East Glacier MT to Havre MT
175 miles. (No typo)
Travel Time 11hrs
Saddle Time 8:45 hrs

Mileage week 2: 530 miles
2 week total 982 miles

I was on the road at 6:30 and immediately realized what a great day this will be. It was partly sunny, the road was smooth, there would be few trucks and cars on a Sunday and there was an incredible WIND at my back. I was flying. The first 30 miles were a 2-3% descent. I was in heaven. I got to Cut Bank in 2 1/2 hrs. Yesterday I had stayed in East Glacier because I projected it to be 4-5 hrs to make those 45 miles in the rain. It was bliss. I averaged over 20mph today. To put that in perspective, I average 15 mph at home with no panniers! It is not just the speed, it is also the ease of pedaling.
I saw Big Al the night before as she was looking to dry off at a cheap motel in East Glacier. I, on the other hand, splurged at the Dancing Bear motel because it had fast internet. I caught up to Big Al on the road this morning about 5 miles out of town. She said she was enjoying the wind, but doesn’t feel comfortable going fast. After a mile of riding together, I gave her the finger and took off!
I made it 112 miles to lunch at 1pm. I contacted my warm shower host for Harlem MT. Yesterday, I told her it would take me 2-3 days to get there. I texted her and said I might make the 180 miles to her today! Then I pulled out my map and realized it would be 216 total miles to her today and it wasn’t going to happen!
As soon as I left lunch, the wind had shifted. Where I was averaging over 21 mph, now I was down to 11. But I soon realized the reason for the shift was that the road changed direction and I was heading North for 5 miles. As soon as I turned East, I was cranking back over 20! I met a guy coming the other direction. He was struggling. But he laughed because he said the wind is always changing and I had over 2,000 miles to go and he was less than 1,000 miles to the end of his journey.
I was about 40 miles from Havre when all of a sudden I heard a loud hissing
sound and I felt my feet get sprayed with something. I looked down and my unlucky front tire was spitting liquid. It was the goo the guy put in the tube when he repaired it a week ago. I remembered that the idea is to let this slime hit air and it will fill the hole. So I pumped more air back in the tube and rolled on. In about 5 miles I had to pump in more air. I thought this would repeat until Havre. I now had a replacement tire, but I really hoped I could make it to the repair shop in Havre (coincidently the first one since Whitefish). I also didn’t want to sit on side of this road and replace my tire. When I had first pulled over I spotted a snake skin sitting right there. Spooked me. Luckily I made to Havre with no more problems.
I also learned a new game today. Remember the scene from Breaking Away where the cyclist races the truck. Well today I raced the trains. They only go between 30-40 mph and they are really long, so the race lasts a while. I can see the fear in the engineer’s eyes as I chase him down.
There are pictures below of me leaving the Rookies behind, including in my side view mirror. The rest of the pictures haven’t downloaded, but I want to send this before I fall asleep. Remaining pictures will come tomorrow .

BTW Map my Ride says I spent over 20,000 calories today. But I think I am gaining wait with all the eating!

My pics aren’t making it from phone to cloud to IPad. So I had to manually email them to myself and the resolution isn’t as strong. Looking for ideas of why they don’t move thru cloud more quickly when I’m in wifi and cell service area
Some pics are to show how far i can see the road in the distance, but I don’t know if you can see that in the pics. The yellow field is mustard. The dinosaur is not alive!
One picture is to dramatize the wind blowing in my direction
Also, I forgot to mention that the longest I had ever cycled before yesterday was 110 miles, and that was a month ago and without panniers! I have woken up today not too sore. And I think my knee is better as a result of pills, rest, and new seat height

The reason I choose this route across the country was that I wanted to visit the memorial for my best friend from college, Dave Sielewicz.
The summer after college, Dave I were supposed to travel thru Europe together, but the cloud from Chernobal stopped that. So we went and worked on his family farm in NH, see pic below. We kept in close contact over the years. When I was living in Dallas, he was based in Oklahoma and would come down on weekends. 1990, when I got married, he was flying missions to Iraq. But he was able adjust his schedule to be in the states for the wedding and showed up in his dress uniform. The last time I saw him was on a business trip to Seattle. He was based in Tacoma at the time and we did a day hike up Mt. Rainier, where a mtn lion crossed the path ahead of us. I remember the day I heard on the radio of the mid-air collision of the two C-141s during a training exercise over MT where 13 airmen were killed . I called Dave to make sure he was alright, and got the terrible news from his roommate.
Dave taught me how to run competitively, and how to bang your hand on road signs as you run by to make the runners behind you think you bumped your head. He taught me how to run with my arms hanging low to save energy on downhills and he taught me how to dance with my arms up high to dance the Slay. But most importantly, he taught me what it means to be a nice guy.
Slay, you will always be missed
love you
KHF
Below are pictures taken from the memorial at the field 9 miles north of Harlem, where the plane went down. The mayor just drove me up there to view it. Then there are pictures from the memorial in town and pictures in town hall.
I’ll be heading off the route and off the grid for next few days as I head thru MT to Mt Rushmore. Don’t think I will have cell service or even water. Going rte 66, 19, 87, 12, 59, 212. I think. Updates in a few days.