In a good kind of way. I have enjoyed my 6 weeks in my old haunts visiting w/ old buds and slipping into a groove, I spent many nights @ Bill & Jenifers, had a line on a shower @ Bicycle Butler, knew where the great internet connections were, and just being where I knew where places were. The call of the road lifestyle is faint but compelling. I am living the lifestyle for traveling to experience the US. Thinking about it, if I were to stay longer it would make sense to get a job just so i could travel on weekends. I SAID THAT? Wow, time to head east.

My hip pain is almost gone and the caused fixed. I have actions to perform to keep freedom of movement. My self diagnosed giardia remains untreated. Need lab work to confirm and to prescribe medicine. Next long term stay.

Another Rick ride on High Bluff trails. Trails are bench cut into 40 to 45 degree sandy slope w/ spots of basalt chunks. Rick has the next several weeks of freedom and is venturing down towards Moab. Our adventures will run parallel soon.

My plan is to ride Missoula, MT Rattlesnake rec trails tomorrow. Last March I rode Snake Creek gap time trial back in Dalton, GA. Snakes are a possible common theme. Climb up over Lost Trail Pass on MT / ID border. lewis & Clark had things to say about their travels over the pass. Near by is the Big Hole Battle field site. Then drop down the Salmon to Stanley, ID for rides in Whites. Climb over Galena summit to drop down into Ketchum, ID & Sun Valley. Riding will be weather affected. Some snow has fallen up high however temps warmed this week. I’ll find out what is really there versus wishful thinking that it will be a bluebird day on great trails.

I am aware that i infrequently updated you all w/ my reports while living here in Spokane. Excuse me. This is familiar home and lacked excitement of new things. Many of you readers don’t live here. And then I blogged about a new person but maybe they thought it was just like day in day out and couldn’t understand my excitement. New adventures are forth coming, just down the road (DTR).

The 2 mornings this week of 14 & 16 degree days killed certain tree leaves on the tree. These leaves will never turn their fall color, just dead brown. Hard hit are the cottonwoods.

Montana here comes JP Nuts!

Sunday when I steeled myself to leave the warmth of all my blankets around 8:00AM it was 50 degrees inside with visible breath; outside it was 16 degrees. My heater was on low setting. Monday it was 14 outside. Today was a heat wave just below freezing. Around 3:30AM today i woke to the smell of propane and the sound of the frig going thru it’s lighting cycle. The frige didn’t catch fire as I suspected it would not which now explained the small of propane. I ran out! The last of the propane went to the heater and when the tank ran dry the residual fuel, not enough to burn seeped into the van. Shit. Choices: I could sleep until the cold forced me to get up and drive to find fuel which meant a later bfast and possible thawed berries. i could have put the berries in the “outside” freezer and dressed in the cold and maybe bought bfast. Or, I could get out of bed, dress, put my bed away and rig the van for travel, drive searching for fuel, buy it, drive back to Bill’s, & have frozen berries, my bfast and a warm get up. I chose the later choice and drove down to I-90 and the Broadway exit to Flying J for fuel. Tank took 5.5 gals, engineering value is 5.8 gals. I got caught short. Cold temp consumption.

Sunday temps warmed to just tights, long underwear top, & long fingered gloves for a 3 hour ride @ Riverside, total ride time was 19 mins longer. Great pedal in park & environs.

Chiropractor is having success using active release to free up my hip and eliminate my pain. I have 1 more appointment this Thurs. and I am done hopefully pain free. And then on to my odyssey leaving this northern cold temps.

IMBA has recognized 41 rides as epic ( definition not understood), I have ridden 35 over my life. 5 new ones were just added, I have 3 new ones to pick up. New ones are Pinhoti trails in Dalton, GA, home of the Snake Creek gap Challenge. I met Rick a bike club officer and on the race committee. He let me sweep the course, 33 miles as a volunteer. He told me to always ride to the beer. At the race I scored local moonshine and met Grace from Huntsville. The other ride is Plains of Abrahams on MT ST Helens which I rode on this trip and once previously. Thanks to the locals in creating & maintaining their trails and sharing them w/ the riding public as an IMBA epic.

Mountain Biking new issue has a short blurb about Fuzzy, a guy who lives in a van w/ his wife & kid during the summer and travels to rides. He has never cut his beard. Me? I get my beard & hair trimmed about every 2 months and I am a full time traveler w/o a family.

Forecast is for precipitation through out the week here in Spokane. I will be leaving soon I hope. I am comfortable staying here, so far i have not been uninvited, there are more invites than i have responded to. I like visiting w/ old friends & buddies & I have met a few new people. I know the rides locally except for hidden gems that somebody shared w/ me. I have no research to perform. i just decide where & when I want to ride. traveling adds back in the road trip thing of where to ride, how to get there, where to stay, where to score a shower, and where to go next. Staying here requires less effort and uncertainties. I am not antsy to leave but I want to move on. I have 2 new pairs of brake pads and a full bottle of Hammer gel, no shopping uncertainties there.

Thurs the Chiropractor went to work on my hip, when i got off the table i walked almost w/ o pain. Said things got twisted over time. He made a few adjustments and then went after the tight muscles. Made 2 more appointments next week to finish me off.

Rode Beacon messing around.  Down near Boulder Beach I screwed around too much & Stuffed the front wheel and flung myself over the bars. My eyes plotted my trajectory onto the bulge of a rock right into my left rib cage. I fell that way. Big impact on left chest and a splatter on my left forearm. And I was tied up in the clipless pedals. I kicked the bike free and felt for damage. I took a short tentative breath to learn if my chest would rise. It did. I moved my left arm and it raised & turned like it should albeit sorely. I was afraid I might have joined Mars on the injured bench. I rode 2 step challenging hills to test my body. All sore things worked.

I drank a medicinal beer in the Esmeralda parking lot before heading to Mars house. Earlier in the day Rick said something about riding Moscow Mtn on Fri and I wanted to be all over that ride. I fixed a bulghur dish in my kitchen for Rick. He liked it. I did too.

Tom Zysk invited me to dinner and a driveway for Friday night. Rick cruched the time and temperature numbers and said if we leave @ 9:00AM we could ride a 4 hour ride and be back in Spokane @ 5:00. We drove out of the driveway right on a 9:00 schedule. perfect timing and completion of prep & loading tasks.

Moscow Mtn is to the North of Moscow, ID. Jim LaFortune negotiated w/ the timber company land owner to build mtn bike trails. I met Jim when he hosted me back a few years ago. Over the years I rode it several times while never finding the Cave trail. Rick sorted out the old map & the web updates and figured out a ride. Beautiful day, cold, blue skies, fall light. 24 miles, 4110′ 3 hours 35 min of riding time. We booked. Rick is a bit stronger and more technical rider than me but I was never too far behind. This ride was one of my best interms of trail. Much of the trail was in second growth dense cedar / hemlock forests, some places it was pretty dark. I took a few pictures but the flash chased the shadows away. The dark wasn’t quite as dark as the broadleaf forests of the east & midwest. Hard ride.

Made it back to Spokane 16 mins behind schedule.

Stopped @ Rosauers up on South Hill for Waldorf salad fixings. Tom grilled salmon. We goofed & carried on over several glasses of wine. After dinner I visited w/ my skis down in his basement. I told them next year they go back into play.

Dave, aka fafu, all the way from his Everett commute stopped by before he made his home. dave is one of maybe 15 people from old Boeing Spokane that got rehired by Boeing where they work during the week over in the Ouget Sound area and live weekends in Spokane. Future is brighter w/ Boeing than TCS who bought the plant from Boeing.

Sat Am the temp was 22 degree, approximately 20 degrees cold than normal. Slept w/ heater on low and 1 layer of down blanket. Visited w/ Tom awhile after bfast and then I took off for a ride @ Riverside. My hip is bearable. Beautiful day that needed to be ridden in. While I was getting ready @ the TH somebody called my name. i saw Bob & Julie who invited me along on their ride which was trail 25 in the park. I rode a few new sections & rode stuff I hadn’t ridden for maybe 18 years. Out @ 9 Mile there is some tough technical stuff on basalt, some big pieces anchored in the dirt and some softball size blobs that moved around. Bob has a carbon Ibis w/ the DW link rear end. he let me ride it and I headed for some basalt chunks. What I experienced was excitement for a new Turner Spot w/ the DW link. The suspension appeared to “float” over the rocks. Turner will give me $850 for my present Spot towards the new DW. My Boeing stock won’t quite cover the difference. Which piggy bank do I tap into for the new frame?

Spokane river:

Beautiful chilly tights & long fingered glove ride. Beer in the parking lot. A visit w/ Bicycle Butler for a shower. I gave Tim a stickie. He told me of his downhill race last Sunday @ Silver Mtn.

Forecast is for slightly warming temps. Stanley is still cold. I will be here until at least Friday morn. I will leave here before I get snowed in. I had a passing thought to contact 49 degrees ski area to do my trade work for my season ski pass in case I “decide” to spend the winter.