TRANSAMERICA BICYCLE 2015: Days 64-74: Home State Weather Challenge Extravaganza!

Day 64: Grand Teton National Park to Yellowstone National Park (Grant Village - 47 miles)
Day 65: Grant Village to West Yellowstone, MT (54.4 miles)
Day 66: West Yellowstone, MT to Ennis, MT (54.7 due family time pick-up from Mom)
Day 67: Ennis, MT to Virginia City, MT (14 miles - a NEW RECORD!)
Day 68: Virginia City, MT to Dillon, MT (57.9 miles)
Day 69: Dillon, MT to Jackson, MT (35.2 miles - due to lightening road-side hitch-hike save!)
Day 70: Jackson, MT to Darby, MT (73.7 miles)
Day 71: Darby, MT to Missoula, MT (68.8 miles)
Day 72/73: REST DAYS BACK HOME IN PHILIPSBURG!
Day 74: truck ride up to Whitefish MT to hop on Northern Tier route.

Ear Worms:
It's A Jolly Holiday With Mary - Mary Poppins
Tina Turner: You're Simply the Best
Stevie Nicks: Talk to Me
(weird mix of Tina and Stevie songs)
Indigo Girls - Bitterroot River
Gotye - Somebody that I used to Know
George Strait - All My Ex's Live in Texas
& "Sing, Sing, Sing" song from 20 Feet From Stardom (weird mix of the two choruses)

Brigid and I enjoying pop-cycles at the

Adventure Cycling Headquarters

And suddenly here I am. Back in my home state, riding through familiar territory, seeing my family and celebrating my nephew's 3rd birthday, and showing off downtown Philipsburg to my friend Brigid, who has now joined me for the remainder of the trip. Cycling into Missoula after a great ride through the Bitterroot Valley on a bike path that extends all the way south of Hamilton was the first time I actually had a glimmer of the magnitude of what I've accomplished so far. Maybe it was coming into a familiar place, a place that I've lived in and spent my whole childhood going to for shopping trips. And to be able to really comprehend just how far away this place is from the coast of Virginia. Suddenly, time has shifted from feeling like it was such a short time ago that I was back east to really feeling that that actually was over two months ago! And so much has really happened!

The best thing about riding through Montana has been getting to be a bit of a tourist in my home state. Saw a show in Virginia City, learned about gold mining in Alder Gulch, rode through the Big Hole and Bitterroot Valleys and stopped at every Lewis and Clark Historical Marker. The great thing about cycling the roadways is you can just put on the brakes and stop anywhere you want! No more passing those historical markers and thinking, "Oh, I will stop next time." Or "I'm going too fast to pull in there." I know where Sacagawea met up with her Shoshone tribe. I can spot the mountain used as a guide for finding their way through the Big Hole. I know where they got supplies in Sula to get through the Rocky Mountains. There's so much cool history just hanging out right along the roadways of Montana!

We're going to Yellowstone!!

On the flip side, do you know what happens when you talk one too many times about how lucky you've been with the weather while crossing the span of the United States? Well I'll tell you. You hit your home state, and because it knows that you are very familiar with the environment and people, it knows it needs to give you something to talk about and challenge you. So the next thing you know you find yourself huddled in the doorway of a campground bathroom watching your tent site turn into a river and mini pond! Cold weather, thunderstorms starting at 11 am, rain flooding your campsite, and headwinds unlike anything experienced in Kansas or Wyoming!

So great to see my family'

This change of weather has been timed brilliantly with the arrival of my friend Brigid, who will be finishing the ride with me, in Grand Teton National Park. So actually I blame her. Born and raised in the rainy Pacific Northwest, she has successfully transported her 60 degree cloudy weather to my ride. (We even penned a song while riding that names her the 'cloud magnet'.)

The Jackson, MT post office..

But Missoula and my little break in Philipsburg also marked the turning of page in this trip. I'll now be deviating from the Transamerica trail to head on up to the Northern Tier, another cross country route that goes from Washington State to Maine. We'll ride through northeast Montana, the Idaho panhandle, and northern Washington to finish our trip in Seattle. So I've now said goodbye to my Transamerica friends, breaking apart from my little community that I've formed as we made our way across the country. But doing this in Missoula seems appropriate. I got to spend time with my family and fulfill my dream of riding into Adventure Cycling and getting both my photo taken and my bike weighed. Guess how much it weighed?!
And now, it's back on the bike. It was so great to see so many of you all in Philipsburg while I was briefly there. I just love that I can walk downtown and know that I will run into so many people that are part of my hometown community. But the journey isn't quite over yet. Two more weeks of peddling away!... Oh and the bike fully loaded weighs 90 pounds.

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