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A comment on the blog from my Uncle Neil requesting an update has been heard!  I’m sure he isn’t the only one wondering what I’ve been up to for the past week.

My last update a week ago was rather short, partly because I was pressed for time, but mostly I was in a foul mood for two main reasons, despite having had a great time in Glacier National Park hiking with my cousin (pictures coming soon).

For one, I was on a wild goose chase for an order from Amazon.  I had it sent to the West Glacier Post Office as General Delivery.  Problem is UPS shipped it, and so of course they can’t deliver at a location like that.  Why UPS accepted the shipment in the first place is beyond me.  After numerous delivery attempts to West Glacier (as if UPS hadn’t already learned the first time that it was undeliverable), the package had been left at the Kalispell UPS warehouse, so I decided to swing through there on my way south.  This detour added over 20 miles and was in vain (though I did meet a friendly local cycling couple that let me use their phone).  The UPS facility was closed to customer service on weekends, and despite there being an employee working in the back, there was no way that he could get me the package even though I was standing right there.  I ended up calling Amazon, which I should have done in the first place, and got a new order shipped to an address I knew I’d be at later in the week.  Apparently my first order was in UPS limbo, they couldn’t forward my package to a new location, because I hadn’t been given and Infonotice number.  But I didn’t have an Infonotice because they couldn’t leave an Infonotice at a US Post Office.  Anyway, long story short, don’t mix UPS and USPS.

For two, I had ended up paying much more for camping the night before than I had expected.  From the Montana State Park website, I had understood that hiker/biker sites were only $3.  However, this was really just wishful thinking, the $3 fee is for day use of a State Park for those that arrive via foot or cycle.  Camping fees are actually $15, regardless if you are a cyclist or a family in and RV and a car.  It was already dark and I had my tent set up and dinner cooking when the campsite hosts  came by to pick up the extra $12. My manifesto on RVs and paying for camping will come at a later date, but for now I’ll say that nothing is more irritating than waking up to your neighbor’s RV generator running, especially knowing you paid as much to camp as he did.

After biking south through the Flathead Valley, I made it to Missoula.  While there, I stopped by the Adventure Cycling Association, an organization that promotes travelling by bicycle.  They are well-known for the cycling routes all across the US that they have researched and mapped.  The organization was born out of an event in the summer of 1976 dubbed “Bikecentennial“, where thousands of cyclists rode either all or parts of a designated route that spanned from Oregon to Virginia.

The idea for Bikecentennial was conceived by several cyclists while they were on a trip from Alaska to Argentina.  Among them was Greg Siple, a co-founder of Adventure Cycling, who currently works there as their art director.  He took some time out of his day to give me a tour of their office.  They have a bunch of  bikes on display everywhere, among other remarkable ones is the bike Ian Hibell used to cycle across Europe and Africa.  Hibell was the first person to bike the length of the Americas.

Hanging all over the office are pictures taken during the Bikecentennial ride.  Greg would tell me a story while I stared into the pictures, and more often than not would say, “That was a glorious summer”, before moving on to the next picture.  My dream of being a bearded cyclist in the 70s will never be realized, so the best I can do is be a bearded cyclist and wear 70s clothes from the thrift store.  It was a real treat to meet Greg and learn more about the organization.

From Missoula I headed east to Helena.  There I stayed with the pastor of the Helena Covenant Church (the only one in Montana) and his family.  They received me with open arms and fed me rather well.  I got a tour of the beautiful town which was born out of the gold rush in the area in the late 1800s.

Two more days of riding brought me to Bozeman, where I have been staying with Kristin, whose brother Steve (Hawk) is a good friend from college.  I knew I’d probably spend two days here, taking a break, doing laundry, catching up on emails and sorting photos, etc, but today is now my third day off.    Often my days off the bike can be anything but restful as I inevitably drink coffee all day and stay up late taking advantage of electricity in the form of internet and cold milk on cereal.

I decided not to leave until tomorrow as the weather forecast has some nasty cold weather coming through the area.  I was hoping to be in Yellowstone when the worst of it is expected to hit, so by leaving a day later, I’ll still be at lower altitude where hopefully it shouldn’t be too much of a problem.  At any rate it is going to be a cold, cold week.

I found out a few days ago that my Baptiste, my riding buddy in Alaska and Canada is taking some time off the bike after getting hit by a car in Oregon.  Best wishes for a speedy recovery Baptiste!