Llama cooling herself next to a small sprinkler

Somewhere down the road I saw a sign that said Highway mile kept clean by Mennonite Youth Council , Not knowing any Mennonite Youths I stereotypically assumed they lived with their Mennonite parents in the farm structure.  You can make up your own mind.

Swan Lake was wonderful and the campground offered us a welcomed seclusion.  We slipped away before 7:00 Am and were quickly enthroned in the magnificence of the Rockies.  They rose to the east of us almost unending and massive.  Although not to the height of the Colorado Rockies but they had a uniqueness that set them apart from anything we had seen so far.  

This was a difficult day, not because of the overbearing heat, or the narrowness of the roads although we were never left with many cool breezes or wide shoulders.  We felt that we were running short on time and given the heat and how it was wearing on us our ability to complete our ride to Jasper was in jeopardy.  

Our delimae was a choice between biking through Glacier Park into Canada or taking an alternate route west of Glacier and cutting our ride by two days.  This would give us sufficient time to make it to Jasper. We were so close to the Park but yet we knew if we biked through what was notoriously known as very narrow roads with rocky edges and sharing these awkward byways with RVs was dangerous and could end our trip abruptly.  Even the rules of the park banned bicycling between the hours of 11:00 AM and 4:00 PM.  After thinking it over all day and viewing and reviewing the map we decided the better part of velour.  

Stopping in Bigfork we had lunch, I grabbed an espresso from a Russian girl in a quios just outside the restaurant.  No one seemed to mind me brining in a drink from an offsite concessionaire.  Even though it was late we both ordered breakfast.  I think in our minds if we order breakfast it would somehow roll back the hands of time and give us more hours of cool weather.  Don't get me wrong we were making very good time considering the heat.  Each one of the small villages we traverse has a complicated set of instructions to cleverly weave your way through the complexity of village streets.  I coming from the freeway mentality like a bull in a a china cabinet I tend to plow my way through what one would believe is the shortest route.  Many or most times that is not the case.  Jon being the more meticulous of the two of us tends to read the fine print on the back of the map.  I have only been privy to my  own map since we stopped at Missoula.  These tasty little tidbits of information give one the tips necessary to clearly navigate. Therefore when we reach the small towns and villages it behooves me to follow attentively and watch that Jon doesn't disappear down an alley or behind a barn to a little know and unapparent path to our destination.  It's not that I am unaware but between taking pictures and watching traffic I become entranced with ride and find myself alone with no Jon ahead or in my rearview mirror.  I'm telling you this so you will understand why I sometimes tailgate my good friend.  And sometimes he stops unexpectedly to check his map and make a turn.  I, unconsciously, gliding behind him have on occasion found myself stopping on a dime trying to avoid climbing in his trailer.  Then I ponder my incompetence to maintain a safe distance  and follow at a reasonable gap  in order to avoid near collisions and I drift off into oblivion unaware that Jon has widened the gap and made a turn that I had not remembered from our morning briefing.  This repetitive ignorance blesses me with opportunities to view areas uncharted by our maps and then once I realize my error to frantically retrace my ride until like Sherlock Homes try to figure out where Jon has gone.  Now then since Missoula I have my own set of Map .Tips and although this does not eliminate my unconsciousness.  It does allow me access to the clues that help me catch up to Jon a little sooner.  All this in mind it is a shear wonder that we make any time at all. 

We ended in Columbia Falls by 2:30 PM.  A Dollar Car Rental  was in town and we rented a 7 passenger van and shot up to the road we were going to bi-pass.  What an experience; we made the right choice.