Interesting times as we head into Montana

 

We all hung out at Glen's Cafe as we let a rain shower pass on our way out of Missoula

We had beautiful weather in Missoula for our rest day.  I made a trip to REI to buy fenders for my bike looking at the rainy weather still in the forecast.  Several people had appointments at a bike shop to have work done.  I have become the unofficial bike mechanic for the trip.  

Last week, Kevin, one of our  group rolled into lunch with his bike barely moving and his belt (not a chain drive) nearly falling off.  He is riding a Priority Pinion transmission drive bike, which I happen to have a similar bike, which I have a love/hate relationship with.  Anyway, I know how to adjust the belt tension on that bike and took a look.  His rear axle was mostly unthreaded which was also a problem.  I got those 2 issues fixed and his brakes were rubbing.  So I checked them out and he had NO brake pad left.  He had a spare set of pads which were the wrong size.  That night I helped him order the brake pads for the bike and had them delivered to the hotel in Missoula.  He is now back on the road with us.

Along with the weather being a little unsettled, we also have had some staff issues.  The general consensus of the group is that we would not recommend this tour company to anyone else.  We are getting by, but the guides and cook are working their fannies off just to keep up.  There are organizational issues, planning issues and logistic issues.  Our head guide, Kelly quit in Missoula after yet another disagreement with the owners over something.  I would have put money down the cook would quit first.  He spends an inordinate amount of time unloading and reloading the trailer to get to his cooking equipment and food.  The trailer has no refrigeration so multiple old fashioned plastic ice chests that need ice every day.  And a regular kitchen cooking stove installed.  It is all pretty amateur and home brew.  Maybe good for a week long trip, but this is 11 weeks and a commercial outfit (supposedly).  The owner and husband (operations director) are now with us to keep the trip moving.  We'll see how all this goes.

 

Jocelyn getting ready to stop and put her rain pants back on.  She took them off less that 10 minutes ago under sunny skies.

The weather yesterday may be one of the most unusual days I have seen riding.  We had to climb up to Chief Joseph's pass about 100 miles south of Missoula.  In that 8 mile/2200' climb, I put on and took off my rain coat 5 times and went through 2 snow storms.  We came out of one snow storm and rode for a mile with a clear blue sunny sky.  So we all shed our rain coats and rode on, only to put it all back on in 10 minutes when the next snow storm hit and dropped the temperature 20 degrees.

The tour company decided to pick us all up as more snow squalls were in the area.  We were about 20 miles from our next hotel, so we were all glad to get to a warm room and a shower.

Entrance to the "Yellowstone" Dutton Ranch used in the TV series

As we left Darby, MT we were told to look for the "Yellowstone" ranch set just outside of town.  The making of the TV show had been a big boom to the local Darby economy.

Ranch house for "Yellowstone" as viewed from the highway

Today's ride from Wisdom to Dillion, MT was pretty uneventful.  It was a chilly morning start, but turned into a gorgeous day for riding in "Big Sky" country.

Riding out of Wisdom, MT

After 20 days on the road, I am at 934 miles of riding with 45,800 feet of climbing.  We'll be in Yellowstone National park in 3 days, so that will probably be my next post.

Group going up the last big climb before descending to Dillion, MT