Day 9: Lincoln, MT to Great Falls, MT

Well, this one’s going to be a doozy. I slept horribly last night, waking up in a cold sweat more than once, and when I woke up for good this morning, I felt completely demoralized about the day ahead. On top of my initial apprehensions about the day, when I opened the door to my motel room I discovered a thick fog had settled over Lincoln.

Also, it was 49 degrees and I had only brought a light jacket. Didn’t think about the fact that I’d be spending a night at 4500 feet above sea level. So now I was practically in a panic. But I realized I didn’t have much of a choice other than to forge ahead with the day.

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Day 8: Missoula, MT to Lincoln, MT

And we’re on the road again! Trying to get back to early starts, I left Missoula at 6:40 this morning. Google directed me to cut across the University of Montana campus, so I did. Now I realize college campuses aren’t the most active places at that hour of the morning, and that it’s summer vacation to boot, but I didn’t see a single person my entire time crossing the campus. It was kind of eerie.

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Interlude: Breweries of Missoula

At some point in the last few years, Montana had more breweries per capita than any other state. I think Vermont has passed them by now, but they’re still way up there. So it should come as no surprise that a liberal college town like Missoula has a ton of breweries. Needing a day off, I decided to chill and visit as many of them as I could, in addition to the two I had already visited yesterday.

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Day 5: Lewiston, ID to Lowell, ID

Remember how I said I was limiting my days to 80 miles or less until I’m over the Rockies? Today was the exception that proves the rule. But there’s a good reason! I now have two very short days of climbing over the Bitterroot Mountains coming up.

The day began with another late start. I was exhausted and set my alarm for 6:10, but still had difficulty getting up. Jim very nicely cooked breakfast, so I did get some good food in my stomach before hitting the road. And then since Christy wanted to get in a bike ride before work, she actually escorted me the first few miles out of Lewiston. She also took a photo for posterity.

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Day 3: Richland, WA to Dayton, WA

It’s July! Happy Canada Day to any Canadians reading this!

Before delving into what went down today, I have to say, it was really nice to have an off day yesterday. I needed it. I didn’t drink any beer, and my bike didn’t leave Ben’s backyard. Instead, we went to Hamilton Cellars, which is located on Red Mountain outside of Richland and has some great views.

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Day 2: Ellensburg, WA to Richland, WA

Yesterday’s ride can be best divided into 3 chapters: Fresh in the Morning, Baking in the Sun, and The Final Push. Including breaks, they represent 42 miles in 3¾ hours, 41 miles in 6¼ hours, and 35 miles in 2½ hours.

Anyway, let’s start with the fun stuff. While I had initially planned to get up at 5:30 and hit the road at 6, I was feeling so exhausted on Friday night that I set my alarm for 6:15. I was also kind of slow to get going, so it was 7:15 by the time I started pedaling. One nice thing though was that I got to chat with my AirBnB hosts a bit. (They’d been out when I first arrived, and by the time I’d gotten back from dinner they were already asleep.) My host was so impressed with what I was undertaking that he took a photo of me, posted it to his Facebook, and used the post to plug this blog!

So if you’re one of David’s friends who found their way here via his post, welcome!

Continue reading “Day 2: Ellensburg, WA to Richland, WA”

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