8/13: CA-US Border, Glacier National Park

Really feeling it in the morning today. After some more inspection, it seems that today might actually be harder overall than tomorrow. We'll see.

After another laundry wash for all our clothes, my jacket pocket is no longer chocolaty. 

Confirming our suspicions yesterday, the 2012 edition map's elevation profile is inaccurate to the point of being misleading. The first climb was about as expected, but things got out of sync after that. We knew it would be hard, so mustered the energy to make the second climb to the US border gate. A very straightforward display of passport and basic questions and we were off. 

To be honest, I got tremendous satisfaction from returning to the United States. The border agent had a distinctly western American accent. The trees and birds might be the same, but this was still a different country to my heart. 

A bumpy 18mi over ranch country, full of cow pats and wandering cows, got us to lunch at Cattle Baron / Bunk House:

I managed to cash in on my cravewave for a steak sandwich. It really hit the spot, at once greasy and gristly. The restaurant was extremely proud of both its German and Blackfoot heritage, and set out placemats describing the owner family's history. These mixed some interesting worldviews that could be charitably described as quaint. 

A hard 15 more miles (headwinds and unmarked climbs slowing is down) got us to our humble hiker/biker campsite in the Rising Sun campground inside Glacier National Park. 

After a culinarily ambitious dinner at the Rising Sun Motel and Restaurant, we've decided to take the rest day here tomorrow. You might see this post much later because, sadly, there's no signal coverage in this part of GNP. In the northern stretches, we still had Canadian Rogers signal. 

It bears emphasizing how much of a physical endeavor bike touring is. I certainly mention whether days are hard or easy, but on the whole, riding days in aggregate are definitely hard. They wear you down and make you consider your route and planned miles more and more closely. Finally, you throw up your hands and say that you can ride no further without pushing yourself over some limit of safety and physical wellbeing.