UConn Coast to Coast Bike Trip 2018

Hello, Today is day twenty six and we are ready to rest here in Glendive, Montana. In just a day's time we will arrive in North Dakota, having finished the journey through our longest state. The past few days have been, hot, windy, and long. We have woken up early and stayed up late biking and planning our trip. However, we have seen a lot of kindness along the way. While in Nashua, we met a member of the Lion's Club who helped build the shelter we stayed in that night. Then, upon arriving to Glendive we met a fellow cyclist willing to give us a place to stay, showers, laundry, and amazing coffee. They were so nice and we snuggled with their puppy. Now, we are off to wash our sleeping bags, stop by the camping store, admire the dinosaur museum, and explore Makoshika State Park, Montana's largest. Hopefully, we can grab some ice cream too. Christine

Hello Family and Friends! We made it to Dickinson, North Dakota yesterday. Mileage wise we are approaching our halfway point and hope to be home the first week of August!  Montana was great, highlighted by Glacier National Park (most of the pics below). We have gotten used to high mileage back to back 100 mile days. Our greatest challenge now is rain and strong head winds. The terrain has changed drastically from the mountains of Glacier to the great plains of middle Montana and to the badlands of Eastern Montana. Montana is known as "Big Sky" country,  at points it seemed like you could see 100 miles in all directions without seeing a single tree or mountain. I will never say that Farmington, CT is boring ever again after traveling through Montana. To put some perspective the population of Montana is 1 million, the population of CT is 3.6 million yet by square miles 25 CTs could fit into the state of Montana. More people (3 million) visit Glacier National Park in Montana...

Hello, Today is Day 21 and our journey has led us to Havre, Montana. We've just stayed with a lovely couple for the Fourth of July and were given the treat of clean laundry, hot showers, and a warm, dry place to sleep. Having had cold rainy weather for the past few days, this was truly a blessing. Glacier was absolutely beautiful. We conquered Going-to-the-Sun Road by exactly 11, when bike traffic is no longer allowed. It was amazing being 6,646 feet up. The next day we hiked to Bering, St. Mary's, and Victoria Falls. The view of St. Mary's lake along the way was breathtaking. After leaving Glacier we are now tackling the great plains. We will keep you all updated. Christine

Hi again, The past four days have been a memorable part of our journey. We went from Troy to Libby, MT and saw Kootenai Falls and the Swinging bridge on our way. Later on, we stayed at the most beautiful campsite I have ever seen by Lake Koocanusa. The next day, we had a short ride to Eureka where we had homemade pizza and bread with our lovely hosts. They even woke up at 6am to make sure we had some coffee and breakfast for the road, and made sure we were prepared for the climb in Glaicer National Park. We were also advised to pack some bear spray, just in case! Yesterday we were finally off to Glacier National Park. On the way, a lady saw our bike group on the side of the road and gave us some delicious chocolate chip huckleberry cookies. Unfortunately, that day I was having trouble with my gears and with the rain and narrow shoulder I took a spill, but luckily the woman driving behind us was a traffic controller, so she directed traffic while we put ourselves back together a...

Hello all, Today marks the end of day 12! In the past two days we have reached Sandpoint, Idaho and Troy, Montana. In Idaho we had a lovely time enjoying both the mountains and the beach. We were able to have a nice stroll around town and generally recuperate from the past 10 days of riding. Our hosts taught us Rummikub and we cuddled with the adorable pup. We were also treated to many a delicious breakfast :).  Luckily for us, our generous host even went 10 miles out of her way, tracked us down, and was able to return our forgotten belongings! Today we crossed into Montana and the sights were absolutely breathtaking, with green mountains and snow caps along deep blue lakes. However, when we reached our campsite we realized it wasn't available for the night. By a stroke of luck, we were able to find a friendly neighbor at the last minute who rents cabins to let us tent in her yard, take warm showers, and have a fire. We've been genuinely overwhelmed by the generosity w...