Monday, July 9th: Missoula or … back home

 

Being a little bit nervous about the coming ride, my human woke up early. This was not such a bad thing. The first miles were a tiny climb away from the Flathead Lake. I’m sure we are done with this big water now. Some very small clouds were covering the sun a bit, which made the climbing more enjoyable. I saw a bike path to our right, but she said it might take her anywhere. Why didn’t she trust my nose?  It went all the way to the second next town! At one point we noticed red and blue lights along the road: a real life sheriff in his car had stopped another driver. Wild images of a shooter getting out of the vehicle came up in my bosses mind, but I told her to relax! Every chance of a drinking cool water was taken: Pablo and Ronan were the first to come. We the cycled along some terrain marked Duck country – there was even a Duck road – but there were hardly any ducks to be seen. We did notice two dead turtles on the pavement. Too bad, ‘cause a good chase would have done me good! Here signs were in English and also in the Native American language of the Salish and Kootenai. Does that look difficult! 

TheNinepipe National Refuge was next to the road, but I didn’t see any pipes! After a good downhill we reached St. Ignatius, another small town – half white, half native American. From here on it was time to hide the bare arms  - enough sun for today! We climbed out of the town while the road took us along the National Bison Range. Luckily those big animals were out for a walk somewhere else! Yippee… a great downhill to the junction with MT 200. Now the railroad joined us and yes some time later a train rode by. Love the sound of the horn! It was really getting hot (it was reaching 40 degrees) and Arlee looked like a dead town at noon. Guess most people were now inside. It looked like a smart idea to cool off in the local café: a salad and a potato salad for lunch, together with the diet Coke. 

Once outside we knew we had to climb steadily for a 4 mile: my boss burped herself up the hill (that Coke!). It became a long adventure, keeping heart rate low enough and drinking enough water. But we made it to the top! Along the road is an overpass and several underpasses made specially for the four paws! 

We enjoyed the downhill into Missoula – but hated that last short steep hill up to civilization (read gas station and Mc. Donalds). We deserved a coke float but they had no idea what it was: like a root beer float but with coke! Ahhhh, but we don’t make root beer floats. No problem, give us some coke and some ice cream and we’ll fix it ourselves! The airco cooled our bodies – great place to be after being in the sun for almost 7 hours. 

Once we got outside I winked at my boss and told her a thunderstorm was brewing in the west! On we go – before lightning strikes us! Sweet Machine took us right into town – her home town! She was born here and my boss and her got together here in 1991! A celebration tonight – if the body still wants to move after cycling 104 km.

I thought a picture of me after cycling 104 K is a good idea!