Hello from Missoula, Montana! The last 24 hours have been a day of firsts, which is ironic considering that our trip is getting closer and closer to being over. Yesterday was our first day of over 120 miles (124, to be exact!), our first night ride (a hair-raising ride on a U.S. highway into Missoula, lit only by occasional headlights and the stars), and our first night spent with someone we met on the road (a lovely couple going on a 5-day bike ride told us about their daughter who goes to college in Missoula, and she has been kind enough to let us camp on their lawn, and use their showers and laundry!).
After Jackson, we spent a couple of days in the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. Sitting at the Old Faithful Inn (a couple of fellow cross-country bikers we met along the way let us crash with them in the Inn – a beautiful old lodge), watching Old Faithful go off from the patio, it struck us a very strange way to experience nature. Even though we were in a National Park, it seemed a lot more constructed and artificial than when we were biking through the mountains and rivers of Montana the next day, most of which was privately owned rangeland.
Katie and I are excited to take some time to explore Missoula today – with a population of 57,000 or so, it’s the biggest town we have been in since Pueblo, Colorado. The girl we are staying with told us that it’s considered the progressive destination for the Dakotas and Wyoming, as well as Montana. So now we’ll able to test our theory about how towns change based on what they’re surrounded by – does that make Missoula “bluer” or “redder”? (if those terms apply at all…)
As the trip gets closer and closer to being over, Katie and I keep trying to think if we have reached any conclusions about the country or ourselves. I think we are increasingly realizing that, if anything, the trip has only opened up more questions and, above all, more possibilities – for where we can live, what we can do, who we can meet, etc. But we still have another couple of weeks to make some grand discoveries – we’ll keep you posted!
missoula is BOSS! Boise is also really progressive. but in idaho. so less of a thing, i guess.
Thanks for the postcard, Rhiannon. You are my hero!
Keep up the good work. I love following your journey.
Say hi to Montana for me!
You girls rock.
Your travels sound amazing.
Love you!
Don’t stop twittering just bc you stop cycling! I love your comments / observations on life as it passes you by. I read them every morning – don’t stop, Katie!
Congratulations for everything! I will be inspired by you as I lazily bike in Vermont next week (I haven’t touched one of those two-wheeled things in a year).
Wow! You are amazing.
Have you reached the Pacific yet, slow pokes??
You guys are too awesome. Keep it up!