Day 50 – Sunday 7/17/22

Lincoln, Montana to Missoula, Montana – 84.5 Miles

Today was a good day, with the exception of my nemesis, the wind. Yesterday it came from the southwest, while I was heading southwest. Today it came from the west, which was my general direction. Descending from the Continental Divide should have been easier, but there were several sections where I had to pedal to keep my speed up while going downhill. It’s expected that any bike ride will have times when it’s challenging, but long stretches with unhelpful obstacles are a nuisance.

Still, it was a chance to ride in an area I’d never been before and see new sights and towns. Just before takeoff, I went through the morning ritual of putting all the things that had come out of the bags back into the bags.

When I woke up there was a tent a few sites over from mine that hadn’t been there when I went to bed. The owner was a young woman from Mobile, Alabama named Skylar, who was through hiking the Great Divide Trail. That’s a completely different level of difficulty than what I’m doing. Dealing with terrain, weather and distance on a bike makes me feel unequal compared to cars but committing to hike thousands of miles from Canada to Mexico is impressive. She’d completed the Pacific Coast Trail the year before and was heading to graduate school after finishing the Great Divide. We wished each other luck and I headed to Missoula.

The road was quiet on a Sunday morning and the scenery was worthy of stopping more often than I needed to.

After having to ration my water supply yesterday, I loaded up Ishmael with supplies in Lincoln to avoid running out later. The town of Ovando was the first possible stop for food on the road to Missoula. I thought about bypassing it and continuing on to Clearwater, but caution made me ride the half mile into town. It was worth it.

It’s a small place, but set up with stores, lodging and services to support outdoor activities. The store had ice cream by the scoop, irresistible to me, and across the way were a teepee and a small trailer hikers and cyclists could stay in for $5 a night. I sat on the porch eating my ice cream and thanked the town for being there.

The Blackfoot River runs parallel to Highway 200, and many people take advantage of it. After 10 o’clock, the traffic going past me in both directions was steady all day. If they weren’t towing a boat or a trailer, they’d be in an RV or an SUV with a cargo carrier on top. It sounded like the Indianapolis 500 as the cars went by, and the occasional moments of quiet almost seemed out of place,

I’m always on the lookout for cheesy promotional items, just because it shows somebody wasn’t content to just hang up a sign and call it good. They put some effort into making something unusual to promote their business. I can still recall a lot of similar objects from my hometown fifty years later, so there must be something to it.

Between the times when cars were flying past, I got some more shots of the countryside. This was the theme throughout the day: River on the left and fields on the right.

Even though the houses were scattered across the countryside, in one place the postman had an easy job delivering the mail. By the time the last mailbox was reached, the day would be over.

I continued along 200 towards Bonner Junction, just outside of Missoula. The river scenery was continuous, with an occasional large parking area to accommodate all the cars and people who wanted to put a raft or inner tube into the Blackfoot River.

When I got to Bonner Junction, I was still 10 miles away from the KOA campground where I’d be staying. Fortunately, Interstate 90 went in the direction I needed to go, so I followed it north. It’s unusual to get on the entrance ramp to an Interstate riding a bicycle, but once you’re on it feels a lot safer than a two-lane road with a narrow shoulder.

The KOA campgrounds are always nice and well kept up, but they use the word “Camping” generously. People “camped” in motor homes, long trailers with pop up and pop out extensions and small cabins on the property. The ultimate in camping luxury for people who don’t like camping was an RV bus towing a car towing a boat. Here’s the first thing I noticed on check-in:

My site had a table, light and 110V electricity, as well as not so great Wi-Fi. After charging a few things and working out the plan for the next few days, I headed for the tent and listened to some podcasts.

The next target is Idaho. It’s not too far away, but there’s some climbing involved to get over the Lolo Pass. Hopefully not too much.