Day 13

Yesterday a storm came through town toppling trees onto vehicles and generally creating havoc with tents etc. We saw nothing of this except for the cleanup operation. We got our turn at midnight, first with a magnificent lightening display, followed by horrific winds that flattened our tents and finally the rain. Flooded tent, wet sleeping bag and clothes – not a good night at all. We got a break in the rain about midday so shot through. Many trees down in the forests but the forest service had cleared then by the time we got to go through. At one point the road was closed but we noticed a track between the boulders so squeezed our bikes through and followed a bit of single track to a broken bridge. We clearly were not the only bikes to have got through. Tonight we are in a delightful lakeside camp at Bigfork. It's a Queenstown style town. The camp is completely full – something we have not encountered before. Most places are reporting slow demand this year.

Wild life seen today: turtle, rabbits, squirrel and a black bear.

My bikes needs some maintenance: loose head bearings and a rear wheel bearing that needs repacking with grease.