Nasty Winds and Exploding Tires

On Friday,  Chuck and Leah made it to Briggsdale where, Leah said, they were devoured by hungry mosquitoes. So they ate a modest dinner and got to bed  early and hit the road the next morning heading for Sterling Colorado. Leah said they had to battle some nasty side winds over the past few days. In Sterling, they met DeDe a wonderful helpful person who directed them to the next campsite down the road (DeDe also posted a in the Blog!). Next morning they awoke to a flat tire on Leah's bike from a thorn or a thistle which in an attempt to repair it, exploded, causing much excitement and a few yuks. Today, (August 31) they put in  50 miles and made it to Holyoke Colorado where they camped at the park and ate Chinese at the local wok joint. Tomorrow they are going to have to change routes because Rt 6 is too windy and will therefore regrettably be unable to see the friends they met at an RV park, Kevin and Melissa Hart who invited them to stay a night in Nebraska. They should cross into Nebraska tomorrow on route 30 which begins their journey into the the American heartland. 

-Stevie Roman

Montana Pix

Here are a few pix of Leah and Chuck's odessy  through Montana, Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons.

They are currently in Fort Collins Colorado after a few days in Denver for R&R and repairs .  The Democratic convention was going on while they were there and although they didn't get to see it first hand, they were glued to the TV. They saw Barak Obama's acceptance speech in an RV of a couple of friends they met in a campsite in Fort Collins. Today, August 29th, they began the second half of their journey.

politics as usual

We have been basically away from media for a few weeks now and the first thing
we heard upon getting into Missoula is about Paris Hiltons involvement in the
Presedential Campaign. Now I think she is pretty smart to take advantage of the
situation and the media idiocy. But the fact that it becomes a big media event
and uses up time that should be available for a meaningful discussion by the
candidates about fundamental problems confrunting American society should start
seeming strange even to the media crazed public. Now you may say Romaniello
you've been out in the Idaho cani ons too long. But frankly I found the whole
thing distressing. Really there's something clearly wrong.

I've been listening to lectures discussing the great books and it has been
really interesting to see the redundancy of problems that have confronted
society over the last few thousand years. These lectures are in such contrast to
the TV shows that Leah turnd on when we got to Missoula. Go trough the channels
and you see hours and hours of broadcasting with no meaningful content. Think of
the society we could have of super educated people if the media wasn't just
wasted . We should start really talking about weather capitalism hasn't been
taken to some extreme form in recent years so that much of the intellectual product of civilization is meaningless TV trash.

Finally I would be remiss in not mentioning what a beautiful and wonderful town Missoula is. Surrounded by mountains , at the the junction of rivers that flow through town, Missoula is a very wonderful college town of 57 thousand with great food, friendly people, and somehow the perfect ballance of industry and aesthetics. Leah has fallen in love with Missoula and dragging her away for further bicycling adventures may be a problem. In any case tomorrow we hit the road again for the 2 or 3 day assent to Chief Joseph pass 7241ft one of a few obsticals between us and Yellowstone.

more photos

Montaaaana

So now after going over the dread Lolo pass we are in Missoula. And what a few days it was. We actually went uphill for about 77 miles only those miles were much easier than we thought. 65 were totally without services but no problem we just loaded up with sandwiches and water and headed out. We spent the night at an unmarked camp site along the river. That morning we were treated to coffee and 15 miles later we were eating ham and eggs in preparation for the pass. The pass was 2000ft or so but hot with some truck traffic. No Problem. Now that we know we can do 7% grades nothing can stop us. I sent about 10 pictures. which should give you the jist of the thing. We got to Lolo hot springs and met a bunch of great folks with whom we partied into the night after the obligatory emersion in the well heated pool.

The road is a wonderful place. We experience days of breathtaking beauty and find friendship wherever we go. There on the other hand was one idiot in a white truck who rolled down his window and started screaming about us not paying road taxes, big guy with a beard. When I told him I would be in gravel if I got any further to the right it just got him madder so his response was to burn as much rubber as he could and drive away , it takes all kinds. And most of the kinds of people, bikers, motorcyclers, campers, fellow travelers are great. There's a picture that I sent in of a contraption in the middle of the river. It was cone shaped and turning. I wondered if it was an automatic gold paner or something that produced power. If anyone knows please send in a comment. We also met a very interesting couple. The guy had been on the TV show Biggest Looser., and had evidently lost over a hundred Lbs. He lost 30 odd Lbs in the first week of the show which made him the winner. What an ins
piration.

I am now typing this from the friendly office of Adventure Cycling in Missoula the folks who made our maps. These maps are wonderful showing camp sites, places to eat, and just about everything you need to successfully bike across the country. Many thanks to these people who make bike touring way easier with there immaculate research.

I'll write some more tomorrow before heading for Yellowstone.


Chuck