Missoula, MT #2

Hey all,

Recap of the past few days:
July 3rd: 90 miles into Missoula, along the same monotonous river we'd been riding along forever. It was a 77 mile stretch along the same river, with every bend looking the same. We got into Missoula in the late afternoon, and headed straight for the Adventure Cycling Association office. They had free ice cream (a welcome treat) and took our pictures, we signed the guestbook, and then got a tour of the office. In the office they had pictures of the original BikeCentennial in 1976, and lots of old historical bikes. Cool stuff. At the office there I also tried ELK for the first time, because they were holding a bbq for a large group that was riding in that afternoon.

We passed this group at the top of Lolo Pass, it's called the JettRide. We had seen their sag-wagon pass us on the way up, but then their follow car was handing out Gatorade and water halfway up. We stopped to chat for a bit to find out a bit more. They are a group of around 25 14-18yr teenagers that are riding across the country to raise awareness for Duchenne's Muscular Dystrophy. You can visit their website at www.10thGear.com.

One of the adult leaders in the group told us if we hung around the ACA office and waited for the group to roll through, we might have had a chance to stay at a Marriott (one of their sponsors). We did, and they were good enough to take us in for the next few days. We ended up getting two good nights sleep in the Marriott, two free breakfasts, and a free shirt too! Check out their website.

July 4th:
We didn't do too much, just rested and relaxed all day. Briefly headed "downtown" to get a lunch, ended up with a milkshake because I was still full from breakfast. The rest of the day was uneventful, mostly eating/sleeping/reading.

This morning we're headed out early, because the end of the day has a 3000-4000' climb that will bring us up above 7000' elevation! After this climb, we hardly dip down below a 6000' elevation until we get out of Colorado.

Chief Joseph's Pass, here we come.