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.
Nice to read your blog. Greetings from Hamburg. :)
ReplyDeleteMoritz