I remember this day as a bit cooler and having a hard time getting into a rhythm. Don’t know why I was suddenly so fatigued, but fortunately, there was a nice bench in a park for a quick nap. That seemed to help somewhat and we were making decent progress since we headed out at the crack of dawn. I like to allow extra time for hills and headwinds - and even naps.

We found more services along the road than we had expected, which made the day go by a little faster. Even though it was over 60 miles, it somehow seems shorter with some diversions along the way. We were most surprised by a very nice restaurant in Syringa, which wasn’t far from Lowell. That stop re-energized me.

We met a couple on loaded bikes just outside our motel for the night. The were heading from Missoula and had covered 66 miles so far that day. They said that they had a nice tailwind, which surprised them and since they were heading downward, they would attempt to cover another 30 or 40 miles this day. What happened to our tailwinds? We really had hoped for a push that would make higher mileage days a real possibility. Well, we eventually did up our average daily distance, but no thanks to tailwinds.

Even though I had seen so many photos of the area, the reality seemed so different than the snapshots. The scenery was definitely stunning and the thought of making a false move and going into the creek was even more mindnumbing. Lolo Pass gets more real every single day. Once we conquered that, we could relax a bit a find something else to occupy our thoughts. For me getting over Lolo would be a major accomplishment.

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