Into the heart of the country

Hello friends!

We are now in Livingston, Montana, and a lot has happened during the past two weeks. We took a day off in Missoula, but it was a busy one and we only managed to post pictures, without any narrative. So here is a review of the last couple of weeks on the road:

We rolled out of Walla Walla July 5th, after stopping (and eating!) at the great Walla Walla Farmer's Market. It was full of great produce- especially nice onions, berries, cherries and apricots. We headed out across the farmlands again. We stayed the next night at the fairgrounds in Pomeroy, WA, where we met Ellie and Dylan, a couple who were riding from St. Louis to Portland, OR. We also met the Wolf Family, who were having a reunion and thoroughly enjoying a cover band's renditions of "cheeseburger in paradise" and "werewolves of London." The next day we were in Idaho, crossing the border in Lewiston (where we crossed the Snake and Clearwater Rivers) and heading almost immediately up into the High Plains area. This was the beginning of the Nimiipuu Homelands (called the Nez Perce by whites) who are the nation who have lived in this area of the country for thousands of years. They greatly aided the Lewis and Clark party, who never would have survived the Bitterroot Mountains without them. Sadly, much of the history we read about the Nimiipuu (we stop at every single highway historic marker) spoke of them in the past tense, though their presence here is still strong, despite the fact that they were chased out of the area by the US army in the late 1800's. We learned a great deal about the tragic voyage the Nimiipuu made towards Canada in an attempt to continue their peaceful way of life. Many tribal members never saw their homeland again after this, as most either died or were sent to Oklahoma reservations.
We unfortunately didn't get to stop at the current tribal headquarters in Lapwai, ID. You can read more: http://www.seeya-downtheroad.com/LewisAndClark/NezPerceStory.html.

We came down out of the High Plains to begin our trek along the Clearwater River. During this leg of the trip, we pedaled in the shade of cedars, ponderosa pines, lodgepole pines and various firs. The shade was a great way to take our minds off the fact that we would be climbing for the next two days. Along the clearwater we saw rafters and kayakers out for day paddles but very few cyclists. We came to accept the masses of motor bikers as kind. We spent the evening on the Clearwater at the Riverdance Lodge. They host an array of white water activity and have a few camp sites in back of the lodge where we stayed. After a hot day of pedaling up hill, the ability to dip in the river at their raft take-out was welcome. It was cold enough that we didn't even have to ice down our aching joints.

The following day of climbing took us to the fork where the Lochsa R. met the Clearwater R. The Lochsa would accompany us almost the rest of the the way to our first big Rocky Mountain Pass (Lolo Pass). It dazzled us with white water, cascades and many rapidly flowing tributaries. It was recently classified as one of the nation's "wild and historic" rivers. Due to the classification, however, many tourists and river riders are beginning to call it home and leaving more of a mark on the landscape.

Along the Lochsa we stopped at the Lochsa Historical Ranger Station and met Frank Fowler. He is an ex-smoke jumper who was full of historical knowlege. He told us all about the history of the rangers and their roles as protectors of the forests and managers of the wilder territories. He wrote a book called High Mountain, Two Manner, a recounting of his time in college as a smoke jumper in Selway Bitterroot Forest. A day later as we summitted the Lolo Pass we ran into Frank again where he shared some of his home-made antelope jerky with us. We managed to polish that off before we even got down off the mountain.

After the summit, we entered Montana. Montana introduced us to a different type of mountain. The peaks became rockier and less rolling than we saw in the Selway. We cruised more than 20 mi downhill to complete a day of over 100 miles all the way into Missoula. Missoula was great!

As soon as we got to town we realized we needed a place to stay as there was no camping close to town. After a few phone calls to friends in the area we were directed to Lane, Dylan and Diana's house. They were more than hospitable and were nice enough to put us up in their 1950's aluminum trailer. This was the most unique evening we had spent so far. We were introduced to the music of the Inhumans, a band composed of two of Diana's sons and friends, and Lane's group, the zookeeperz.

The following day we headed to a bike shop to look for a replacement for Anna's ailing bottom bracket. There, we ran into Joel, a friend of Anna's from camp counseling 5 years ago. He demanded we stay another night with him in Missoula. It was Matt's birthday so we figured it was a good idea. We made a great dinner, had a night on the town and got to hang out with a bunch of U of M tri-athletes: Ali, Matt, Ben, Tyler and Joel of course. Matt was in heaven talking shop with all the bike-heads. The Missoula Farmer's Market was amazing- they actually have three markets in their downtown all at once: a craft market, a food market and a produce market. The majority of the farmers are from the local Hmong and Russian communities, and had lots of delicious potatoes, peas, carrots, squash and herbs for sale.

The next couple of days out of Missoula were along the Blackfoot and Clearwater Rivers, north towards Helena and across the Great Divide at Flesher Pass. We had to stop for a flock of sheep crossing the road on the way up! This area is the traditional homeland of the Blackfeet and Selish and Kootenai tribes, who were nomadic tribes that followed the Buffalo herds.

We arrived in Bozeman on Monday evening, after crossing the Missouri River just outside of Helena. We passed through Three Forks, where the Madison, Gallatin and Jefferson Rivers come together to form the headwaters of the Missouri. Bozeman is a college town with a great co-op store, and some really nice camping in Hyalite Canyon close to town. We met a family at the campground who were from Bozeman "forever" that were having a birthday party. They invited us to eat with them and we gratefully accepted! Their kindness, and that of another visitor who asked us if we needed anything was a great reminder to us about the importance of reaching out when you have the ability to share.

We are now in Livingston, MT, enjoying the hospitality of Jessie, Chieko and Amelie. Our friends Liv and Zach and driving up from Idaho to take us to Yellowstone National Park today! We have been very fortunate.