The wind from the previous night had died down over night. Or so I thought…..
I wanted to try to get to Missoula at an early hour today for several reasons. I wanted to have lunch with Tom Crawford who I had been rafting with in the Grand Canyon for 3 weeks earlier this April and May. I also wanted to visit the Adventure Cycling headquarters.
Heading south for the last 7 miles of Hwy 83, there was an ever so slight headwind to foreshadow a possible long, hard ride today. And after those 7 miles and turning west on Hwy 200, that headwind turned into a mighty reality.
The road followed the Blackfoot River, but it was hard to enjoy the scenery with the effort it took to carve though the wind. There was some reprieve in parts of the lower canyon and I did get to sit up a bit to see the views a little. Eventually, I did make it to Missoula, just not quite as early as I had hoped.
I met Tom for lunch at 1:45 and we had a great time revisiting our recent Grand Canyon adventure. He wanted to know all about the bike trip and I wanted to hear all about his upcoming trip to Ireland. A great lunch!
Then on to Adventure Cycling. There they gave me a tour and posted my photo on their wall of cyclists on tour in 2018. I think you can see the photos on their website. I also needed to get some things there too. My 32 year old panniers (bike bags) finally gave up the ghost a few days ago so I bought some new ones here. I also reviewed some routes I plan to follow in Wyoming and Colorado with them. Good information from people at a good organization.
Finally at nearly 5:00 I began the final part of the day which was to ride through town to my friends Greg and Debi Drapes house where I would be sleeping in a real bed! Greg was one of my college roommates so it is always good to see them. We all went out to dinner, made some modifications to my new panniers, and generally stayed up too late trying to catch up with our goings-on.
Missoula is the home of “that other university”, but I still had a fun time today. Seems that I forgot all about the #$@% wind from this morning.
Greg! I so very much enjoy your blog!!! I feel like I’m riding with you and seeing the beauty of areas outside of SoCal. Paul P.
Paul, I really think I have you to thank for introducing me to bicycle touring. THANK YOU SIR!
I pulled up a google map today to follow your route. its amazing that when I was driving these roads frequently 40 years ago, I had so little knowledge and awareness of what was a short distance away from my route (and the highway centerline). Thanks for the eye opening photos and descriptions. I think its cool that you took the time to visit Adventure cycling as well!