Category: 2012 Northern Tier tour

Scott: We’ve been riding in Wisconsin for three days. For us, the ride in this state has had two faces. On one hand, we’ve been traveling on wonderful, bucolic, low traffic roads accented by farms, dairies, fields of corn, soybeans & hay, solitary country homes, lakes and thick forests. A real sense of calm and peacefulness has … Continue reading Aug 14 Lac Corte Oreilles Casino Wisconsin

We called them “the boys,” although they were father and son, and they were our almost-constant companions for over three weeks. We first met them at an RV park along the Pend Oreille River in Newport, Washington. Eric, the father, and David, his 24 year old son, were between jobs when they decided to bike … Continue reading Ode to The Boys, posted 8/11

Scott: We have, at long last, put the Great Plains of North America behind us. Three days ago, we entered the forest and lake country of Minnesota. Pine and deciduous woods dotted with  blue lakes fringed with a beard of dense, green whips of wild rice plants are now our constant companions. We have had … Continue reading Aug 7 Grand Rapids, MN

Karla: Tomorrow we complete our route through North Dakota and as I look back I have one overriding memory – WIND. Every day, in every way, our experience was defined by how the wind was blowing. We faithfully checked the weather reports for which direction it would blow, drilling down to the hour by hour … Continue reading Leaving North Dakota, August 3, posted August 5

Scott: As described by Karla in her previous blog, we had turned south to Circle, MT from Wolf Point. This was a route change to the Northern Tier bike route, introduced this year by ACA to specifically avoid the dangerous truck traffic and mayhem of the Bakken oil fields of NE Montanna and W North … Continue reading Into ND 7/25-26 posted 8/2

Karla: Many days have been challenging for me, but the most difficult was the ride from Nashua to Circle. It started out well. Pie and eggs for breakfast then an easy 30 miles with a tail wind. After that, everything literally went south.  We changed direction and picked up a ferocious crosswind blowing out of … Continue reading The Longest Day, Nashua to Circle, MT posted 7/30

Scott: Holy cow, it’s been 10 riding days, 1 rest day and 598 bike miles since we last blogged from Harlem, MT. We’re now in North Dakota but I’ll begin this segment from the end of our last blog. Our route through the great plains of Montana generally followed State Route 2 through many miles … Continue reading Northern Montana 7/19-7/21 – posted 7/29

Karla: Wow, more than a week since we were in the Canadian portion of Glacier NP and it feels like an eternity! It’s probably confusing to go back in time, but I do want to share what a great experience we had with Lilly and Curtis. It was their first time camping and that made … Continue reading Camping with Lilly & Curtis, July12-14, posted July 23

Scott: It’s Karla’s turn to blog but she’s at an exciting part of her book and would rather read than blog. So, I’m going to skip the section that she was going to blog about and catch us up. Karla will post about Waterton Lakes and Lilly and Curt’s visit at a later date. You’ll … Continue reading July 18, Harlem, MT

Scott: After our amazing day climbing to Logan Pass on Going To The Sun Road, we rapidly descended immersed in fantastic mountain scenery and camped at St Mary CG. To our amazement, the Portland couple, Marina and Jonny, whose company we enjoyed at Avalanche Creek CG, had also moved to the St Mary CG on National Park … Continue reading Waterton Lakes National Park July 11 – Posted July 15