Day 10 - Stevensville to Missoula - 34 miles

Well, the final day of the trip has come around too quickly!

We're already talking about what the next trip might be. We stopped in at Adventure Cycling Assoc., whose maps we use and who provide information and resources for touring bicyclists. They gave us ice cream and sodas and were very welcoming.

Then we went to our hotel for...

The best showers of our lives, before heading out to find the best beer we've ever had!

And, great Cajun food in the back of CB's bar Missoula...

Driving back to Grass Valley, crack I' dawn tomorrow!

Day 9 - Darby to Stevensville, MT - 37 miles

This is where those longer days of riding we did earlier paid off... We were able to sleep in a little, visit a hand made hat shop and a couple of other places in town, stop for a coffee / tea before heading to Stevensville to visit Judy, a friend Trudy has known since grade school, and her husband Mark.

The ladies had a great time catching up and I enjoyed getting to know Judy while we waited for Mark to get home from work. 

He was running a little late, so we had the best showers of our lives, then met him at a local brewery, where we had the best beer we've ever had!

Judy has a small business baking cookies, scones, lemon bars, and other yummy things that she sells at a local farmers market.

After sleeping in a real bed for the first time in 8 nights, she treated us to some fantastic scones at breakfast in the morning.

We had a really nice stay and hope we'll get to spend more time with Judy and Mark in the future.

Day 7 - Dillon to Wisdom, 66 miles 2800 ft climbing

 There were a couple of long steady climbs today... not steep, maybe 6%... but longish, about 8 miles each and they were pretty high... 7000-7500 ft., so pedaling a loaded bike up them took a bit of time.

After that last summit, we had a very nice roll down into an enormous valley, on our way to Wisdom.

There must be a Chinese proverb about this... Wisdom is always just out of sight.

We were on this road for 15 miles and saw Prong Horn Antelope, Skunk, Osprey and a fox when we reached our campground for the night.

Today, for the first the on this trip, we met other bike tourists: a father and son who were riding part of the Great Divide trail on mountain bikes, a solo woman who had started in Virginia and is headed for the Pacific coast, and a guy who is headed home to Wyoming. Last year, we saw other riders almost every day.

Day 8 - Wisdom to Darby - 58 miles, 2800 ft elevation gain

 Today we stopped by the Big Hole Batteground, where US troops and volunteers launched a surprise attack on the Nez Perz Indians who were already leaving their home lands due to the discovery of gold in the region. Prior treaties were broken as the white guys moved in... Conflicts occurred as a result and the white guys decided to take out the Indians in a pre-dawn attack. The troops killed any Indian they could, but the Indians rallied and the white guys took heavy casualties, too. Ultimately, some of the indians made it to Canada and some surrendered and where sent to reservations on the Southwest.

It wasn't exactly a light way to start the ride for the day, but we met another rider from Santa Barbara area who had been touring for some time and rode with him off and on for the rest of the day. 

We rolled over several passes- Badger,  Big Hole, Chief Joseph and Lost Trail then had wonderful decent for a reward!

7 miles @ 6% followed by a slight downhill or flat ride into Darby - very nice!

We're getting close to the end of the ride,  

with only two 1/2 days left...

We're back on Highway 93 the rest of the way into Missoula, but this far away, the traffic is light. We can use the whole lane to descend, checking our rear view mirrors for traffic.

We stopped for a burger and fries on the way into Darby, so after we set up the tent in a nice RV camp and had the best showers of our lives, we set out to wander around town and find the best beer we've ever had! We found one at a local bar that had lots of character and characters...

We've mostly been doing our own cooking, eating back-packing style... freeze-dried meals, supplemented with things we pick up in the destination town.       We don't carry much extra food with us, just some snacks and a little lunch stuff - we carry a couple of full water bottles and have an extra empty one if it we have a long stretch ahead. 

Day 6 - Three Forks to Dillon 98 miles (including one "slight" detour), 2800 ft up

Well now, strategically, we had to squeeze in a long day because we have some hilly days ahead and with the loaded bikes we didn't want long miles and hilly... No siree, sir! 

We did get off course a bit, so we squeezed in about 7 bonus miles... Ahem! Montana is a pretty big state, so there is a lot to explore. Towns are pretty far apart, so it may take a while to find out you're exploring the wrong part.

The lay of the land has changed...

We got off to an early start because we had so many miles ahead... Rode through cloud of tiny bugs, which stuck to our fresh layer of sun screen... it didn't exactly "give us wings!"

Lots of long flat miles today, into the wind  a lot of the time. Pretty, though!

When we rode through the little town of Twin Bridges, we found out that Trudy (Nye) is running for commissioner... So we did a quick campaign photo.

We made it to Dillon about 5 and were riding through a blocked off street on the way to the campground. A guy flagged me down when he saw my local bike club jersey... his mom lives in Nevada City! 

They were having a fund raiser for a women's organization, with great food, entertainment and friendly folks. We hung out, had a great meal, the best beer we've ever had... then headed to the camp ground where we had the best showers we've ever had.

Day 5 - Helena to Three Forks - 64 miles plus 16 touristing miles...

First of all, the place we're staying is about the opposite of the place we stayed last night... We hit the road at the crack of dawn with the very nearby rumble of a long coal train as a send off. 

It was pretty flat, so we cruised along at

20-24 for some time... We didn't know it but we were being transported by a cafe in Townsend.

Sort of a "biker" place...

After an enjoyable visit at the cafe we were on the road again, cruising toward the Montana Wheat restaurant for awesome sandwiches. Ride to Eat, Eat to Ride.

By the way, this is a truck with a wedge of cheese sign:

That's my sign, baby!

One of the things that's so great about this kind of travel is that almost every time we stop pedaling, someone comes over to visit. We talk about all sorts of things... At lunch we met a  couple who were on their way to Missoula to watch their grand-daughter play soccer. She had a full ride soccer scholarship at the University there. Yesterday, I had a discussion with my "sandwhich artist" about causes and cures for sore butts while bicycling... 

Three Forks, by the way, has nothing to do with how much I eat at the end of a day of riding. Lewis and Clark finally made it to the headwaters of the Missouri River, and what did they find? Three rivers feeding into it - which way do we go now, boss? Major decision. They were hoping to find a waterway all the way to the west coast. Jefferson had just swung the Lousianna Purchase and a waterway trade route coast to coast would be pretty sweet. Beats sailing around the tip of S. America!

Anyway, we stopped in at the Sacajawea Inn and had the best beer we've ever had, then came back to the campground  and had the best showers we've ever had.

Signing off - we have a 90 mile plus ride tomorrow.

Day 4 Hardy to East Helena - 64 miles, 2500 ft of climbing

Quite a mixed riding day today - 1/2 serene beauty, following the banks of the meandering Missouri, the other 1/2 on Interstate 15.

Two flats for me today. One, a faulty valve stem - my third this year. Number two was a "wire snake" - a remnant of a disintegrating steel belted tire, lurking along the freeway shoulder, waiting for the hapless bicycle tourist. In all this vast, baking openness, it happened as we went under an underpass! Then, as we rode up the longest, steepest climb of the day, clouds rolled in with just enough rain to keep us cool.

We skirted around Helena, avoiding the downtown and headed to East Helena where there was an "RV Park" with showers and laundry. Turns out most of the "visitors" trailers have their wheels off,  there are abandoned cars and motorcycles and a note on the laundry room door from the ticked off landlord...

But wait, there's more!

We have:

An active railroad across the highway

We are on the incoming flight path for the airport.

2 sheriffs cars have come in since we arrived...

All the cars that have left here need new mufflers...

Travel broadens one's horizons, eh?

Trudy just found her ear plugs.

Day 3 - Simms to Hardy, 67 miles... 1200 ft elevation gain, a nice easy day!

Today, we left the roads we'd travelled last year, heading southwest toward the Missouri River. This is an area where the Corps of Discovery split up to explore different areas, then regrouped again later. We skipped it last year because we didn't have time. We spent the past two days traveling roads we were on last year, although our stopping points are different.

Today was pretty flat, so we made pretty good time and had a pretty easy day.

Of course it didn't hurt that they rebuilt a highway for us..

Nice folks around here!

It turned out that the flag woman for this stretch of road was the ex wife of the RV park owner where we stayed last night... Hmmm, small state?

At Great Falls we started our new maps... This is our first view of the Missouri River.

Or,

Or,

Soon, the terrain changed dramatically...

Tonight, we're staying at a fishing, rafting, outdoor sports place with showers, laundry and a store... Very nice owners...

They let us stay for free!

As we were checking our maps, a rain storm came through. We were sitting at a picnic table in a sheltered area, so getting wet  wasn't a problem... Good thing! The rain came straight down at first, then it blew horizontally one direction, then from the other direction.

Hmmm? So, we set the tent up under the shelter...

As I'm writing this, there's a deer grazing ten yards away. Earlier, a couple of young bucks were practicing sparring.

Day 2 - Deer-ie me! Lincoln to Sims, MT 56 miles, 11.3 mph ave. 2500 ft elev. gain

Our deer friend wandered over this morning to see if we had anything for her breakfast, accompanied by three handsome bucks who will probably end up in a stew if they don't wise up by hunting season.

Today's ride included riding over Rogers Pass, the Continental Divide, so we planned for fewer miles.

Not too far out of town we ran into a bit of a slow down, a construction / obstruction... For 5 miles.

Skinny tire bikes, gravel, traffic and pilot cars make for interesting navigation. Slow and steady.

We made it to the top of Roger's Pass before the heat of the day, in perfect weather.

The descent was fantastic! Last year it started raining just as we reached the summit, so we were riding in driving rain and wind. It's so much better with dry, clean pavement! With a 70 pound loaded bike, I think the fastest I went was about 35... all the luggage probably creats a lot of wind resistance.

After the pass, we started the rolling hills and heat... We can tell when it's going to be a steep climb because there's a passing lane ahead sign. If it's a steep downhill, there's a truck with a wedge of cheese sign... Pretty tiring, going up and down hills... So, I decided to establish my new work cubicle...

Nice, huh? Sunny, airy...

We made it to Simms about 3. And found the only camping is in an RV park behind the gas station / convienence store - no showers, and the store hours (rest rooms) are from 7-6. Not many bushes around, either...

But, the Sun River is just down the road...

So, off we went for a swim / bath and to rinse out our riding clothes of the day.

Day 1 (and getting there... Grass Valley to Missoula - arrrgh!) Missoula to Lincoln, MT - 80 miles, 1700 ft. Elevation gain, ave speed 12.8...

OMG! First our feet, then our legs, then our asses went numb driving to Missoula!  18 hours... Total. We switched driving every time a body part went numb and forged on, finishing the drive after midnight, collapsing as soon as we had a horizontal surface to fall on.

We were up at 7 to put the bikes together, repack a bit, and were on the road by 9. 

The continental breakfast at the hotel turned out to be weak coffee and a muffin, so the start of our journey was from a grocery store parking lot...

Soon we were headed into the wildness of Montana...

We rode along the meandering Blackfoot River... So beautiful!

I took Trudy out for a romantic lunch along the way - it was a surprise! The service was good, but the food was so, so...

So, I took her out for a drink...

It was a pretty quiet place...

So, we kept riding... It was only 95 degrees... Talk about a hot honeymoon!

I guess she wasn't that impressed 'cause she took up with this frontier guy...

It didn't last - the guy was a block head.

So we pedaled on to Lincoln, and found a camping spot in town... Must be where the Montana wildlife comes for vacation...

oh deer!

Only 10 hours of driving left to Missoula!

We started a little before 7 this morning - Trudy's driving, so I can brush up on one finger typing...

We made a "fuel stop" in Truckee...

A great place, if you're in the neighborhood!

Our wedding celebration was wonderful, with so many family and friends - the time went so quickly!

Our entrance...

I DO! Do you?

We do... did!

Many, many thanks to all the people that made our day so wonderful: especially St. John's United Methodist Church, which provided a place and many, many hands, logistical support, love and friendship; Grace Johnson, our our officiant; Santa Rosa Cycling Club for getting us started on this journey and all our family and friends for everything they do... Far beyond words!