June 8 - Gramps and Granny Ride Adventure Cycling's Great Divide

The Senior Alternate Route

 Ferndale to Condon MT

Mileage - 41.25
We wake up hungry and enticed by the smells of coffee and good home-cooking coming from the kitchen.  Megan's breakfast is tasty and hearty - a soufle with roasted red pepper sauce, a fruit and coconut smoothy, and a pineapple coffee cake.  Breakfast is served at 8:30, and we take our time and chat with the other guests, Bea and Clain, who are from Canada.  We have already decided to bypass the regular Great Divide route today, which would take us up towards Richmond Peak.  Instead we will head to Condon along route 83.  Megan is kind enough to suggest a B&B there, and even calls to make sure we have a room.  What service!

When we finally get our bikes loaded, it is late morning again.  We don't seem to be able to get an early start, but we are enjoying our mornings.  Route 83 proves to be a pretty nice alternative to the Forest Roads we chose not to follow.  There is traffic, but it isn't too bad. 

There is weather all around us, so we spend a lot of the day watching the skies.  It is raining or snowing all around us, and we figure it is just a matter of time before we get soaked.  We stop at the Trading Post in Swan Lake, hoping for a cinnamon roll and coffee, and have to settle for just coffee.  Things seem pretty dead around here.  The late snows and wet weather are delaying tourist season, and it has an impact on the local economy.

Along the way, we meet a couple of young bicyclists  who are on their way from Buffalo NY to Alaska!!!  What an adventure.  We chat across the road for a while, and exchange URLs for our blogs.  Hope things are going well for you, Emmalee and Joe!

We're not sure exactly where The Standing Rock B&B is in Condon.  Rain is threatening when CC suggests pulling over to call.  Thank goodness we do.  We thought we had about 6 miles to go, and we are only a little over a mile away.  Bud tells us that the only place to get food between here and there is a little place called the Mission Mountain Mercantile just up the road.  It is just starting to rain when we get to the store, but then the skies open up and it pours down.  What a good break for us!

The turkey and provolone sandwich, chips and chocolate milk make a great dinner, which we enjoy on the deck outside the Merc.  George strikes up a conversation with Butch, who has lived in the area for a long time, has been a logger, and has some suggestions for the Forest Service.  We also get a warm welcome from Jost from Holland, who met his wife when he was biking in this area and got lost.  The Merc seems to be the center of social and economic activity for Condon MT.

The rain finally lets up, and we head down the road to The Standing Rock B&B, where Bud is waiting to show us where to leave our bikes, and then to our room for the night.  Nice and comfortable.  Out of the weather, warm and dry.