Our first week

 Our western adventure begins! We left home on Saturday 8/19 and spent our first night at the cabin which was a lovely evening. The weather was warm and balmy, so we took the pontoon boat out for a ride. 

Sunday morning we got an early start and after traveling across upper Minnesota we arrived at our first campsite at Turtle River State Park, ND. It was a very nice State park, we pulled our bikes out and rode a few miles around the park. It felt great to get a little exercise after sitting all day.  

Monday and Tuesday we continued our travels across North Dakota. and into Montana.  I thought Illinois and Iowa were flat, but they don't compare to the plains of ND and Montana. I swear we could see Canada to the north! Our Hostess at our next campsite (Buffalo trails in Williston ND) was very nice and inquired where our next stop would be. When we informed her it was Havre MT, She said, "Oh that's good you'll be safe there". I then asked what we would be safe from? She went on to enlighten us that we would be traveling through Indian reservations and they were  not friendly, in fact Wolf River has the Country's highest murder rate! 

Wednesday we traveled across the plains of Montana, we eventually caught sight of the Rocky Mountains in the distance, what an amazing contrast to the vast wheat fields. We arrived in Kallispell mid afternoon were we will be staying with the Gutschenritter families for a few days. It was great fun spending time with all of them, many of whom we haven't seen in years. 

 

Thursday morning Rob & I made our way to the "Rails to Trails" bike trail for a quick ride, before the afternoon Celebration of Life for Barb G's husband Tom who had passed away last October.   

 

 Friday we hoped on the motorcycle and headed into Glacier National park. There is one road that travels across the park, the infamous, "Road to the Sun". We rode this to Avalanche Creek from where we did a 5 mile hike through the Trail of the Cedars  and beyond to Avalanche Lake. While we were parked, a couple came up to us and asked if his girlfriend could have her picture taken with the motorcycle, well we said sure and she hopped right on it to pose 😂!  All of the rivers and lakes are crystal clear, being runoff from the previous season's snow. Our weather has been beautiful in the mid 80's. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, although they really don't do the landscape justice. After our hike we stopped at the historic McDonald Lodge for a late lunch. the lodge was built in 1913 and sits on the SE shore of the 10 mile McDonald Lake. 

 

 

 

Saturday morning just before dawn we were awakened by the awful  screech of what we learned later was a Fisher Cat.  After breakfast we ventured a bit farther on the Rode to the Sun. Traveling the winding roads to Logan's Pass. We downloaded an audio tour so it was fun to learn about the area as we rode. At Logan's pass we hiked out to view the beautiful Hidden lake.  It was really a spectacular day.

 

 

This morning we said farewell to our hosts as they boarded the train back to WI. We then moved to our next campsite just outside of the West entrance of Glacier park. Before setting up camp we found a farmer's market in town and re-provisioned. Since we were so close to the park we decided to ride our bikes into the park and spent some time exploring the bike trails. One of our stops was at Apgar village where we found the western end of McDonald Lake. We are hoping to kayak from this spot later in the week. Tonight it is Barbeque at the local Sunflower Cafe at the campground. Our Wifi is pretty limited here so will most likely not post for a few more days.