Day 65, Friday, August 19

I spent this entire morning and part of the early afternoon trying to get preparations made for my trip to Chicago. I’m planning to stash my bike and trailer in Seattle and then take a Southwest Airlines flight to Chicago from August 31 through Sept 6. Problem is that the people I thought I might be able to stay with in Seattle won’t be there. So I sent out a mass “Please help” e-mail in hopes that one of my friends might have a connection there. I’ll cross my fingers and hope. I’m sure something will work out. It always seems to do soon this trip.
I’m definitely going to miss the breakfasts from this KOA. Breakfast is included in the price and it’s all you can eat biscuits and sausage gravy, scrambled eggs, English muffins, cereals, toast and juices. Works for me! That plus great conversations with Mark have really made the mornings here a pleasure.
I finally finished all the prep work I could get done by around 1pm and pointed the bike over towards Glacier. The ride over to Glacier was short and when I got into the park, I went by the visitor center at Apgar (South West entrance of the park) to find out which camp sites would have showers. Two different rangers there flat out told me “none of the campsites in Glacier have showers. You’ve got to go outside of the park to get a shower.” Both of them suggested going to the KOA and paying $5 for a shower. That sucks. I guess I’ll be taking a cold water bath kind of like I did at Ironwood. I picked a campsite Sprague Creek, paid my fee, and set up camp. It was too late to prepare and go for a hike so I hopped back on the motorcycle and drove up over Going-to-the-Sun Road through Logan Pass and over to St. Mary on the Eastern border of the park. The park is beautiful, and it’s really interesting to see all of the glacial geography. I learned about the concept of a hanging valley today also. That happens when a minor glacier is intersected and cut off by a major one. What you get is a small glacier valley that dumps out way up the canyon wall of a huge glacier valley. It’s a cool sight and almost always accompanied by a waterfall.
This evening was DAMN cold. My 40 degree sleeping bag just didn’t cut it. Also, when I went to do my dishes, there were signs posted all around the bathroom stating NO DISH WASHING and NO BATHING. What the Hell? How do they expect campers to make meals? The signs say you’re supposed to pack out your dirty dish water. Also, what the HELL? In what? How are bicyclists and motorcyclists supposed to do that? This site is really aggravating me and I think I’m going to say “screw it” and move out to the KOA tomorrow. I hate spending the extra money, but I’ve definitely come to look forward to the availability of a hot shower. If you’re living in a motorcycle helmet day in and day out for 6 months and you consistently fail to wash your hair in the morning, you end up with an AWFULLY smelly home. I definitely don’t want that.