Panhandles and Hot Springs

Location: Missoula, MT

Today is our day off in Missoula, Montana. We spent a couple days in Idaho: Camp Sweyolaken in Coeur d'Alene and then Kellogg. I thought the camp was fun; some other guys were a bit taken aback by the quirky camp traditions and what not. But we had a pretty relaxing day there, or at least I did. I fell asleep reading A Clockwork Orange in front of Lake Coeur d'Alene and the setting sun. Niiice.

From Kellogg we had an 85-mile trip to Paradise, Montana. Yep. Paradise. Only that 85-mile trip turned out to be 105, much to our dismay. (It also included a few thousand feet of climbing through two passes.) But we made it through and got to stay at Quinn's Hot Spring Resort, where we enjoyed pools of different temperatures and DE-LUXE cabins with our OWN BEDS! So 105-mile soreness, plus cushy beds and climate-controlled rooms made for a very difficult wakeup the next morning.

But on a similar thread from my last post, the scenery we've seen this past few days has also been amazing. I thought Washington was as good as it was going to get, but clearly I was wrong. Lake Coeur d'Alene is amazing in its convoluted and tree-filled shorline, and Montana is just plain rugged. It's awesome; exposed rock and mountains that look like they had just been forced up at an angle just the morning before...I'm glad I get to see this on a bike going at about 16 miles per hour instead of a car going at 60+.

Side note, we're staying at Hellgate High School in Missoula. So we went from Paradise to Hellgate. Hahaha.

I'm using a crew member's computer right now (Ben Kaufman) and we're at a pretty nifty coffee shop not too far away. Missoula is actually really nice, nothing like I expected. Of course I've never been to Montana before so it's all pretty surprising. It's a beautiful town.

Speaking of beautiful: a bunch of the 21+ year-old guys went out last night and found the Iron Horse Bar and Grill (or something like that) and it was PACKED with college kids. Namely, college girls (most of whom were absolutely gorgeous). The ratio of girls to guys was through the roof in our favor. We were there to hang out with each other though (a.k.a. "bro-ing out"), but nevertheless it was refreshing to see.

So Missoula, you get high marks in my books. We had a really good friendship visit yesterday too with Opportunity Resources. I actually met a couple Washingtonians, one from Aberdeen and one from Whidbey Island, so that was cool to be able to talk to them about that and why they moved out to Montana. They had the same sentiments as me about the scenery. I guess if you've got to move out of Washington, Montana ain't a bad choice!

We're going to be moving through Yellowstone National Park in the next couple of days -- so I may regret not bringing a camera with me even more than I do now. Actually, I just remembered that I packed a digital camcorder that also takes photos...so maybe I'll toss that in my jersey pocket for this special occasion. I can't wait!