Hot potato

Discovered an out-of-place object leaving Hamilton, MT! I stayed with Betsy and Steve, both originally from California 

The route to Missoula was unpleasant, with the bike path closely following a MAJOR highway into the city. Because it was fully segregated from the road I put my headphones in to drown out the traffic. Missoula itself is wonderful for biking, with bike paths everywhere. There was a ton of these seeds flying around and causing drifts 

Richard (dutch guy) and I ended up staying with the same host in Missoula, Erin, who lives near the freight railway tracks — so exciting for me! Together we rode downtown to eat at the weekly fair with food trucks and live music. I took the day off in Missoula

The next day I took the free bus back downtown to get a haircut. The first place I looked for had me take this 1910-20 elevator! The hairdresser in the basement was closed

I then spent a good 10 minutes walking around the block to find another barbers and found this door to nowhere at the supposed address 

On the way to another barbers I stopped by the Adventure Cycling Association headquarters — the organization that makes the TransAmerica route maps and many others in the US. I was given an ice cream sandwich and got my picture on the wall alongside a couple years’ worth of visitors

The barbers waiting area had interesting decor — not shown is a framed poster of the Declaration of Independence 

At the grocery store I splurged on foods which actually need to be refrigerated and which are mostly unavailable in rural parts of the country. This meal was a couple thousand calories of dairy — I’m trying to eat a lot more than I have in the past and I’m feeling very strong on the bike

It was a relatively easy climb out of Missoula (after backtracking on the busy highway bike path 😒) over Lolo pass. Lush meadows punctuated the forest

Where am I? Idaho, Alaska!

After Lolo pass is a long stretch of road (approx 90 miles) following a stunning river. So far Idaho has been the prettiest state (excluding national parks) but with the nastiest drivers, despite my US flag. There’s a stopping point to enjoy this cedar grove which made me feel like I was already in California 

I pulled into my campground very late in the day and a guy I passed asked if I needed a site — he had a couple booked but the other group weren’t coming. He gave me their spot and showed me how to do a bear hang — that’s my food bag hanging from a tree! I’m out of grizzly country for good so it was probably unnecessary (black bears are pretty harmless) but it kept the squirrels out

A great view to have for 90 miles! These mountains were traversed by Lewis and Clark and they hated them for how endless and unnavigable they were. I just follow my GPS so I don’t see what they were complaining about 

After leaving the river the Trail takes you up a residential street which gets up to 14% incline! Almost unrideable — as you can see on my computer I was going 3 mph up it. This is as bad as the worst I encountered in the Alps

At the top is rolling farmland with no traffic. I listened to a podcast about the Apache while riding through here

After a night in the city park, the Trail did some more steep climbing before shocking me with this view! One of the best of the trip — Idaho does it again 

It descends on the old highway 95, extremely steep and narrow by modern standards but a great size for a bike without traffic nearby. It drops elevation so quickly that you get the mess of corners shown on my map

The roadworks here were completely to my advantage — perfect surface, with traffic being let through in chunks, so I would have 15 minutes of riding on a clear lane followed by some traffic passing, but then a clear road again. The canyon was beautiful but now the summer heat has really begun — I’ve been riding in the mid 90s for a couple days. The time zone switched from Pacific back to Mountain, so I suddenly lost an hour of my day! Made it a little frantic trying to get to the campsite at a decent time 

Richard passed by my campsite the next morning and we headed to New Meadows together. Here we are at 45deg latitude — equidistant to the equator and the pole

I nearly made a horrible mistake while buying my Gatorade in a gas station (my first time trying it — do not recommend, basically just water). When reaching for my phone to pay I pinged the safety tab off my bear spray canister. If I knocked the trigger extremely potent pepper spray would fill the room! I very carefully put the safety back in place once I was out the store

90F even at 6pm but a great ride across golden lands. The wind from riding keeps you cool — once you slow down to climb you need the water!

I ate Chinese food in Cambridge, ID! Mr Li from Shanghai does all the restaurant’s jobs. Better than what I ate from restaurants in Missoula and much bigger portions! He told me about a public shower in the nearby 24hr laundromat so I’m clean inside my tent writing this post :)  75F at 11:30pm so my 20F camping quilt will be overkill