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We made it to idaho! It’s already much greener. Took a day off yesterday. Greg has a bit of a cold.

Hello,

We’re feeling much better – we still have a few remnants of our colds, but for the most part, our legs are back to being our weakest link. Since our last post, we’ve ascended and descended two large passes. First, we climbed the White Bird Hill, in Idaho. It was rather tough. Lots and lots of switchbacks, and no shade! At the top, a couple in an rv gave us some water and told us all about the tandem recumbent.

In between, we rode through an awesome river valley, between Kooskia and Lolo Pass. It was full of big trees, and we followed the the river all day. We had our first cloud cover in three weeks. We also started running into a ton of other bike tourists. We hadn’t seen any for the whole trip, but in the last 3 days, we’ve probably run into at least 25-30, going in each direction – mostly because this is the confluence of two Adventure Cycling routes. There was one group of 5 guys who are on a 7900 mile epic ride – i think it’s portland->vancouver->eugene->St. Louis->Chicago->Maine->DC.
Next, we went over Lolo Pass, half in Idaho, half in Montana. It really wasn’t too bad. There’s an awesome visitor’s center at the pass, complete with free hot chocolate and coffee. We hung out there for a little bit and chatted with other bike tourists while sipping on our hot beverages. We decided it was time to get back on the road when it started pouring (our first rain in three weeks!) and there were rumors that it was going to hail! (It didn’t). So we booked it on into Missoula, where we are graciously being hosted by Rai’s friends, Juniper and Ryan.
We may take a day or a half day off today to run errands such as buying more soap and getting my headset tightened. We’re actually just about half way there. We just uploaded a bunch of photos, so you can check those out! See ya down the road!

Had a lovely time in missoula! We really appreciate the great hospitality. saw batman last night, creepy. Now We’re back in the saddles, making good time. Excited about big sky country. Hoping to see lots more buffalo. Haven’t eaten nearly enough pie. Really wanted to see moose, but didn’t. Maybe we still will.

Pie and arnold palmer break

we found another tourist town. We are eating in an old train car. there was a lady paid to stand at gas station and tell people about the specials. May have been an old set for dances with wolves. Barely avoided a big storm last night. It’s been windy in the wrong direction, but We’re about to turn, so it should get better. Probably be in pierre tonight. I’m told It’s peer in south dakotan.

in the home stretch, with two bike days left! Did century yesterday, at 104 miles i beat my longest day by 2 miles.

Greg bought a new tent for the trip, and was so excited that he set it up in the living room, so that we could test it out!

We made it to Portland! Greg used all of his driving muscles, and in a marathon of vehicle power, we made it up here yesterday.

We’re already taking a day off to spend time with our friends in PDX. Portland is full of delicious vegan rueben sandwiches and I’m really looking forward to voodoo donuts. Ashlee has been showing us around town, and took us to the Multanomah County Bike Faire. We spent the afternoon watching a man in clown face in a chicken suit ride a recumbent, tall bike jousting, and a rowdy game of footdown that a 10 year old girl won.

Tomorrow we’ll hit the open road and cross our fingers that we’ll have a tail wind all the way to Hood River.

But don’t worry, we ducked inside just in time and are eating a big basket of onion rings.

poor bike