Day 79, Clearwater National Forest to Syringa, Idaho.

Our camp in Syringa.

The town of Lowell. That right, This is the whole town. Population 23.

We met these three going the other way. Sorry, I forgot their names. They sold their house, and are riding their bikes around the country for two years, or till the money runs out. The wife is a school teacher, so the kid gets home schooled along the way. Good luck you three. I will check out your blog (Tripleontour.blogspot.com) when I get the chance.

The river has beaches. Nice ones too.

This is inside of the Historical Ranger Station we visited.

Hey Lisa, I think I see salmon in there.

There were a few of these Bridges crossing the river. They lead to hiking trails on the other side.

And here we are folks, pretending to go hiking. As if 4,000 miles of bike riding isn't enough.

The river from the bridge.

Late in the afternoon, we were still riding.

Our route is part of the Louis and Clark Trail.

This is the general store next to the lodge. We pay for showers here.

Inside the Loshca Lodge dinning room where we ate dinner.

Trees next to our camp.

The gang getting ready for dinner. Lisa and I go to the lodge.

Lisa, on her lunch break.

The bridge we crossed. We just wanted to see what was on the other side.

It rained last night. Cool shot, huh?

The whole day saw views like this.


Day 79, Clearwater National Forest to Syringa, Idaho. “Down Hill All The Way”. 73.57 miles.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009. Last night we shared a camp site with the Adventure Cycling group. The camp ground was full, so they were nice enough to invite us to join them. Located next to the Loshca River, and surrounded by thick, dense untouched forest land. A great place to spend a few days unwinding. We however did not have that opportunity. Our time is getting short, and with just under 600 miles to go, we were on a tight schedule if we were to make it to the coast by our august 10th target date.

We gained an hour yesterday due to the time change. We are now on Pacific standard time. Because of that, we got up an hour earlier than usual, and had more time getting our stuff ready for the days ride. Besides, the Lodge dinning room didn’t open till 7:00. We were on our way by 8 o’clock. The ride today would be by far the easiest we’ve had yet. Once into the valley over Lolo Pass, the route fallows the Loshca River. I was told that it is a 100 mile down hill ride. The longest in the nation. The grade is so slight, that you almost don’t notice it until it flattens out completely and you have to pedal. We made real good time today, covering the first 41.5 miles in four hours counting all the breaks we took on the way down to take pictures and you know what. At noon, we stopped at the Loshca Ranger Station. A historical site dating back from 1934. It is here where the headquarters for the fire brigade would monitor fires in the area. They incorporated 14 fire observation posts all tied in to the headquarters via telephone where they would then dispatch fire fighter to contain the blaze. Almost all of which were started by lightning.

The scenery today was about the best we’ve have so far. The valley is prime forest with little to no human intervention. If not for the paved road and National Forest camp sites, you wouldn’t think anyone set foot there. The scenery was so magnificent, that at times I got bored, and found myself yawning and day dreaming. Traffic was very light. Road construction in several places caused cars to back up to allow on coming traffic through. This meant that we would have up to a half hour at a time with zero traffic to worry about.

From the ranger station, it was another 35 more miles to Syringa. And it was all down hill with the same wonderful scenery we had been enjoying all day. A short distance before Syringa, we stopped in the town of Lowell for snacks for tomorrow. The town is so small, that the only thing there is a gas station that acts as a grocery store, a six room motel that has a cafe. The population there is 23. From there, we only had 7 miles to Syringa. Syringa is not exactly a town, there is a camp sight were we are staying, and a motel and café. So once again we have no Internet or cell phone service. Aloha to you all for joining us. And thank you again for all your prayers and well wishes. They really do help. Your cyber host, Ted.

Day 78, Missoula, Montana to Clearwater National Forest, Idaho.

Welcome to Idaho. Potatoes, potatoes, potatoes. Yippieeee!!!

This trail ended here, at the bank of the Loshca River near our camp site.

This is the Idaho side of Lolo Pass leading down to the Lashca River.

I forget. This is either the Lashca River, or the Clearwater River. They change names once they cross into the next county. Weird.

The gang at the Lolo Hot Springs taking a break.

Meet Sarah, a bike racer from Western Oregon.

A constant reminder of the hazards of the road. Never a day passed when we did not see a few of these.

A low angle shot of the Loshca River from near our camp. The water is so clear and cold.

Louise and Clark along with their Indian guides are on the ledge above the benches.

This must be the Clearwater River. There were so many of them I gave up keeping track.

This Lodge was about a half mile from our camp site. We ate there, and a shower cost $2.50.

The Montana side of Lolo Pass. This is the side we climbed up.

Lolo Peak is the one in the middle with the clouds around it. It's almost 10,000 feet high.

Lolo Hot Springs has a lodge, restaurant, hot springs, and a gift shop. Oh, and also an RV camp ground.


Day 78, Missoula, Montana to Clearwater National Forest, Idaho. “Heavenly Beauty”. 59.61 miles.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009. Missoula was a nice break from our day to day push, trying to make it to the coast by the August 10th target date. Although we didn’t do much, we were able to meet some of the dedicated folks at the Adventure Cycling Headquarters. Being such a big town, we decided to take city transportation instead of trying to navigate this strange place by bicycle.

This morning we set out under over cast skies, and cool riding conditions. The adventure Cycling group we had been riding with for the last few days were on a similar schedule. It was good to be riding with a group again for a change. It made navigation a little easier, and made our presence a little more noticeable to passing vehicles. We had to back track about 12 miles to get back on route, as Missoula is actually off route. Once on track, we made our way on route 12 toward Lolo Pass. This would be our only major climb of the day. The terrain today was really breath taking, as we made our way through mountainous and forested areas. This meant miles and miles of towering pine trees with mountain streams and spectacular scenery. To add to our enjoyment, it was mostly flat with long stretches of slightly down hill grade. We stopped at Lolo Hot Springs at about noon. There was a restaurant there, but we weren’t hungry, so we decided to skip lunch till we reached the summit of Lolo Pass Lolo Pass would be a four miles 6 to 7 % grade climb that was one of the easiest we’ve had in days. With the cloud cover, we were able to sustain our energy out put with out draining ourselves. On top of that, the traffic was very light. We only took one break on our way up.

At the top of the climb, we crossed the Montana-Idaho boarder. We are now in state number 9. Only one more to go. We were feeling pretty good, and still not hungry from our big breakfast, so we decided to keep going. The descent down the other side was a joy. Our senses were bombarded by snow capped mountains, deep river valleys, and pristine forested country side. I looked for wild life, but did not see anything interesting the whole day. We arrived at The Clearwater national forest camp ground shortly after 2 o’clock, and stopped at the Lodge for our lunch. I had the Cowboy burger with fries. We are now set up right next to the Adventure Cycling group for the night. All in all, it was a great day for riding, and are hoping for a good nights rest. Thank you all for staying with us. We miss Molokai, and can’t wait to get back home to our families and friends. Aloha, Ted.

Day 77, Missoula, Montana.

Click on the map to enlarge. We are in Missoula, Montana.

This is next weeks elevation profile. We are out of the high county, but this will give you an idea of the climbing we will be doing the next week or so.

Lisa in front of the Adventure Cycling headquarters.

Walking through the city of Missoula. Population, 55,000.

Part of Broadway where our motel is located.

This is one of the bikes that did the original Trans America crossing in 1976.

These are photos of the 2009 Trans America riders that stopped by to have their pictures taken so far. We recognized a number of them that we meet along the way.

Here is a guy who had nothing better to do than to make it seem like he was doing something special by ruining this shot of a classic bike. although I must say he is a pretty darn good looking fellow, don't you think?


Day 77, “Rest Day In Missoula”.

Monday, July 27, 2009. The Bel Aire Motel isn’t the fanciest joint in the city, but it is quite comfortable, and is located close to restaurants and he heart of town. Missoula is a large city with approximately 55,000 people. I Googled Walmart, and found that there are four of them within the city limits.

Since it was our rest day, we woke up late, caught up on some e-mail, and just sort of hung around till we got bored. Not wanting to ride today, we decided to go down to The Adventure Cycling Headquarters not too far from here. We actually took the long way around since we didn’t have a map, and was too lazy to ask directions. We ended up at this outfitter center and got our bearings straight. Adventure Cycling maintains a staff of individuals to meet the needs of touring cyclists the world over. I was surprised at how large the operation really is. They are a non-profit organization with a network of bicycle routes and personal dedicated to the sport of cycle touring. Inside the main office were the core people who made cycle touring the modern day adventure sport that it is today. We signed the guest book, and was planning on getting our pictures taken for the 2009 crossing, but an Adventure Cycling group had just arrived, and the place was busy, so Lisa and I decided to skip that part. On a wall fronting the reception area, were the photos of the riders who had stopped in while on their journey. We recognized a number of them we had met in the previous days. Some of them had already completed their journey, and were probably back home telling of all the experiences they had during the months past. Soon Lisa and I will be rounding the last corner ourselves, and will be flying home as well. As long and as hard as this journey is, I know I will savor the memories for a life time.

After leaving Adventure Cycling, we went over to the bus station where we ate lunch while waiting for the number 2 route bus. That’s the one that would take us to the REI store, and Target. The bus system in Missoula encompasses just about the entire city. And eventually end up here at the main terminal. The route took us through neighborhoods and industrial areas, as well as the many shopping centers spread out through out the city. It looked like it was going to rain at any minute, so I didn’t bother to take too many pictures. After all, if you’ve seen one city, you’ve seem them all.

We bought a few needed items. Lithium batteries for my GPS, camera, and flashlight, as well as tooth paste and energy supplements. We were not sure about the services for the next few days, since we would not be passing through any large towns. After spending a couple of hours shopping, we jumped back on the bus and headed back to our motel. I was thinking about jumping on the bike for a short ride around the area since the sun finally came out, but thought I’d better take advantage of the rest day because of the climbing coming up in the days ahead. We are holding up pretty well, and have joined up with a self supported, guided Adventure Cycling group for a couple of days. We are not on their schedule, but by coincidence are staying at the same places as they are for the last few days. It’s actually nice riding with a group, cause we are more noticeable to traffic, even if we are spread out through out the day.

I would like to take the time to thank all of you who have been following our progress these past two and a half months. It is exciting to relay to you all the things I have seen and experienced. It is impossible to bring all of it to life in such limited time and space as this blog. Of the thousands of pictures I have taken, only a few was I able to share because of limited band width, and time. But one day months from now, I will have gone through them all, and taken the best ones to share with those who would like to see them.

Not sure when I will be able to get Internet again, but will update the first chance I get. Thank you again for all your support. You are what make this journey so special. Aloha, Ted.

Day 76, Darby to Missoula, Montana.

Antique wagon for sale in down town Darby.

Here's something every family could use. A portable jail for when the kids get out of hand,

How's this for starting off the New Year with a bang?

Barns are cool. The older, the better.

Mr T's. an all purpose shopping place. You can get farm equipment, hunting and sporting goods, and a convenience store to boot.

The mountains from the bike path.

A mountain lake nestled in a meadow along the route.

I tried photographing the telephone pole, but the mountains got in the way.

This Rocky Mountain Big horn was made out of horse shoes.

There is a wild fire started from lightning that they can't get to, so they are monitoring it hoping it'll burn itself out.

One of the many farms that dot the country side.

There are ski slopes on the mountain to the right. If you click on the photo, you can see the different runs.

This fake Moose was for sale, but I didn't have any place to put um.

Down town Darby from outside our eatery.

The Darby Logging Days are held at that park across the street. We missed it by a week.

The mighty Clark river.

Our camp site at Darby with the Adventure Cycling group.

The side walk was jammed pack with all these stuff for sale.


Day 76, Darby to Missoula, Montana. “Easy Day For A Change”. 68.54 miles.

Sunday, July 26, 2009. So far we have traveled 3,558.19 miles on our bikes. We are in Missoula, Montana tonight., and will take a much needed rest day here tomorrow before pushing on into Idaho.

Darby is a pretty neat little town. it has that real western look to it. Christmas lights adorned the streets even though it was late July. I figured they just left them up cause it was just too much trouble going through the whole process again every year. We left our camp site at 8:30 this morning after a huge breakfast of biscuits and gravy with a side order of diced potatoes. The road today was fairly flat. It was by far one of the easiest days we’ve had in quite some time. We rode 25 miles in less than two hours. We were in lower altitude now. Under 4,000 feet. So the terrain returned once again to the dryer and wide open plains type surrounding. As we gradually made our way into the farm lands, things began to get greener. There were more alfalfa fields, and little communities along the way. Traffic was light, and the air temperature was in the mid 70’s. We were already in Stevensville by lunch time, and had already gone 40 miles. It felt great, knowing that the afternoon would be a fairly short one. We had another treat today. we got to ride on a bike path. Nearly 20 miles in all. The bike path was a wide one, at least 10 or 12 feet wide. And closed to all but bicycle and pedestrian traffic. We were able to ride with out the worry of getting runned over, or blown off the road by those huge logging trucks. It allowed us to pay less attention to the road, and more on the scenery.

Before we knew it, we had arrived at Missoula. This is quite a large town, over 50,000. So finding our way around wasn’t that easy. The map didn’t have the needed detail to guide us directly to our destination. But leave it to Lisa to figure these things out. And as usual, she was able to get us there without too much difficulty.

We are spending the night at the Belaire Motel. This was great. Large rooms, with plenty of space for our bikes and gear. And an Internet that works. Good night everybody, going to take it easy a bit, Ted.