In Memory of Warmer Summers

Hamilton, MT to Lolo Hot Springs, MT

Friendly horn taps: 3

Rude horn honks: 1

Near-miss “brush-back passes”: 1

Miles: 65

Total miles so far: 3,807

The Bitterroot River as we leave Hamilton

First, two housekeeping notes:

1. We are headed into Idaho tomorrow and my information is that I will not be able to post this blog but very intermittently as we will be quite remote going near the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness.  This may last a few days.

2.  If Anne Marie Irizarri is still following the blog, I want to post for your brother, but the picture I have will not work.  Can you please ship a jpeg photo to carl2ride@gmailDOTcom?  Thanks.

We left Hamilton today and made our way north to Lolo and then turned west into the Bitterroot Mountains.  We are approaching the Idaho border and will cross it tomorrow, along with topping out Lolo Pass.  Our mileage tells me we are within a thousand miles of our projected mileage for the trip, and this is quite a milestone for us.

I am exceedingly proud of Sallie and her efforts to make this ride enjoyable, and her determination to make the trip a success.  As one rider put it, “I can only think of perhaps three people in the world I can make it through a trip like this without killing the other person.”  Sallie has been the best companion in a tough jorney, but in some ways, we’ve been doing this for more than 13 years.

Into the Bitterroot Mountains

Today we ran across several cyclists going the opposite direction and we spoke with a few.  There are enough of them at this point that if we stopped with each group or cyclist, we may not finish our own day’s ride.  This makes sense, as the cyclists that start from the west find it too cold and snowy to begin much earlier, particularly this year.

Fred and Bill. Bill is going from Canada to Denver and Fred joined him for a portion of the ride.

When we saw Fred and Bill, they were hammering along with a tail wind. This is Bill's rear wheel, pulling a Bob Trailer. Note the carbon spokes.

This is Jose from Chicago. He's going from Seattle to Boston, to Florida, to San Diego, to Seattle!

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Tomorrow’s ride is dedicated to Don Leppert

Don Leppert

Don Leppert, from Parma, Idaho was killed in the middle of the early morning hours on February 19, 2005 while delivering papers by a drunk driver.  Don’s death took place on his wifes’s birthday.  He was 42 years old.