Sunday, July 3, 2011

Again with the bears

Jim here,
    Well when I left we were in Missoula and resting, we went to adventure cycling and got several free ice creams and had our picture taken and added to the "wall" of pictures . Then after resupplying and getting repairs done and having breakfast with some fellow cyclists we met along the way we set out again, a bit late, we did 54 miles and stopped in the town of Ovanda Montana.
    If there ever was a friendly town Ovanda is it. We arrived and were quickly given instructions on where we could get everything we needed for our stay. We decided to go to the  cafe/bar in town and have  a beer. While there we met a very friendly man that bought us pitchers of beer and the woman that owned the cafe/bar ( called the Stray Bullet) gave us free chips and cheese and crackers, During this time a fellow rider Ronnie, septuagenarian, arrived and more free beer came. Needless to say we did not eat dinner and "slept" very soundly.
    Up the next morning and off for an 84 Mile day, our longest yet. We stayed at a private RV campground. There were no bathrooms so the price was only 5 dollars, the rest I will leave to your imagination. Up early for obvious reasons and off to Great Falls (44 miles) and a Motel night. So tomorrow we head out on a new map across eastern Montana, right now its beer and chips.
    Oh and about the title we left Ovanda with few options within our usual range of travel. There was talk of stealth camping (pulling off in some off road place and camping). But during the time we were in the small town of Lincoln we went to the rangers office to see what was U S Forest Service land to camp on and there was a large exhibit on the subject of grizzly bears!!! thus the long day. By the way Fred and Mimi tried to keep me from seeing the signs knowing my fear of bears, we rode to camping in town.

1 comment:

  1. Hi there, this is Ronnie!

    I met you guys going up Lolo Pass and again in Ovando at the Stray Bullet.

    Now it is 2015 and I was looking through a journal on Crazy Guy on a Bike and happened to see a photo of that guy we met at the Stray Bullet, Mitch from Lincoln Nebraska riding a touring bike with the extracycle rear wheel and a small gas motor to help him up the hills. Did you ever catch his name and address? I would like to say "hey" to that guy because he, like you, completed his trip. Unlike me who abandonded my cross country tour in Wolf Point Montana. :-(

    I am going to resume that trip this coming summer and reach the east coast for sure.

    blabberon@gmail.com

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