Day 16
June 17, 2005
Montana! It sure felt good to get here. The day started out a little rough, but we made it.
The knee is always a little tight in the morning. I’ve been talking morning walks before getting on the bike to loosen it up, but even then it takes a good 2-4 miles to warm up before the pain decides to let go. Today it took every bit of 4 miles. When I got on the bike, it took all I had just to get the leg up and over the stroke. But with a little persistence and patience, it came around. Another thing that took a little time getting on the road was the flat tire I found on my front wheel. When I took it apart to change it out, there was no hole; no air was coming through. I really didn’t want to think anyone would let the air out of my tire, but that’s what seemed to have happened. So I put the tube and tire back on and headed up the road to wake up my knee.
The ride up Lolo Pass wasn’t nearly as tough as I was anticipating. It was a pretty gradual climb with a little incline in the last few miles. I wouldn’t say this too loudly, but I think I’m starting to get a handle on the mental game of the climbs over the passes. I told Amy at breakfast how I was tempted to ask the server how bad the ride up and over was, but also how frivolous the query would be. There’s no use in asking the locals how bad a hill is. You’re going to go over it no matter what the response, and in most cases the response is something like, “Whew, it’s steep in a car, I couldn’t imagine going up on a bike…good luck.” So there’s really only one way to do it, just do it. And after Lolo, I think I’ve had a pretty good run of passes to look back to and remember for the ones to come, “It can’t be as bad as McKenzie, you can do this…”
So we got to the top of Lolo and the Montana state line and threw a little, very little, party. We rode off the pass into the Lolo Hot Springs and were very let down; I was at least. I was expecting multiple open natural pools of steaming hot water with which to soak and relax the joints again. What we found was a public pool filled with warm water from the ground below. We asked one lady if that was it and she said, “Yep, that’s it. It’s kinda smelly.” Not exactly the spa treatment I was looking forward to. However, for a small fee you can camp out in one of their, very well painted, wooden TeePees.
As we got back on the road my stomach was in desperate need of nourishment. I hadn’t had anything since breakfast and it was past 1. Luckily, there was a super-sized gas station with an array of sandwiches three miles outside of Lolo, sandwiches and Jo-jo’s. I first encountered Jo-jo’s in Redmond, OR at the little deli supermarket. They’re fried potato wedges, pretty tasty. But I was surprised to see them again, I should have asked why “Jo-jo.” Seems like a weird random name, I thought it was a special thing with that one little market. Anyway, we stopped in for a nice boost, and headed to Missoula.
I like what I’ve seen of Missoula so far. The sweet grandmother, at the Ranger’s station the day before, told us to enjoy our time in Missoula, but be sure to keep going. They live in Missoula, and evidently it’s really growing and the locals aren’t too excited by that. But it seems like a cute little town. We got in and found a nice little hotel to crash in for a few days, showered, and headed out for dinner.
As we were checking in and getting situated outside of the hotel, two men, noticing our bikes, came out to chat. They are three guys in their late fifties and early sixties touring around at a nice leisurely pace. They said their wives gave them 30 days to go as far east as they could, very nice guys. They were talking to the girls when I came out of the hotel office to join the conversation. I introduced myself and told them I was on the tandem and got another great, “We’ve heard about you!” The man knew the whole story. They couldn’t nail down who had told them, but they knew the whole deal. It was pretty great.
Today I’m going to try to tap into the media here in Missoula, they’re a bit of a cycling community and hopefully I’ll be able to pick up a little exposure. I’m also headed to the Adventure Cycling office to pick up a package from home and register the trip, as well as a stop by Kinko’s. I wanted to make up a little something to leave with people so they’d have a little reminder to check out the website, and today’s the day to do that.
I also saw “Brian” from the great day of the last journal entry signed the guestbook and let me know his name is actually Chris. So Chris, Thank you for checking out the site! It’s so nice to hear of people taking an interest and looking it up after talking with them. Thanks for the nice note and enjoy the rest of your trip!
That’s about it for now. My knee's feeling good this morning, and I know it'll enjoy the day off the bike. It’s overcast and drizzling today in Missoula, but it shouldn’t hamper the ability to enjoy the day off and get a few of those errands knocked out. I’ll update the day’s events tonight and let you know how it went.
From Missoula, Montana: Talk to you later…
Day 16: 60.48 Total: 871.28
Montana! It sure felt good to get here. The day started out a little rough, but we made it.
The knee is always a little tight in the morning. I’ve been talking morning walks before getting on the bike to loosen it up, but even then it takes a good 2-4 miles to warm up before the pain decides to let go. Today it took every bit of 4 miles. When I got on the bike, it took all I had just to get the leg up and over the stroke. But with a little persistence and patience, it came around. Another thing that took a little time getting on the road was the flat tire I found on my front wheel. When I took it apart to change it out, there was no hole; no air was coming through. I really didn’t want to think anyone would let the air out of my tire, but that’s what seemed to have happened. So I put the tube and tire back on and headed up the road to wake up my knee.
The ride up Lolo Pass wasn’t nearly as tough as I was anticipating. It was a pretty gradual climb with a little incline in the last few miles. I wouldn’t say this too loudly, but I think I’m starting to get a handle on the mental game of the climbs over the passes. I told Amy at breakfast how I was tempted to ask the server how bad the ride up and over was, but also how frivolous the query would be. There’s no use in asking the locals how bad a hill is. You’re going to go over it no matter what the response, and in most cases the response is something like, “Whew, it’s steep in a car, I couldn’t imagine going up on a bike…good luck.” So there’s really only one way to do it, just do it. And after Lolo, I think I’ve had a pretty good run of passes to look back to and remember for the ones to come, “It can’t be as bad as McKenzie, you can do this…”
So we got to the top of Lolo and the Montana state line and threw a little, very little, party. We rode off the pass into the Lolo Hot Springs and were very let down; I was at least. I was expecting multiple open natural pools of steaming hot water with which to soak and relax the joints again. What we found was a public pool filled with warm water from the ground below. We asked one lady if that was it and she said, “Yep, that’s it. It’s kinda smelly.” Not exactly the spa treatment I was looking forward to. However, for a small fee you can camp out in one of their, very well painted, wooden TeePees.
As we got back on the road my stomach was in desperate need of nourishment. I hadn’t had anything since breakfast and it was past 1. Luckily, there was a super-sized gas station with an array of sandwiches three miles outside of Lolo, sandwiches and Jo-jo’s. I first encountered Jo-jo’s in Redmond, OR at the little deli supermarket. They’re fried potato wedges, pretty tasty. But I was surprised to see them again, I should have asked why “Jo-jo.” Seems like a weird random name, I thought it was a special thing with that one little market. Anyway, we stopped in for a nice boost, and headed to Missoula.
I like what I’ve seen of Missoula so far. The sweet grandmother, at the Ranger’s station the day before, told us to enjoy our time in Missoula, but be sure to keep going. They live in Missoula, and evidently it’s really growing and the locals aren’t too excited by that. But it seems like a cute little town. We got in and found a nice little hotel to crash in for a few days, showered, and headed out for dinner.
As we were checking in and getting situated outside of the hotel, two men, noticing our bikes, came out to chat. They are three guys in their late fifties and early sixties touring around at a nice leisurely pace. They said their wives gave them 30 days to go as far east as they could, very nice guys. They were talking to the girls when I came out of the hotel office to join the conversation. I introduced myself and told them I was on the tandem and got another great, “We’ve heard about you!” The man knew the whole story. They couldn’t nail down who had told them, but they knew the whole deal. It was pretty great.
Today I’m going to try to tap into the media here in Missoula, they’re a bit of a cycling community and hopefully I’ll be able to pick up a little exposure. I’m also headed to the Adventure Cycling office to pick up a package from home and register the trip, as well as a stop by Kinko’s. I wanted to make up a little something to leave with people so they’d have a little reminder to check out the website, and today’s the day to do that.
I also saw “Brian” from the great day of the last journal entry signed the guestbook and let me know his name is actually Chris. So Chris, Thank you for checking out the site! It’s so nice to hear of people taking an interest and looking it up after talking with them. Thanks for the nice note and enjoy the rest of your trip!
That’s about it for now. My knee's feeling good this morning, and I know it'll enjoy the day off the bike. It’s overcast and drizzling today in Missoula, but it shouldn’t hamper the ability to enjoy the day off and get a few of those errands knocked out. I’ll update the day’s events tonight and let you know how it went.
From Missoula, Montana: Talk to you later…
Day 16: 60.48 Total: 871.28
posted by SuperByron3000 at 6/17/2005
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