If you look closely, you may see someone you know riding along the road! Thankfully we stopped in Powell ID for a delicious lunch at the Lochsa Lodge before tackling the toughest part of the climb. 
Tim is pictured here on the porch of the Lodge. We saw about ten deer along the roadside in the latter part of the day‘s ride. Too bad we were in our uphill stretch and were unable to grab our cameras! Incidentally, Debbie hammered up the steep ascent with flying colors, notwithstanding her earlier concerns. We made it to Montana but not quite to Missoula as planned. We pulled into Lolo Hot Springs Lodge at 8:30 but realized that the time had changed and we had entered the mountain timezone! We had a late night dinner and met up with the 6 teens and their leader we met last night at the campground. They are a group of cyclists from a student hostelling organization who started in Oregon and are headed back to Portsmouth NH in 47 days. Hopefully we will be able to keep up with them- even though there is a 35 year age difference between us and them!
The lodge owner told us {before we could go elsewhere} that there is a bear that hangs around our room as well as three moose, some deer and a wolf that have been spotted on the property. He assured us that they were more scared of us than we should be of them! I guess we will sleep tight tonight!
Lastly, we would like to thank you for your comments and e-mails, which have provided great encouragement to us.
Was that lodge owner just trying to scare you - and did he succeed? Debbie, I liked your clothes dryer on the bike, nothing like ingenuity. Tim, I had a visit from Gerard York yesterday. Debbie, he brought me a container of raspberries! I'm really living high off the hog with fresh fruit and veggies! Glad the weather is less humid (both there and here). Also hope you can keep up with that younger group! Hugs and kisses and much love, Mom
ReplyDeleteHopefully, you'll be able to keep up with them??? If I remember correctly, you'll take it as a personal challenge to not only keep up, but teach them how it's done!! Only joking, old friend, this whole blog thing, as well as the trip is amazing...Take care and God Bless....Jim
ReplyDeleteTim and Deb--great pictures and love reading the blog! Montana appears to be a huge, long state. To quote an Irish saying, May the wind always be at your back! Dave T.
ReplyDeleteInteresting - I was thinking the same thing that Jim was thinking!!! Even if you do keep up with "the young ones", be sure to savor every minute of this amazing adventure! Be safe and be blessed. Give each other a squeeze for me.
ReplyDeleteLove, Chris
That lodge looks really cute. The owner is right, those bears are more scared of you, they're just wanting FOOOOOD! I remember back in 2004 (?) Christian and I rode our motorcycles over Lolo pass. It was hovering at 33 degrees and big sloppy snowflakes were coming down. Oh, did I mention it was JUNE!?!?! Then in Helena, it was 99 degrees and HOT. The weather is a little odd sometimes, I hope it stays steady and dry for you. It's fun you're in another time zone now! Montana is an amazing state, just beautiful. Its nickname is "Big Sky" and every time I'm there I am dumbfounded at how it really looks like the sky is bigger than anywhere else I've been. It's glorious! Stay safe and keep up the great blogging. mwah!
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