Rest Day 2: Whitefish
After a well deserved lie in Dave shot into town to pick up a new front pannier rack from the local bike shop. Given the lack of panniers for sale in any of the three bike shops in Sandpoint the owner had a great selection of kit.
In the dim light of day the motel room looked like a scene from a cheap horror flick so we vacated post haste and spent the day doing laundry and blogging in Subway and Starbucks.
On our travels through Eastern Washington and Idaho we have been hearing reports from a number of people that the Road to the Sun in Glacier National Park is still closed due to heavy snowfall that hasn't melted yet. Provisional estimates for opening are as late as mid July.
After a well deserved lie in Dave shot into town to pick up a new front pannier rack from the local bike shop. Given the lack of panniers for sale in any of the three bike shops in Sandpoint the owner had a great selection of kit.
In the dim light of day the motel room looked like a scene from a cheap horror flick so we vacated post haste and spent the day doing laundry and blogging in Subway and Starbucks.
On our travels through Eastern Washington and Idaho we have been hearing reports from a number of people that the Road to the Sun in Glacier National Park is still closed due to heavy snowfall that hasn't melted yet. Provisional estimates for opening are as late as mid July.
Given this predicament we looked over the ACA maps to check the Marias Alternative and enquired further into the state of the roads - unfortunately, it doesn't look like we are going to be able to make it up the well known and reportedly beautiful Road to the Sun.
Before bed we worked out how long we would have left at the end of the trip on a makeshift Excel spreadsheet. Given the likely shorter detour over Marias Pass, our decision to take the SS Badger across Lake Michigan rather than skirting all the way round and our detour up to Montreal our route had changed considerably since its inception. We had also erred on the side of caution - overestimating distance, underestimating the distance we would cover each day and leaving several days at the end as a precaution.
At 70 miles per day we would have 16 rest days to take advantage of, at 80 mpd 22 and 90 mpd 29. Given the flat terrain in Montana and North Dakota 90 mpd could be far from unreasonable.
Before bed we worked out how long we would have left at the end of the trip on a makeshift Excel spreadsheet. Given the likely shorter detour over Marias Pass, our decision to take the SS Badger across Lake Michigan rather than skirting all the way round and our detour up to Montreal our route had changed considerably since its inception. We had also erred on the side of caution - overestimating distance, underestimating the distance we would cover each day and leaving several days at the end as a precaution.
At 70 miles per day we would have 16 rest days to take advantage of, at 80 mpd 22 and 90 mpd 29. Given the flat terrain in Montana and North Dakota 90 mpd could be far from unreasonable.
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