I really left Spokane! Drove onto I-90 East bound for Missoula, MT. Pretty day for a drive.

Made rattlesnake rec area to a packed parking lot. Found a spot. Geared up & pedaled away. On first baby chain ring climb a new squeak kicked in. Made big climb and stopped to fix the source. Found the crank was loose or the bottom bracket. I tightened up the crank bolts but things were still loose. Decided to return to van and use the crank tightening tool. I snugged the crank down w/ the tool but it was still loose. I was concerned if I really reefed on the crank tightening that the crack would rub against the bottom bracket shell. packed up & drove to bike shop in town for advice. I didn’t finesse my encounter w/ a shop sales person. he tightened the crank arm tighter than I did and the looseness went away. he said the threads bottom out before the crank will  rub against the bracket.

Missoula is mtn time costing me an hour of day light. I bought a home made ice cream cone and drove South; ride day was short. Driving S on 93 I saw forest fire smoke in the sky. Turns out that there is a fuel reduction burn going on @ Lake Como where i planned to ride tomorrow. I walked down to lake thru smoldering or burning wood. Lake basin is very smokey. The lake is way down leaving the boat launch just for your imagination. Safe to ride but inhalation of smoke is a concern.

Temperature @ 5:50 in Darby was 74. High peaks to west of highway, the Bitterroot Divide, are dusted w/ snow. I’m camped off a logging spur road @ 4610′ w/ the door open wearing a sweater. Forecast is for rain for next several days.

Tomorrow is over Lost Trail Pass. I might stop @ a commercial hot spring this side of pass for a soak. the last time I was there my VW bus would not start and was towed back to Missoula. So nice to be driving this Mercedes Benz vehicle and having confidence that it will always run. The bus was choice fun but I was always jittery with it because I feared it wouldn’t start or would break down. I have tow truck driver stories to support.

Randy, I am camped @ UTM 11T, 714644 / 5103281. No conversion to your engineering values.

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.