Day 21 – Aug. 9, 2009 – Hamilton, MT – 18 miles

What breed is this?

White cow with black nose and ears

A stop at Casey's (closed on Sunday) announces Juicy Worms for $2.50 a dozen.

Note the Missoulian news in the background

We loved this.

The note left on the door says, "Took a bag of ice. Be back Sun to pay."

The only problem is they are closed on Sunday!

Interesting Gas Pumps

The sign below informs you that this diesel is only to be used for farm equipment.

We love this marketing concept!

They were selling Moo Poo T-shirts at the Cafe down the road in Corvallis.

Gregory loves to look for license plates on the road. This was in the cafe in Corvallis. Yesterday he found 3 Montana plates within a half hour. They are all different and one is a demo plate. He will ship them to Grammy and Papa to keep for his room.

Gregory has been calculating the tip and paying the bill as part of his math each day. His friends in California start school on the 12th. Here he looks so tall to me!

This is shortly before we got dumped on outside of Hamilton.

Gregory's roadside find of the day

Legos!

Christ Bible Church in Hamilton, Pastor Ed

The bike was stored in the church for the night.

Pastor Ed and wife Carol let us bunk in the basement

where they have held vacation bible school in the past.

Not a good day for Mike. The back of his left knee and down his calf was in real pain with every pedal stroke. We stopped after a few miles and did some stretching, massage and applied some Biofreeze but he was the peg leg man today. His only power came from his right leg pedal stroke and boy did Gregory and I feel the difference. We earned our keep today. Fortunately if was relatively flat, a comfortable 70 degrees and we had the spectacular view of the Bitterroot Mountain Range.

We took a long lunch in Corvallis and met a friendly couple (Penny and Steve) from Colorado Springs headed east on their tandem. We exchanged information and they invited us to look them up in their hometown and also their final destination. It turned out that our waitress at lunch had lived in Red Bluff, CA for several years (where my mom grew up) and just an hour from our last city of residence, Paradise. Again, it is such a small world! I took an antsy Gregory across the street to the school playground while Mike continued to visit with Peggy and Steve and we finally hit the road late in the afternoon.

Gregory’s find of the day was a miniature American flag. We were almost to Hamilton and the flag told us that the wind was in our face. The ominous clouds overhead and the chill in the air told us we were about to get dumped on! And dump it did. We had sprinkles just briefly and when we were just about to enter town it came down in buckets. We stopped and threw on our rain jackets but still got pretty wet in the process. In a few short miles our shorts were pretty wet and Gregory was not a happy camper. His first real experience in the rain and he didn’t like it. We took shelter under the overhang of a defunct service station and no sooner than we got Gregory dried off and in to some warm pants did a young gal pull up and inform us that she knew folks in town that hosted cyclists. She drove off to contact them and I took Gregory across the street to the café for hot chocolate. It helped a little but he kept saying, “My crotch is wet!” (He still had wet bike shorts under his dry leggings.)

Before this gal came back another couple pulled up and it turned out to be Pastor Ed and his wife Carol of the Christ Bible Church. They were also offering a place to say. Our first contact ended up being full for the night so it all worked out and we ended up parking the bike inside the church and having meatloaf, bean salad, and some sweet Flathead cherries with Pastor Ed and Carol this evening! For Mike’s leg, Carol set him up with some “Invisi-Vein” (Varicose Vein Crème by Venus Naturals) and a physician’s sample of Voltaren Gel. She couldn’t remember what ache it was prescribed for but Mike was willing to try anything at this point and applied both and wrapped his leg up tight with an extra wide ACE bandage. We also have a bed for the night and Gregory was thrilled to find buckets of Legos and plenty of Nerf guns to battle his father. Gregory won the “Battle of the Foam” because Mike finally called it quits and he’s passed out on the bed as we speak. He had a rough one.

Day 20 – Aug. 8, 2009 – Stevensville – 41 miles

Tailwind!

Bike path to Florence. Yippie!

Stevensville Creamry Days. Firetrucks!

A flower from my son

Railroad crossing. The road to our host home.

Angel Pony

Barry and Jan say goodbye the following morning.

We finally departed Missoula! It was partially cloudy with a few threatening rain clouds during the day but 70 degrees and really ideal riding conditions. We did have a bit of a headwind but nothing unbearable. We were only just 7 miles into the ride (just across town) when I needed the inevitable morning potty break. We pulled into Wal-Mart and Gregory and I came out with a half-gallon of chocolate milk and a bag of powdered donuts. Mike gave me a lot of grief about this because I’ve been trying to get these two to eat healthy (with not much luck I must add). I’m diabetic (type II controlled by diet and exercise) so must be careful and Gregory is very cavity prone so I’m also very conscious of that. It is hard to say no to ice cream when he is working so hard pumping those pedals. Mike would probably say, “Let it go Mom!” I’m trying but it is hard. Anyhow, I had a yogurt but must admit I sampled the donuts and had a sip of chocolate milk. Oh well, I’m not perfect.

The highlight of Gregory’s morning was that he found three Montana license plates within a half hour! He found two within minutes of one another. They are all different and he wants to ship them back to Grammy and Papa so he can have them to decorate his room when we settle back down. He had me on the lookout for plates all day long because as he puts it, “Daddy won’t stop for me Mom but if you say stop he will.” That is only because Gregory wants to stop about every few minutes or so and when you want to find a license plate everything looks like a license plate!!! I did look up now and then and enjoyed the majestic Bitterroot Mountain Range. We were fortunate to have a bike path most of the day and it paralleled Highway 93 South.

Gregory did pretty well until about mile 30 when we hit Florence and then his slight cold caught up with him. He was tired and wanted to stop. With no camping in sight he and Daddy split a Powerade and we talked him in to 8 more miles to Stevensville. Good thing we did too because along the bike path we met Barry who pulled up along-side us and eventually invited us to stay with him that evening. Barry was training for a triathlon and doing a day ride from Stevensville to Florence and back. We met up with him outside Stevensville and got directions to his house (5 miles the other side of town). When I asked if he’d called his wife to clear it with her he said, “No, we’ll surprise her.” Well, she was great and gave us a warm greeting.

Before we reached the house we stopped in Stevensville to enjoy the festivities of their Stevensville Creamery Picnic including a firefighter water challenge. They raised the buckets on two backhoes, strung a wire between with an empty keg attached and then preceded to use the high-powered water hoses to propel the keg across the wire. First team to the opposing side wins. Gregory planted himself on the step side of the fire truck and enjoyed the spray of the competition.

At Jan and Barry’s house we enjoyed the conversation and had some delicious barbecued chicken, pork and beans and fresh cucumbers from Jan’s amazing garden. She took Gregory and I down to her garden (in her daughter’s yard just down the hill on flatter terrain more suitable for gardening) and I think she was pleased that Gregory was so interested and impressed with her work. He was able to identify most plants (thanks to his grandparents and Mom) and even helped pick a zucchini Jan had overlooked earlier in the day. Jan also introduced us to her daughter’s pony Angel and Gregory was able to feed her carrots and have a ride! He was in his biking tights and rode without a saddle so we had quite a mess of horsehair when he was done. Daddy and Barry took the duck tape to them later though! Again, the many uses of duck tape!

We had the best nights sleep we’ve probably had thus far. The next morning they fixed us a delicious breakfast of eggs, toast and fresh fruit with plenty of coffee. We hated to say goodbye but finally were on the road around 10:30 A.M.

Day 19 Rain! and "Basic Needs" - Missoula, MT

We hoped to head out today but it was pouring rain this morning and there was more rain in the forecast for this afternoon. To top it off Gregory is not feeling well. He has a runny nose and is pretty lethargic. We loaded him up on Dimetapp, put Mentholatum on his chest and bought him some cough drops. He was pretty emotional tonight when we put him to bed. He has really become attached to this place, the people and the pets. Every time we have to say goodbye to new friends it is hard on all of us but especially Gregory. I think he thinks he'd like to live here when we settle down. Only 19 days on the road and Gregory found a new home. We try to explain to him that we are making new friends we will stay in touch with for a lifetime and that we can always visit but this is not comforting to an 8 year old.

I think I forgot to post the picture of Gregory and Gunner together in the twin bed. They slept together all night last night!

Today was truly a day off for me. I crawled into bed and I read a book (an entire book!) while listening to the rain patter against the window. Then, I took a nice long nap. Bliss.

I picked a book off Inky's shelf called "Walkabout" as in a walking journey of six months taken by Australian Aborigine boys to test their manhood. I originally chose it because we may go to Australia in the winter and it looked interesting. In the book two modern school children are stranded in the outback following a plane crash and there they encounter the Aborigine boy. Here is and excerpt that I found especially interesting:

"Brother and sister were products of the highest stratum of mankind's evolution. In them the primitive had long ago been swept aside, been submerged by mechanization, swamped by scientific development, nullified by the standardized pattern of the white man's way of life. They had climbed a long way up the ladder of progress: they had climbed so far, in fact, that they had forgotten how their climb had started. Coddled in babyhood, psychoanalyzed in childhood, nourished on predigested patent foods, provided with continuous push-button entertainment, the basic realities of life were something they'd never had to face.

It was very different with the Aboriginal. He knew what reality was. ... Their lives were unbelievably simple. They had no homes, no crops, no clothes, no possessions. The few things they had, they shared: food and wives, children and laughter, tears and hunger and thirst."

I'm not suggesting that I want to share wives! I guess it struck me because by setting out on this journey we have uncomplicated our lives and gotten back to the basics. We have each other and each day as we soak in our surroundings the only basic needs we must fulfill are food, water and shelter. There is definitely laughter and there are tears. It is an emotional roller coaster some days but in the end it is all worth it. We are all learning lessons and having experiences that will last us a lifetime.

Estimated Miles: (Per our map from Baker City, OR to Missoula, MT and not given any side trips...) 419 miles

Day 18 - Aug. 6, 2009 – Missoula, MT

Gregory woke up to a wet Lab in his face!! Aimee (friend to Danielle who is another one of Inky’s part-time tenants and an on duty wild land firefighter) came by with Danielle’s two dogs. It was a rainy morning and Aimee came in her “topless” jeep thus wet dogs! We had a great chat with her and she was off to her 10-year reunion and dropped off the dogs while informing us about the change in dog sitters. Now there are 4 dogs here and Gregory loves it. Inky’s dog Fiona is a massive Irish wolfhound and just as sweet as can be. Holly (Inky’s mother’s dog) is a little Scotty. Danielle’s dogs are Gunner the loving Labrador and Scratch whom she rescued near the Texas/Mexico border. Gregory and I gave all the dogs a good brushing once the sun came out and it warmed up out on the deck. You’ll see Mike enjoying his morning cuppa Joe while taking in the low clouds nestled in near the mountains.

We did have a little incident with Gunner later in the day. Gregory tried to drop kick a tennis ball for him and instead got a sharp doggie tooth right in his ankle! I thought he'd been bit the way he was wailing. (Mike says he is just like his mom and reacts with drama whether it is a splinter or a broken bone!) Anyhow, you'll see Mike's clever "duck tape" bandage he improvised when he didn't want to dig out the first aid kit! The tape from mending his shoes was more handy.

Mike’s shoes finally arrived around noon. Yeh! The poor FedEx man came through the gate to ring the doorbell and got inundated by all of the dogs. Gregory and Mike raced around the house to the rescue. Mike went into town to pick up the wheels at Hellgate Cyclery (he left them to be trued) and made a trip to the post office and FedEx to return the size 38 shoes. Gregory and I are lying low and enjoying a quiet day at the house. Mike and I did finally get around to seam sealing the tarp that we use to cover the bike and trailer.

I forgot to mention that yesterday Mike and I were working in the garage (he putting on our new tires and tubes and I sweeping and straightening) when Mike needed a wrench. He went into the basement and found a tub of Legos! Gregory loves Legos and has been missing them. I’m sure they belonged to Inky’s son Spencer. They have kept Gregory occupied for a large part of the past two days.

We went to the Iron Horse for dinner and the food was fabulous. Gregory had three “sliders” (mini hamburgers) and this awesome veggie tray. Mike and I sampled the local brew. Mike drank “Moose Drool” (a brown ale) and I had the “Blue Sky Summer Honey” (a blonde ale). I ate the Black and Blue, a sirloin steak topped with this decadent blue cheese sauce with caramelized onions and peas (surprisingly a nice touch). Mike had a barbecued beef sandwich and (my new favorite) it came with sweet potato fries on the side. Delicious!

Day 17 - Aug. 5, 2009 - Missoula, MT

We finally made it to Adventure Cycling headquarters today. We had an opportunity to talk with John Wyrik regarding alternate routes out of Missoula. We are thinking we might want to avoid Chief Joseph Pass. Anyhow, Mike got some useful information. Thanks John! I also talked with Wynonna about settings on blog sites. Gregory finally got his free ice cream and he spent some time drawing a picture of Lewis and Clark while Mom and Dad got the information we needed. We were disappointed that Greg Siple was out of the office and won’t be able to take our black and white portrait on the triple. For whatever reason we didn’t get a portrait in ’94 either. Oh well. Our timing is just off. Bummer. Beth Peterson did snap a shot of us to put up on the wall. We went to Sean Kelly’s A Public House “Where the Gaelic and the Garlic mix!” on a recommendation from the guys at Hellgate Cyclery. As we were headed over there we thought how nice it would be if we could get a hold of our new friends Grant and Sarah (tenants at our host home) and have them join us for dinner. Believe it or not we sat down to eat, looked up, and there were Grant and Sarah. We joined them in their booth and enjoyed some Irish grub together. I ordered pasties (meat, potatoes and veggies baked in a pastry) and it brought back memories of when my mom used to make them for us as kids. It was served with a huge mound of garlic-mashed red potatoes and Guinness gravy. Mike and Grant had to help me finish it all. Gregory quenched his thirst with the virgin strawberry lemonade and Mike had tasty fish and chips. Grant and Sarah leave for Portland tomorrow on a house-hunting trip and we are sad to see them go. They have been so great with Gregory and a pleasure to have around. Afterwards we cruised around town a bit and went by University of Montana Grizzly Stadium. It was impressive.

You Tube Video

The below post was our first attempt at embedding a You Tube video. The float was back on Day 9 when we were in Idaho.

Mike and Greg float the Lochsa.