07.08/09.2023

morning, up early even though i'm now on mountain time.

a quiet start on a side road along the clark fork, only there's something funny about the river.  is it me or is the river flowing uphill?

and there's no place to stop and eat.  60 miles out from missoula, low on battery, plenty of water.  but the side road disappears and it's back on i-90.  there's no gas, no food, no water.  no water, except for clark fork, what happened to the st regis river?  why is the water flowing uphill?  aren't i snaking downhill through these  mountain gaps to missoula?

oops, and what's this construction?  the whole bridge eastbound is closed and the east bound lanes are shifted to a single lane on the west bound side.  but still enough shoulder, at least until we're on the bridge, where the shoulder disappears.  why does this all feel so familiar?  finally, i reach the other side of the bridge and can shift back onto the normal shoulder and breathe a big sigh.  did not like that.

several miles later, it's now noon. frenchtown and it's several restaurants, appears and finally i can eat breakfast.  hmm  hmm.  couple blueberry pancakes, eggs and bacon.  throw in a large orange juice for good measure and i'm ready to go.

only google once again sends me into a deadend private road.  

so, backtrack and get on the right road.  20 flat miles into missoula.

my host's house is on the south side of missoula, across the river, in the university (univ. of montana) district.  i find a cafe, order up a chai and fall asleep on the patio only to awoken by a loud snort.

then, i head over to my hosts, find my bedroom, strip off the very smelly clothes and  take a much needed shower.

ethel, my warmshower host, is environmentally conscience and drying clothes is solar powered.  they dry fast here.

and let me tell you about ethel.  first, she's 85 years old.  she thinks that she's starting to have trouble doing bicycle touring now.  her trip two years ago, pennsicola to new orleans, was a bust.  she only got to mobile.  solo, mind you.  she doesn't have a car anymore, everywhere she goes in the city is by bike, power assisted, with her little dog sitting in the front basket.  she's worried though that she starting to get vertigo.  we rode 2-3 miles to her favorite microbrewery, had dinner and a beer and rode our bikes back.

i took a whole day off today, spent two nights here at ethel's and rested. i've riden 8 straight days. tomorrow, back on the road.  there's even a 50% chance it might rain.