July 9, 2023
Day 67 - July 9 - Missoula, MT Wait Day
Waiting Not Resting. OK, We’re Resting, Too. 😬
Ed’s Story
Woke up at 6:00 to use the facilities and decided it was too early to get up so I went back to bed. This time I actually stayed in bed till 7 o’clock.
John researched breakfast places and we ended up going to the Catalyst. I actually had a cappuccino with soy milk. Very tasty. I then had a huge vegan burrito for breakfast.
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We left breakfast and headed to see the Adventure Cycling headquarters. It is only 3-4 blocks from our hotel so will visit tomorrow.
When we got back to the hotel, we complained to the manager about the lights in the bedroom. It turns out they did have the light bulbs we needed. To keep us happy they gave us a 15% discount for each night we were here which saved us $45. Additionally, the general manager came down and replaced all four fluorescent bulbs himself. Let there be light.
Back to the hotel where I did bike maintenance and dried out my tent parts. We stuck around for a while then headed out. We went to a bike shop and runners shop looking for knee covers to protect my legs. No luck.
From the two stores, we headed to the grocery store for needed supplies. Back at the hotel we found that neither of our room key cards worked. Fixed that.
We headed to the Bayern Brewery for a beer and pretzel w/mustard. Very tasty.
Back to the hotel where we lazed around, napped, watch Netflix, and washed clothes. Then on to the Conflux Brewery for a before dinner beer.
We ended up going to Ciao Mambo, an Italian restaurant, for dinner, most likely eggplant parmigiana. It’s a pricey restaurant, but you know what they say, if you don’t spend it, you gotta give it to the kids.
After dinner it was back to the hotel to finish packing and then bed. Need to go to Adventure Cycling in the AM before we head out in the morning.
Tomorrow’s ride is 57 miles. We climb Lobo Pass and head into Idaho and Pacific time. We are on the end run…900 miles and 19 days (17 biking and 2 rest days.)
So until tomorrow, happy biking!
John’s Story
Yes, resting while we wait. The spiritual (not in a religious sense) high point of our journey is a visit to Adventure Cycling Association HQ here in Missoula. I used their maps (for the most part) to plot our route across the country. They are probably the largest and best known not-for-profit organization in the nation promoting bicycle tourism. We plan to be there when they open their doors tomorrow morning at 8:00 AM to have our picture posted on the wall, get fed some ice cream or other snack, get a tour, and possibly have a chance to have our story and picture published in their magazine.
Normally we would be hitting the road at about 7:00 AM, which in summertime (which we have found in full bloom here) would give us a jump on the day’s heat. Today’s high in Missoula is forecast to be 94 degrees, and not quite so hot tomorrow. This little sidebar will delay us a couple hours, but even if we don’t start riding until 9:00 we shouldn’t get roasted too badly. By noon it will be only 80 degrees in Missoula, but by then we should be about 30 miles down the road and 2,000’ higher, where the temps may be in the low 70s. We descend quite a bit to Powell Campground for tomorrow, night, but even there the temperature will top out at about 80. Whew!
Missoula is a great place if you’re on a bicycle. It is one of the most bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly cities in the country. Dedicated bicycle lanes and path everywhere. If a bicycle comes to an unmarked intersection, motor vehicles generally stop to yield the right of way to the bicycle. That really confused us at first. Why are these people stopping, we asked ourselves. The motorists are well trained!
As wonderful as it is to be here on a bicycle, and as beautiful a setting it is here, we need to get out of town before we exhaust our estates and leave nothing to our children. It too is a touristy place, yes, especially so since the series Yellowstone aired, so you expect high prices in the restaurants and bars, but the lodging prices here are sky high! Two nights in the Motel 6 here cost us almost $300. Next weekend the same room will be $400 for two nights. Try going upscale to even something like Holiday Inn or a Best Western and the prices easily go to $600 for two nights. Tomorrow morning we’re gonna blow this pop stand (movie references to follow).
Had a great breakfast at a place called Catalyst. Ed was in tofu burrito heaven. I had an interesting interpretation of chilaquiles. My two cups of decaf Americano cost $14. 😱 ‘Nuff said about prices.
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9 months ago
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We had a delicious Italian dinner, definitely the finest dining in our 3,100+ miles of riding. I had a carbonara that I would place in the top five of carbonaras I have eaten. It was starting to get dusky by the time we left Ciao Mambo, so we hoofed it back to the Motel 6.
Today's ride: 9 miles (14 km)
Total: 894 miles (1,439 km)
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9 months ago