What a day! No one would believe this experience.  We climbed to Paradise lodge at a little over 5400 feet.  It was "only" a 2500 foot change in elevation but the road was rough in patches, gravel in others and it took us about three hours to cover the 10 miles.  After lunch, I got on my bike, took one pedal and my front fender broke off and jammed the spokes.  Naturally, I fell over and the crowd all wanted to know if I was all right.  Other than my embarrassment and a few scratches, all was fine.  Then Howard and I had a fast downhill ride followed by an exasperating four mile climb.  As we reached  the Eastern entrance to the park, we realized that we would never make it to our chosen campsite.  We rode on and then Howard flagged down a couple in a pick up truck.  They were backpackers from Oregon.  Lloyd and Andrea gave us about an eighteen mile ride to Chinook Pass.  After another fast 7 mile downhill, we arrived at Lodgepole campground.  There were no spots available but the campground hosts, Marge and Vernon let us set up our tents behind their RV for free and even let us use their comfortable chairs.  So now we're back on track. 

It just keeps gettin better.  Vernon and his wife made us rum and cokes and then came over and gave us two Mountain House freeze dried dinners, sweet and sour pork and chicken teriyaki.