MisSOULa

Well, let’s face it. Montana has not been kind to us. Montana has done us no favors. Okay, I can honestly say that leaving Montana behind as a not distant enough memory of a place I will never ride a bike through again has been really fun. So, at least we have that, Montana.

I’m being dramatic here. But our tour of Montana did start off badly, but actually our rest days in Missoula were fantastic. So, it must just be that bicycling though Montana is a tad draining, but otherwise it’s a perfectly fine state. And, I’d be willing to bet if you are a sane person with a vehicle driving through wide open “Big Sky Country” it’s marvelous. I can say the beer in Montana rocks. As a testament to this, Brooke allegedly-allegedly- doesn’t like beer, however I had to pry the pint of Cold Smoke from her hands at the end of the night at the Kettle House. Really, the beer here is outstanding.

Also, to be fair I must mention that we did have some really good luck here! A nice gentleman I met in West Yellowstone, Montana paid for us to spend a fabulous night at the lovely Courtyard Marriott where we drank up the TV like it was 1950 and we’d never watched one before. I met him while I was hunched over on the side of the road mid stomach cramp, desiccated from the good ole’ Montana wind. He approached me because his son and daughter-in-law do bicycle tours, and he wanted to hear all about our trip. He offered to take us out to dinner that night, but because I was having trouble inhaling due to the cramps, and had irrationally already begun calling all the people I know asking them to google various things such as “appendicitis” and “kidney stones”, we had to pass on dinner. (Turns out, dehydration can cause some wicked cramps!) So anyway, being the awesome guy that he is, he offered to get us a room in Missoula since we couldn’t have dinner that night.

Also, we lucked out again, and got to stay with a friend of a friend in her cute apartment right in downtown Missoula. Perfect! and, free! So, Montana...we’ll always have the memories of your torturous miserable winds which caused me to down too many of your wonderful tasty beers!

Melissa