The campers nightmare today, waking to the pitter patter of rain on the tent, pitter patter sounds lively but it means wet wet wet (worst than the band too).

Packing up from the inside out but including probably two kilograms of additional water with the tent.

Wet Whitefish

Goodbye to Anne, David and Rob who we met on the campground yesterday as they prepared for a month long stretch of the Great Divide. Leaving just Wyoming and New Mexico to complete it in full. They are a day late due to Delta Airlines having a computer glitch and all flights were delayed.

It rained so much over night Anne woke up in the middle of a puddle and had to move her tent to another spot (remember this campers water flows downhill).

We met up with Peter as planned, today is a longer but paved most of the way days. Off we go in the rain.

The roads are the US system of a large grid system so we did an awful lot of zigging and zagging.

This was on a large scale, not the city type blocks like New York, think huge.

I had the first puncture of the trip in the pouring rain picking up a piece of glass as we went over Flathead River Bridge.

There was a lot more wildlife visible today, this must be due to the availability of food, we pass a lot of agriculture with a good variety of types. In particular we see a lot of white tailed deer (who run off at the slightest noise).

As we continued the rain lessened and by 2.00 it had all but stopped, leaving a lot of damp soggyness (this was just my cycle shorts!).

Eventually we reached the Swan River and turned off towards Bigfork and a well earned rest.

The Swan River

A short track ride and we were in a lovely compact village. They were helpful in the library (they kept the candlesticks hidden) and directed us half a mile to the campground  (keep in mind half a mile). It was actually half a mile to the entrance (but another half a mile up a steep hill to the campspot).
They used a pad system, really great for freestanding tents but not much use for a tension tent. Rocks had to be deployed to stop the pegs pulling out.

After a shower, a fraught shower for Janet (Canadian quarters do not work, so getting dressed and going back to the tent, check you quarters campers!). We cycled into town and got chatting at the library (the place to be) getting the low down on where to eat but better still the grocery store was (remember half a mile) half a mile from town, but she would give us a lift to it, nice. Anyway about one and a half miles later we arrived at the store, stocked up then started our walk back. Stopping on the way for a mexican meal, this was very nice (and huge).

When we got back to the site, Anne, David and Rob were setting up their tents, they had lit a fire and had some whisky. We sat and drank, it would be rude not to.

We can feel another rest day coming on, it is a lovely town.

This was our longest day yet 48 miles. We slept well.