Day 47 – Hamilton, MT to Missoula, MT

We had a great time talking with our hosts this morning as we ate our typical vast quantities of cereal. As we biked through the little town of Hamilton, we ran into the biking trio who we’ve been leapfrogging for the past couple days. We were biking almost as a group for awhile until we stopped for our first snack break – then they pulled ahead. But we were probably happier thanks to the Clif bars. Not that it was a competition. 

There was a bike path all the way from Hamilton to Missoula, which apparently opened two weeks ago! So we didn’t have to worry about traffic except for the few times we had to cross the road, and we saw countless other bikers. 

It was still smoky in the mountains, but luckily the wind didn’t blow the dark clouds in our path. 

The first thing we did after arriving in Missoula was to head straight for the post office. We picked up our care package from Meg Berlin, and sat by all the little mailboxes for the next little while, exclaiming over our delightful supply of food. So many Vermonty goodies! And I was no longer sad about having left my snack pocket open this morning, tragically losing a Clif bar (cool mint chocolate). Thank you so much, Meg! We are so ready to take on Lolo pass now! 

We spent the next couple hours at a bike shop – Hellgate Cyclery, a similar shop to Old Spokes in Burlington. They did some fine-tuning of our derailleurs and we made sure all the details of our bikes were ready to go.

We met up with Maddy who’s headed off to Colorado College this fall! Now there will be a familiar face there when Aidan arrives next year. We hung out with her in a coffee shop (where someone came up to us as we locked our bikes and offered to buy our drinks!) where we talked about our mutual appreciation for the outdoors and adventure. Great to meet you, Maddy!

The main office of Adventure Cycling is in Missoula, so we stopped in there! We met Al’s friend Greg, who took our picture for their collection and then let us take a selfie with him! 

He also weighed our bikes at their station – they’ve been a good deal heavier at times, but even today mine was 75 lbs and Aidan’s was 85! I would feel bad about carrying less weight, but Aidan seems to have no problem on those steep hills. 

We’re spending the night in Missoula with Jamie and Touring Tunes! Jamie biked with her dog Petunia all the way across the country a couple years ago (that was her second xc tour!) and met Aidan’s parents as Wendy did her tour around Lake Champlain. We had an absolutely wonderful dinner with her and her friend Perry – Jamie made grilled veggies with rice and salad, then we had ice cream and strawberries for dessert! Thank you, Jamie and Perry!