Thompson Falls - Arlee - Missoula, MT

Yesterday was a fairly difficult ride.  I got from Thompson Falls to Arlee, which is 25 miles outside of Missoula.  It was 75 miles according to Google Maps.  I would have happily stopped earlier but it's just not the way it worked out.  The first half of the day was very pretty, but I left the mountain canyons and got out into some less-forested hilly prairie where it was hot with a headwind. I'm not sure how hot it was but I wouldn't have wanted it any hotter than that. I had sticky salt caking my face and hands. While riding, I rehydrate with water and also this briny electrolyte solution I mix in a water bottle. The salty swill must work OK because I don't feel bad now. I went through about 5 liters (1.3 gallons) of water for the ride.

Early in the ride I passed through a little town called Plains.  I rode past a roadside stand selling burgers, and to my surprise the proprietor started yelling at me excitedly.  I couldn't make out what he was saying so I pulled over.  He ran up and told me that he had heard all about me from some people who had eaten at his stand earlier in the day.  He said he had been waiting for the guy on the crazy contraption to go by.  It really made his day.

In the second half of the day, I rode into a huge cloud of smoke from wildfires in the vicinity.  It blotted out the entire sky and the sun turned red.  It remained like this the rest of the day.  My eyes burned and I put in some eye drops.  The eye drops were hot but it felt good anyway.  I kept the bottle close at hand and periodically sprayed my eyeballs.  My face was so caked with salt and sunblock and grime that I didn't bother to wipe the excess.

Google Maps showed a couple of camping/hotel options but nobody answered any of the numbers I dialed. I was getting psyched up to sleep in the weeds somewhere when a lady called from the campground. She gave me directions so I ate a banana in three bites and ate some melted cookies and pedaled the remaining 10 miles. It was lucky.  Having a shower was delightful.  The sticky salt is all over everything.  My hands stick to the handlebar grips and stick to my water bottles. 

This morning I rode the rest of the way into Missoula.  I stopped at the headquarters of the American Cycling Association to see what was there.  They are a nonprofit organization that makes maps for long-distance cyclists and does some advocacy.  The maps are kind of expensive and I didn't get any of their materials for this trip because I think that Google Maps is just as effective.  In the West there aren't a ton of road choices anyway.  Upon walking into their office, I was given the royal treatment.  A lady gave me a long tour of their facility.  It was surprisingly expansive -- either they do a lot of work or they are good at acting busy.  Then I had a few pictures taken, a Polaroid to go on their wall and another picture for this fellow's portfolio.  He seemed to think that my profile might make a good magazine article.  They weighed my bike, 95 pounds (most modern road bikes are in the low 20's).  Feeling sheepish from all the kindness and attention and free soda, I bought one of their maps.  It is supposed to get me from here to Yellowstone.  We'll see how it impacts my strategy over the next few days.

The rest of the afternoon was spent cruising around downtown Missoula, which has a great network of bike lanes and little car traffic.  It is so nice that I just looped around for fun.  It is a college/hippie town so I was happy to be merely one more oddball.  It seems like a very nice place.  It's sort of a mini-Boulder, but less obnoxious.  It has the standard progressive college town things like tapas and wine bars and sustainable espresso.  It has itinerant hippies with their dogs, one of whom tried to sell me an electric razor at a street corner ("Gosh, I'd really love it, but you see I'm already carrying plenty of stuff").  There are a lot of beautiful and healthy-looking people and lots and lots of bicycles.  It's an alluring place, and I am a little sad that I don't live here.

It's hard to leave such a town and go camp on the outskirts, so I got a Hotwire hotel room.  I took a long shower, used all the products, charged all of my electronics, and washed all my wadded and mildewed clothes in the sink.

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The beginning of the day outside Thompson Falls.  This is actually a long downhill (hard to tell the perspective).

Found this on the side of the road.  My guess is that they threw it out during "Chicken Jamboree".

It started getting hot.

Smoke cloud

Red sun through the smoke

Another odd road find.  I didn't keep this one, but I did keep a carabiner, a bungy, and a nice strap.

My photo is the latest addition to their wall

Downtown Missoula

Can you really just make your own car and drive around?