Almost in Montana

At the moment we are stopping for a break in Clark Forks, Idaho. We have had some adventures over the past few days. We climbed, climbed, climbed through the Cascades in Washington. We camped out along the Skagit River, even took a quick and cold shower in it. Ran into a 99 JMU grad at the top of one of the "hills" on our way to Washington Pass. We enjoyed the downhill rides coming off of the mountains where we get going as fast as the cars to the amazement of some folks. We have been pounded by hail and biked through parts of Washington that were 100 degrees in the shade. It has been a little bit of a beating. For the 4th of July we pulled into the town of Republic, Washington. What better place to spend the 4th than in a town called Republic? Wrong. Everything was closed up and all of the townsfolks had left to go watch fireworks at the lake which was 8 miles uphill and out of our way. Jeff and I crashed out at the fairgrounds and watched a small set of fireworks while playing cards. We have found some good places to take breaks during our daily rides. At one stop by the Air Force Survival School we had two black bear cubs walk 100 feet from us to our surprise. We didn't see the mama bear, but we are sure she saw us. We also stopped at this gentleman's ranch, Thomas Clark, for a quick water break. He was arriving home and stopped to talk to us. He had many great sayings and commented a few times about our decision to make this trek (I won't type what he said here, but I will be happy to repeat a few of his choice lines in person upon our return). We ventured into Idaho at Sandpoint, which is a really pretty town. We were taken in by a family who had done a ride around New Zealand. They let us use their shower and camp in their backyard. We are off to Libby, Montana today and then onto Glacier National Park. Our beards look fantastic.