• We saw a Bald Eagle, a Black Bear, a harmless Snake, plenty of Turkey and plenty of Deer.
• We saw Sockeye Salmon Running on the Tobacco River (RED Fish, no pictures).
• We had no flat tires (kudos to Schwalbe Marathon Tour Plus tires).
• Water, Food Sources, and Camping Locations were plentiful (given plenty of streams, popular area recreational services and stores, and open camping on federal and state lands).
• Transport Logistics: Dennis drove our vehicle to Montana from Colorado (2 days, each way). We carried the tandem tour bicycle on the vehicle trailer. Terry, who was still working and managing vacation days, flew into Glacier International Airport (NOT to be confused with the Kalispell Airport) in order to save 2 vacation/travel days. Additionally, Chad C from Runner Up Sports, Whitefish, Montana, ferried us to the Roosville Border Station; dropped us off to conduct the tour; and then he relocated our vehicle for a later Pick-Up by us. If a person ever gets a chance to drop into his store in Whitefish, Montana, it will probably be worth a visit. Chad is very in touch with local area events and the area's general outdoor environment - Thank You, Chad!
• The Big Yellow Bag Experiment (One Time): The use of the big yellow water proof bag was an experiment - We had ISSUES:
1. The Yellow bag was too big, but it was waterproof and it was free.
2. The Plastic Nylon Cam Lock Broke on one of the two nylon straps after Chad departed with the transport vehicle. There were spare straps in the transport vehicle.
3. With only one strap, we had to tie the bag onto the rear rack longitudinally or it would rock sideways if tied perpendicular to the rear rack. It looked like a big rear drive Engine from Star Trek but it handled quite well.
• Weather Strategy (that worked): sleep late (cold mornings), ride late (nice evening temperatures).
• Weather: 3 good riding days; then 1 miserable cold, rainy, windy day in which we sat out in a motel in Columbia Falls; followed by 2 good riding days.
• BEAR SCARE (nothing happened): On Day 2, while riding down a bumpy forest road on a fully loaded tandem (about ~15mph/24kph), we scared a BLACK BEAR to our left side in a meadow. The bear lifted it head to look at us, Terry said "BEAR" and the bear's head turn movement caught my attention, it was only 5 yards/meters away. The bear then turned to face downhill (its escape route was the same exact direction that we were traveling). Then the bear started running downhill on an intersecting path. THE BEAR AND US WERE ON A COLLISION COURSE, the bear then accelerated faster than us (double our speed). DO Understand This: THE BEAR OUTRAN US in less than a second of time, the implication was not missed by us. The bear was a full grown Black Bear boar (I don't actually know the sex; it was a big bear, bigger than female bears). Meanwhile, I slammed on the brakes to keep from running into the bear, we quickly came to a complete stop, and I immediately grabbed the camera. The Bear was running away (downhill) on the same dirt road that we were on. In the few seconds time that the camera became operable, the Bear had turned to its right and it disappeared into the brush (running straight down slope). We have No Bear Pictures from that event, the posted Bear picture is from the Internet and it comes close to what we saw.
• Act of Kindness: On Night 1, we were setting up camp at sun-down, in a no-charge National Forest Campground (no water but next to a creek). There was one other couple in the campground and they had the only bear vault and creek access in the campground area. We introduced ourselves and asked permission to share the food storage vault (bear proof safe) and then we proceeded to operate our water filter in the creek. Their names were Tim and Tammy and they gave us a two (2x) gallon plastic water bottles. That gift was very timely and helpful; it saved us a lot of filter pumping time. Thank You Tim and Tammy (Kayakers).
• Cougar Sighting (Day 6, near the Cedar Creek Camp Area): During the final hour of the final day, when we first came over a rise, I saw a Cougar sauntering diagonally across the road bottom, walking a right to left diagonal, it stopped in the grassy center and turned its head backwards to look directly at us on the hill crest, and then it casually sauntered left toward the uphill slope and it walked off the road into a thicket. It took me a few seconds to realize what I'd just seen, the cat seemed extraordinarily skinny but it was full grown, I had never seen a Mountain Lion in the wild before. All of this happened with me blocking Terry's view, she never saw the Cat. I took a picture but the Cougar was long gone.

Day 1 - Roosville Border Station (USA/Canada Ports of Entry)
to Tuchuck Campground (Flathead National Forest)

Above: Mile 0.0 of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (GDMBR). We (Dennis and Terry Struck) are precisely on the USA-Canada Border. The Big Yellow Bag Story

Above Left: Welcome to the United States of America (Roosville, Montana sign in the background; Sept, 2014).

Above Right: Welcome to Montana (Roosville, MT; Sept, 2014). We saw a Bald Eagle flying overhead, what a symbolic start to a bicycle tour. [MT = Montana]

Above Left: We're on Roosville's Airport Road heading west on the GDMBR; the field with the harvesting is in Canada, we're looking from Montana, USA. .

Above Right: Huge Eagle's Nest (the large clump of sticks affixed to the top of the telephone/electrical pole in the center of the image). For perspective, that nest is about 2 yards/meters around/wide and about 1 yard/meter deep and it probably weighs 1/2 ton.

Above Left: The view ahead, we won't hit dirt until about mile 30.

Above Right: Interesting Mail Box, southbound on the GDMBR, Montana.

Above Left: South bound on Airport Road (from/to Eureka) - It was a GLORIOUS DAY!

Above Right: Hurst Ranch, Montana. This is a pro-typical archway entrance to large ranch or land properties of northern Montana; they have a curved tree trunk arch at the top supported by two straight timbers. In this case, with an obvious reference to the lumber industry (cutting disks on the left and right support posts) the mount device that holds the top arch down are saw blade drive chains. Obviously this family was into the saw mill and lumber industries. This is the fanciest entry way that we saw in northern Montana (and it may be the design original). Note three signs in the shape of the State of Montana. I do not know if this family is related to the newspaper Hurst's of California fame, but making paper from trees would be a suggestive link.

Above Left: If the COWS are loose, PLEASE CALL ...

Above Right: If the Stoker is Happy ...

Above Left: We have intersected Hwy 93 north of Eureka, but first we will drop into Subway for a lunch sandwich.

Above Right: Terry and the Bee at the Eureka, MT, Subway.

Above Left: The official Welcome to Eureka Sign with two Bears named Griz and Pokey.

Above Right: Old building in the Eureka Homestead Town Park.

Above Left: The Tobacco River. There is actually a Sockeye Salmon run happening but at the moment no red fish are visible in the picture, we could actually see about 25 Red Salmon with our eyes in this same view.

Above Right: The view as we cycled out of Eureka, MT; some yellowing is noticeable in the foliage.

Above Left: We saw our First Deer at about mile 12. The deer have longer tails than our deer; the tails are like fluffy white Fox tails.

Above Right: Looking SE on the GDMBR.

Above Left: Riding in the woods.

Above Right: Looking west from Hwy 93 up Graves Road. We are at about GDMBR Mile 20 and all we have to do is climb 2500' to Whitefish Pass.

Above Left: A guest came to visit and rode with us for about 5 minutes.

Above Right: Snack time, Terry and the Bee (GDMBR, MT).

Above Left: Cockpit Dashboard.

Above Right: "Location of the old Kootenai Indian Trail to the Eastern Plains".

Above Left: The view ahead (cycling eastward of the GDMBR, MT).

Above Right: Right Turn coming up (NF 114). This will be the last of the paved road. Water is available in many stream runoffs. We can camp anywhere BUT the campground has Bear Proof Food Vaults for overnight food storage and for our safety - We are in Grizzly Bear and Black Bear Country.

Above: We take a road-side break in a pretty little area with a foot bridge and a stream.

Above Left: The Bee takes a break.

Above Left: This is where we turn right to move up and over Whitefish Pass (NF 114). The Pass is about 4 miles away, our destination campground is about 8 miles away, and the Flathead River is about 17 miles away. We will see the Flathead River tomorrow.

TACTICAL DECISION: How much water does one carry over a pass? One wants to carry the least amount of weight (water), yet arrive with a little water. We have 1.5 bottles. We are crossing what could be the last stream. We DECIDED fill up four water bottles (using our water filter and chlorine-dioxide).

Above Right: We are climbing on NF 114 to Whitefish Pass on the GDMBR, Montana.

Above Left: New Plant to us, name unknown.

Above Right: Whitefish Pass, MT (GDMBR, looking east, ~5,200'/1580m, unmarked). We met two guys there, each with their own vehicle and three dogs total. They were collecting raspberries. We chatted for a while, I didn't ask but they had the mannerisms of self isolated war veterans, living off the land. They were the same age as me, so probably Nam Vets. They actually seemed well adjusted to their nomadic life style. We parted with good wishes and good feelings.

Above Left: Starting to get long shadows from the setting sun.

Above Right: We're in the mountain shadow of the setting sun.

Above Left: We made it to camp a little after the sun set, we have about 30 minutes until night fall. There is no fee as it has No Water (it does have a creek) and it has NF Outhouses with Toilet paper - Life is good. It was a good Day!

Above Right: Grizzly Bear Proof Food Storage Vault. We used this to store our food. We had no animal visitors of any kind. There are only 2 of these for the entire campground and when times are busy the vaults must be shared.

ACT of KINDNESS: During the time of our initial Camp Setup we looked for a water source (only a creek, no water faucets and no water pumps in camp). We ended up at a camp site with the only other campers in the entire campground. They were camping in the only spot that had nearby access to the creek and they happened to have what we thought at the time was the only Bear Proof Food Safe/Vault. Their names were Tim and Tammy. We introduced ourselves and asked if they minded if we got water from the creek by way of their camp site. They did not mind at all and they said that was why they were camping in that spot. We went to the creek and pump-filtered about 2.5 gallons of water (10L) into our roll-up water bladder. Terry and I discussed that we would have to come back a fill up our water bottles too (9 x 1L water bottles). It was going to take another 20-30 minutes to perform this task. The sun was setting and time was precious. Then unexpectedly Tammy presented us with a 2 gallon plastic bottle of water. We thanked Tammy and Tim for the water. We also got permission to use 1/2 of the food safe for our food storage, they did not mind at all. THANK YOU TIM and TAMMY!

Above: How the Bear Proof Vault works, slip the hand under the cover but what is inside is a pivot lever and not a handle or latch. Notice the door flag on the other door?