further on since apparently we were leaving at rush hour. There were 2 giant pickups behind us, and nowhere to pull over. He even drove us over what our hosts told us was the worst bridge in America. To make up for our little sag, Jim did drop us off in the middle of a little hill. That's one way to warm up the legs.

The day didn't seem to be starting out well. We had to get off the road twice in the first 5 miles for extremely wide-load vehicles, but things soon got better. We rode out and rejoined Highway 200 for just a short time, before turning onto 56 for a glorious 35 mile ride. The road was mostly smooth, there was little traffic, and the vehicles that did pass us were quite polite. The scenery was gorgeous, and the ride was just relaxing. Green trees, blue skies, deer bounding about and water features. I did unfortunately have to squat in the woods for the first time this trip, but other than that the 35 miles were fantastic.

We turned off 56 and back onto Highway 2 east. While there was a bit more traffic and we were back on unworn chip seal, the shoulder was spacious, which is always a plus. We stopped about 12 miles from Libby at Kootenai Falls, got a refreshment, and hiked, in our bike shoes, the 3/4 miles down to the view point. So worth it.

Of course, since we hiked down we had to hike back up, which hurt, get back on our bikes, which hurt a bit more, and ride the last few miles to Libby. Once we got our legs moving again we flew with another great tail wind and were in Libby by 1:30.

Dad's been talking about Libby since we started planning the trip. His dad lived here for awhile when he was a teenager, and so he spent time here in the late 1970s. After a bite to eat, we went driving around the town. He has determined that he doesn't recognize anything in Libby anymore, and we struck out on the great Poppery hunt at 2 thrift stores. We did have success at Bad Medicine Bike shop. While Bryce didn't have any Seat Saver or Butt Butter, he recommended getting Bag Balm at the local store. Fingers crossed it helps!

A couple more photos from Amber Bear Inn - the peacock herd (we counted 17 at one point), and our fantastic Bedroom. Right before going to sleep last night I sat up to look at all the deer feeding on the lawn, and saw Mike and Nancy's horse galloping around, scattering the deer. They don't cage any of their animals, they can come and go as pleased, and apparently the horse gets joy out of playing with the deer. Mike said he tries the same thing with the elk, but sometimes they'll stand up to him.