Day 59: Powell, ID - Lowell, ID (119/150)

During breakfast I was greeted by the guy from the RV next to me who was walking his dogs. After a short chat he offered me some home made chocolate chip coockies, awesome! The people I met last night had told me to check at their site, since they might already have coffee when I would be setting off. Unfortunately no coffee, but I did meet Mike, who wished me all the best.

The route for today was 66 miles without any services, so I packed lot of food and especially water. The road was slightly downhill all the way along through the gorgeou valley of the Lochsa River. Whereas the weather started nice and cool, it got hotter during the end of the afternoon fast. Later I heard that if hit 99 F (37 C) here.

Because the progress was so good I got to the campground in Lowell already around half past one. Same as yesterday, this is a very pretty campground all between trees right next to the river. After pitching my tent, I cooled down a bit in the river and spend the test of the afternoon reading and fixing some stuff on my bike in the shade. Work on my bike included swapping tires and fixing a lead of ny rear light. For dinner I cooked my by now favorite camp food: Mac&Cheese with smoked ham. Later during the evening I met Harrison, who is doing an awesome bicycle trip from Alaska to Florida. After some chatting, we exchanged contact details, since he might be able to set me up with a place (his parent's) in Seattle where I can stay for a few days...

Day 58: Missoula, MT - Powell, ID (117/150)

This morning, after a breakfast downtown, I payed a visit to the Adventure Cycling Association office in Missoula. The ACA is the publisher of the Trans America Trail route maps (and others). At the ACA office I was helped by Sarah and Tom, who took my picture for their wall, showed me around gave me free ice cream :) I also had my bike weighed... the scale showed around 110 lbs (50 kg) :S. I also got a route map for the section from Astoria (end of Transam route) to Seattle (from where I'm flying back).

I left Missoula towards the end of the morning, when it had already gotten pretty warm. Today I will be riding over Lolo Pass, some 2000 ft of climbing. The first 1000 ft of ascend towards the beginning if the pass were very gradual and easy. During this bit I encountered Karel, a Dutch guy who is riding the Transam west to east on a recumbent bike, with whom I had a short chat.

The pass itself was relatively steep and especially hard due to the high temperatures in the mid 90's. At the top of the pass I crossed into Idaho and also crossed the time boundary into Pacific to time. For the coming 100 miles there is no cell reception, so these posts will probably pop up a bit later than expected. After the pass was a long descent through beautiful valley of the Lochsa River. I rode to a Campground some 4 miles past Powell, only to find out there was no water... the coming 66 miles would also have no water, so I rode back to Powell and went to the campground there.

To pay my fee I needed some dollar bills, so I asked the closest campers, two couples in two small RV's whether they could change. They could and also invited me over for a cold beer, can't say no to that. After enjoying a nice cold beer and interesting conversation with Mike, Laurie, Cathie and Cork, they invited me also to have dinner with them. So after pitching my tent and taking a refreshing dip in the Lochsa River, I went to their campsite again. They made lovely spaghetti Bolognese with a salad with fresh veggies from their garden back home. To finish it off they even had a delicious desert from their Dutch oven! I had the best time during dinner and the rest of the evening spending with these extremely fun, friendly and interesting people!

Day 57: Missoula, MT (rest day)

This morning I was not woken by a dog jumping in my bed, but by the sprinklers in the garden at 6 am. Apparently they weren't turned off yesterday, so they were happily spraying on my tent. After half an hour they stopped, giving me still some time to sleep in.

Today is a rest day and hence everything happened at an extremely leisurely pace. After breakfast at a French bakery, followed by an elaborate coffee at a coffee house, I visited a bike shop to get some supplies: mainly extra tubes and new cycling shorts (the others started getting thin and falling apart :p).

After lunch I visited an optician downtown to get my glasses fixed, but unfortunately this one couldn't help me either. My last chance was at an optician in a big mall somewhat further away. They also couldn't fix the frame, but did have a discounted frame that almost perfectly fitted my lenses. I decided to go for that, since it is extremely convenient to have my glasses during the mornings and evenings and also for the flight back to the Netherlands later on.

When  I got that sorted out I went to the park next to river to just chill in the shade and do some reading. I had a simple pizza for dinner and went back to the house to get my things ready for tomorrow, cause I'm gonna be cycling again :)

Day 56: Hamilton, MT - Missoula, MT (116/150)

This morning, I woke up when Wilson, the dog of Steve and Betsey, jumped in my bed at 5:30 am. Steve had already warned me that he would be watching the Hungary GP on the TV on my floor quite early. Since I was in no hurry today, I joined Steve and watched the GP till the end, whilst having a light breakfast and lots of coffee :). After the GP there was nothing else to do than pack up my things, say goodbye and take off.

Today's ride was only around 45 miles through the Biterroot Valley towards Missoula. The weather was sunny and pleasant and riding was over bike paths for the first 35 miles. The last bit was over the shoulder over a very busy highway, which was somtimes a bit narrow. Unfortunately I have to ride the same stretch the other way when the route continues westwards.

Missoula marks already the end of section 9 of 12 and hence there is only a quarter of the route left (looking at miles even less...). When I reached Missoula, I was welcomed by a bicycle friendly sign and lots of bike lanes, i.e. awesomeness! I stopped at a Walmart to shop some essentials and see if the guy at the vision center could fix my glasses (they had decided to break down). Unfortunately he couldn't, but as I'm well ahead of schedule, I had decided to take a rest day here in Missoula, so I hope tomorrow I can find an optician who can.

In Missoula I'm staying again at a WarmShowers host, this one is named Bruce. The place is more like a community than a house, where 4 guys live and which is basically open for any cyclists to walk in. As I arrived, a couple on a tandem riding the Lewis & Clark trail arrived together with me. Gill, one of the residents showed us around. I ended up pitching my tent in their yard. 

After pitching my tent and taking a shower I headed into Missoula to basically just wander around downtown and grab a bite at an Italian restaurant. As I was by myself I ate at the bar of the restaurant. Across me there was also a guy dining by himself. I guess the combination of his looks, his accent and just... the way he was, made me pretty convinced he had to be Dutch. Just before leaving I had to ask him and indeed! His name is Ger and he is also riding the Transam route westwards, starting from roughly a third of the way. The first part of the route he already did a few years ago. We ended up talking for a long time in the restaurant and later in a coffee bar. Really big fun to meet a Dutch guy and exchange experiences!

Back at the house I ran into Bruce and Caleb, two of the residents. Caleb told me he actually has Dutch ancestors. I chilled a bit at the house, whilst Caleb was playing some piano and afterwards had a very interesting chat with him about music, life, work, priorities, etcetera.

Day 55: Wisdom, MT - Hamilton, MT (114/150)

Last night it turned cold, like really cold. When I closed the fly sheet during the night I noticed there was ice on the inside. Luckily I brought a somewhat warm (0 deg C comfort temperature) sleeping bag, so closing it up all the way just kept me warm enough. I decided to sleep in for an hour, since I didn't feel like riding in freezing temperatures. When I did get up there was still frost on my tent and picknick table.

Luckily it warmed up all through the morning and afternoon, so along the way I could take off warm clothes and get working on my tan lines again :) The day started with a climb up Chief Joseph Pass, the last time (I think) I will be crossing the Continental Divide. The climb was easy and through a lovely valley. The following descent was good fun. Perfect grades, around 6%, for descending, wide shoulders and very nice pavement on the roads!

After the initial descent there was a long, slightly downhill ride through the Biterroot Valley. 

Tonight I am staying with WarmShowers hosts Betsy and Steve in Hamilton. When I arrived there I was greeted by Betsy and their 1 year old dog, Wilson. Betsy was so kind to do my laundry and after a shower we had a beer, wine and lovely dinner on their patio. Betsey and Steve did a 5 month bike tour all through Europe when they were young, so we spent the time during and after dinner to discuss theirs and mine bike tours and many other things. Their house is like mansion and I have the complete upper floor to myself, about twice the size of my appartment back home!

Day 54: Twin Bridges, MT - Wisdom, MT (111/150)

Earliest start this morning so far at 6:45 am. It was cold this morning, so my cold weather clothes came in handy again. Today would contain two passes of each roughly 1500 ft climbing and afterwards a long descent.

The ride into Dillon, which I didn't do yesterday due to the strong beadwinds, was under a light headwind this morning. After Dillon there would be a 45 miles stretch with no services and two climbs. The first climb, Badger Pass, was still under light headwinds and therefore easy. After that the wind picked up before the second pass, Big Hole Pass. The going was extremely hard due to the combination of strong beadwinds and steep gradients... somehow I did manage to get to the top though.

The descent wasn't all that fun due to the headwinds and after the first part I got to the town Jackson. My legs were totally empty, but since they couldn't get much worse, I thought it would be wise to try to reach Wisdom. Also the wind seemed to calm during the end of the afternoon and this way tomorrow would be a bit easier. Some 20 miles later I reached Wisdom (really!!!) where I am staying at the American Legion Park. At the only grocery store in an almost 50 mile radius I stocked up for the ride for to tomorrow. At the park I spent most of the time exchanging stories with the Texan from the RV next to me.

Day 53: Ennis, MT - Twin Bridges, MT (107/150)

Today started with a relatively steep climb of some 2000 ft out of the Madison River valley. As the morning was sunny, but cool the climb was fairly easy. After part of the descent I passed through the restored historic mining towns Virginia City and Nevada City. Descending further into the valley of the Beaverhead River, the headwind started picking up... seriously!

As I reached Twin Bridges the wind had picked up so strong that the going was extremely slow and hard. Here I stopped at the Bike House, a cyclist only lodging in the city park. Yesterday I met a guy who left his logbook here and asked me to ship it to a friend of his. Luckily I found his book and was able to ship it to him.

As I had lunch in the park, next to the bike house, I turned on the weather radio. Current winds today were 25 mph with 37 mph gusts, possibly with gusts up to 40 mph later in the afternoon. As tomorrow the wind would be less and I had an awesome bike house here (with sofa to crash on, shower and restroom) I decided to call it a day here. Towards the end of the afternoon the winds however calmed instead of picked up... that's what you'll always see :p Tomorrow I'll just get up early to make as many miles in the calm morning as possible.