Lake Koocanusa

I woke up with all my limbs and no bears or big cats came to visit. I was feeling ambitious and got off to a great start. Fortunately most of the hills were right where the road started off and they were pretty big, so I had a few small hills up, but the rest of the ride along lake Koocanusa was beautiful and either flat or downhill. I got to the top of the lake and set toward eureka which was about 15 miles away. I was back on busy roads and there were no trees again. I was starting to miss the quiet road along the lake. I got to eureka and the temperatures were back in the 100's and I waited till about 330pm to set off for an additional 50 mile trek to Whitefish, MT. 

The ride was going well and the temperature was going down with every push of the peddle. There were more hills as I was entering the foothills of the Rockies. As I got closer to Whitefish I was looking for good camping places. There was an old abandoned house that was not being lived in and it had my name all over it. I went about 1/10 of a mile up the road and there was a nice restaurant with a guy playing the banjo. I stopped and enjoyed the music until his set was over and we conversed for about an hour. He was from Chicago and came out to help maintain trails here in the west. He fell in love with the wildlife and couldn't move back to the city. Overall,  great guy and it was fun talking with him. We parted ways and I went back to the abandoned house and set up camp in the driveway in the dark, it was a little scary at first, but I felt better in the morning, when I could see the house and the beautiful surroundings. This was my first day of getting at least 90 miles on the bike. Hopefully I will have many more of those