A surprise snow storm caught us unawares in Montana.
This is a newsletter from Family on Bikes. The family of four is currently cycling the Pan American Highway from Alaska to Argentina as the 11-year-old twin boys attempt to break the world record as the youngest cyclists to bike the entire Pan Am. See a slide show of cycling this area here.
October 17, 2008
Bumps in the road – that’s an apt title for this chapter of our journey.
When I last wrote we were in Kalispell, Montana after having just crossed into the USA and coming through Glacier National Park. All was well, and we had only the faintest idea of the issues that would present themselves in the next few weeks.
As we crossed over Logan Pass in Glacier, John was experiencing difficulties with his front rim, and we could only pray he would make it to Missoula. Between Logan and Missoula, however, his rear rim started to go in the same manner and it was downright frightening to limp into a big city with no brakes on the tandem at all. Fortunately, all went well.
The good news was that the manufacturer of the rims informed us that they had a defective batch of rims go through – it was no fault of ours at all. They overnighted new rims out and arranged for a bike store to rebuild the wheels. The bad news is that they didn’t have any good rims in stock. We put on more defective rims, with the hope that they would get us down to Albuquerque – where the manufacturer would arrange, once again, to have them rebuilt.
And now, a mere 900 miles away, the rims are failing already. We’re making a desperate attempt to reach Moab 130 miles away where the manufacturer will have a new set of specially reinforced rims waiting for us. All we can do at this point is hope and pray we make it before John’s wheels fall apart.
Another bump in the road was our computer crashing. John managed to figure out what happened, and it appears to work OK, but apparently the issue is far from resolved. We never know from one day to the next if it will turn on. Therefore, we bought a new computer – which wasn’t a problem at all. But getting the software for it was.
At the same time the computer bit the dust, Davy did the same – took a nose dive into the dirt while running full force through the forest at night with no flashlight and with his sunglasses on. He broke his glasses. They happened to be under warranty, but we had to present the glasses to the store in Boise for them to be replaced.
And at the same time – John’s driver’s license expired.
It was becoming more and more obvious that a trip to Boise would be the easiest way to deal with it all.
We rented a car and drove seven hours to Boise where we stayed for two days seeing friends and family and running errands. Then we pulled an all-nighter to get the car back to the rental agency in Jackson, Wyoming. It seemed crazy at the time, and I will admit it still seems a bit crazy, but I do think it was the easiest way to deal with those particular bumps.
Our next bump came in the way of a major snow storm scheduled to pass through the area. Fortunately, a friend of ours works at a hotel in Pinedale, Wyoming, and was able to arrange for them to sponsor us with a stay as long as we needed – so we could hole up and wait out the storm.
We hit the road the day after the storm passed, and dealt with bitter cold for a few days until the cold snap passed. We’re hopeful we’ve now escaped the worst of the winter weather – we’ve crossed all the mountain passes we’ll cross for a while, anyway.
But all is not lost, however. We’ve had a wonderful month, despite the bumps. We’ve met wonderful people, cycled through Yellowstone and the Tetons, seen the most amazing fall colors ever, and had a blast being together as a family. As someone put it (wish I could remember who that wise person was): “At least your kids are learning how to deal with problems.” Yeah – I guess they are.
Thanks again for being part of our journey!
Nancy, John, Davy, Daryl
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Read our other newsletters here:
Ready for takeoff: June 6, 2008
Dalton Highway in Alaska: June 28, 2008
Alaska Highway: August 3, 2008
Crossing into mainland USA: September 10, 2008
In Montana, Wyoming, and Utah: October 17, 2008
Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico: November 19, 2008
Northern Mexico: January 25, 2009
Yucatan Peninsula: March 14, 2009
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