Day 21/22 – July 4 and 5, 2015
Missoula 0 Days
Ok, two days, pretty extravagant. Yes, but we deserved it. We made good time and we decided to rest, or shall we say not move to far, since we did do a lot while in Missoula. First of all, we rushed down the mountain to make sure that we get to town in time for Gregg to visit Adventure Cycling, the Mecca of bicycle touring in the United States. Well, since we did not have cellphone service while on the mountain we had no way to confirm that if was open. I had my doubts since it was a holiday weekend, and sure enough it was closed.
So our stay in Missoula was extended. Another big event for us was the visit by my brother Robin and his wife Peggy. They arrived late July 4 – around midnight, to spend the day Sunday July 5th with us.
On Saturday our Independence day was filled with our duties to the tour – bike tune ups and laundry and ordering camping gear. We came to town on an unfortunate weekend as all the bike shops were closed, we needed the bike serviced. Gregg was worried about both of our brakes and our chains. So, the only place in town that was open with some kind of service shop was REI. We rode our bikes 3 miles out to REI and left them there for the day. We crossed our fingers that they knew what they were doing.
While at REI I had to deal with a pressing issue, my Big Agnes inflatable sleeping pad was leaking air. It was fine when I came to bed, but around 5 hours into my sleep I started feeling the hard ground. It created a lot of anxiety for me, because I hoped and hoped that there was nothing wrong with it when shutting my eyes, only to wake up frustrated that there was a defect in the pad. Where the defect was? Who knows? The friendly REI camping guy said just exchange it for another one. Well Missoula REI did not have one in stock, I called Bozeman, just down the road 150 miles. Well, they too did not have one. I got back to the hotel and got online and then on the phone with a very friendly customer service person who walked me through it and managed to order one and have it delivered to Bozeman REI on the day we arrive or so. Good news. I am relieved. Let’s hope this one gets there and works.
As we left REI we realized that we were stranded, the buses did not run in Missoula on July 4th. So I ask a friendly man who was leaving REI as we walked out whether he could take us downtown. He said sure, if we weren’t allergic to dogs and did not mind small cars. Well, no problem for us. We squeezed into his mini Ford or Geo Metro or something for the short trip downtown. Daffy, the small chocolate lab was happy as can be to make a little room in the back seat for me. The gentleman was living in Challis Idaho and working as a Fisheries Biologist for the Fish and Wildlife Service. He was super nice, we offered him some gas money but he refused. Another bit of “road magic”.
Next we walked down the road from the hotel to do some laundry, explored the town, and then went back to REI to pick up our bikes in the late afternoon. Our bikes got new chains and tune ups. My bike was a little off. First the front brakes were not toed in so they squeaked. We took it back a few minutes after we picked it up for the “repair.” Then, when riding back to our hotel, we noticed my bike also had some free wheeling and engaging problems. Someone did not adjust that right. It “jumped” a bit. Problem. Gregg was thinking he could maybe play with the adjustment or we would have to take it in on Monday, if we had time.
In the evening we went to a great little movie theater called The Roxy and saw “Love and Mercy” the film about Brian Wilson. Good movie and great little theater that was a community run theater – staffed only by volunteers. Interesting.
Finally we topped off our July 4th with a little fireworks that we watched at a distance from the bridge on Higgins. It was far away but we still got some holiday celebration to end the day.
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July 5, 2015
This was a very special day, Robin and Peggy came to visit with us in Missoula! It’s fantastic to get visitors and even better to have a nice day with them. We met in the morning and crossed the bridge to a cafe called “Hob Nob” for breakfast. Had some delightful banana bread pancakes. Highly recommended.
So what do we do with visitors? Well luckily enough there is no planning necessary with my bro Robin, he had the whole day planned out. Drive out to the National Bison Reserve, come back and watch the finals of the Women’s World Cup – USA v Japan. You have to understand, most, if not all, of our family is very interested in sports, especially big International events like these. I am a big soccer fan, but usually stick to the big Men’s soccer events like the World Cup or the Euro Cup. It is actually blasphemous because I played soccer adamantly when I was very young — I was one of the pioneers of the women’s soccer movement. It was just starting to catch on. My career in a sport that I actually loved, and was pretty good at, was ended abruptly when my family moved from Vienna VA to Wien Austria. No women’s leagues there. It would take a few more years to catch on.
But before the game we had loads of time so we drove 45 mins out from Missoula to the Bison Reserve. That was pretty interesting. At first when we arrived, we heard of sightings of bears, and Elk and things, we were exciting to head out on the 19 mile loop. It seemed to Gregg and myself a little like a safari, don’t get out of the car, watch the animals from the car. Drive slowly, look, maybe you will see something. We came upon Pronghorn Antelope early on, then a few scattered Bison, then a few Elk, but where were the bears, and the herd of Bison. We drove and drove and finally saw the herd about 1 mile away on the slopes of the ridge. Oh well, a few more on the side of the road as we approached the end of our loop and that was all she wrote.
I thought it was nice. A beautiful drive with my family. Not too stressful of strenuous, just mellow.
Then we headed down the road back to Missoula. We had seen a sign that there was a Arlee Celebration. You may wonder what that would be? It was a Pow Wow. Robin, Peggy, and Gregg had never really seen something like this. They were in for a treat. It is quite something to come to these parts and see the Indians (excuse my use of this word but I feel comfortable with it — as do many Indians) celebrating their traditions. The dancing and singing and drumming, it quiet spectacular. These people are proud, they are proud of their traditions, they do this all with a lot of dignity. Yes, both Robin and Gregg, felt that we were intruding on something that was just for these tribes and not for the “Europeans” to behold and be in anyway part of. But that is probably their guilt speaking. We all have that guilt, especially when we see the beauty of something like this, The Grand Entrance, the soulful singing, the powerful drumming, the feathered head dresses, this is something you have to feel, and see, and hear, as those drums beat loudly. I find it magical, at the same time after about 1 hour of it the dancing, the singing and all gets a bit repetitive to my “European” hears.
After the Pow Wow we got back to Missoula just in time to find a nice Pub to watch the game. What can I say, Flathead Brewery, a good pizza, and my brother Robin to watch a soccer game with, nothing could be finer. Robin and I go way back when it comes to crazy things we do to see soccer games. We even once took a train to Rome to see my friend Maria and to see Italy-Germany in the finals of the World Cup in 1982. The finals were in Madrid but we thought it would be fun to watch it in Rome, Italy was favored and my best friend Maria, also a soccer fan, spent the summers in her home town of Rome. It was great fun, Italy won 3-1 and we danced in the Trevi Fountain and celebrated all night long with the Italians, what a great time.
This time the the USA dominated 5-2. What a great game, though where were the USA Women’s soccer fans? Or USA fans in general? If it isn’t NFL or NBA or maybe the Montana State University’s Grizzly’s winning some College football game, pretty pathetic. No dancing in the streets of Missoula!
Anyway, we had a great time with Robin and Peggy. But around 9pm we started turning into our bike touring pumpkins. Click, our mind and attitude has to refocus on our tour. Prepare and pack. We ride tomorrow.
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