I was very happy to have a bed last night, but even happier that the kitty decided to cuddle for most of the night. We had some super yummy cereal with milk and cut up strawberries on top for breakfast. After playing with McLovin for a little while, we got ready to go. It looked pretty stormy over the mountains to the west of us as we were riding, but luckily we didn't get poured on, just a few sprinkles. It was pretty chilly this morning, but soon enough, the sun came out and we had to peel some layers off. For the first 30 miles or so of our ride we followed a bike path that the bike shop, and our Warm Shower's Hosts had told us about. We were so glad that there was a bike path that paralleled the busy double lane road, and that it covered so much distance. After riding along for about 30 miles we were in a little town called Florence, where we decided to stop for lunch. Since we were so hungry we planned on having mac and cheese, but then when we found a picnic table right next to an IGA grocery store, we decided to get something different. The weather was perfect for hot dogs. So we boiled up some hot dogs and got a bag of potato chips to go with it. Not at all a healthy meal, but at that point we felt like we could use the calories (and boy was it yummy). After lunch, we only had a few more miles left before the bike path ended. When we reached the town of Lolo, we were forced to get on that busy road for about 10 miles. Soon enough though, we were riding into Missoula! We were pretty excited because this was the big turning point in our trip that we planned on. Since before we left Buffalo, we knew that we had to be to Missoula by June 20th at the very latest in order to make it to AK on time (we read a book about a guy who rode his bike from Missoula to AK about 30 years ago and it took them around 60 days back when there were hundreds of miles of gravel road and they didn't have as good of equipment). However, since we left 3 weeks earlier than we planned on, we knew we would have plenty of time. Our first destination in town was the Adventure Cycling Headquarters, especially since we knew that it would be closing at 5. We made it there just in time with about 15 minutes to spare. Just like we were told they would do, they took our picture to add to their "wall of fame" and we got free ice cream! We signed their cyclist's log and were enlightened as we looked through the book at all of the people who had stopped through on their tours. While looking at the "wall of fame" we saw pictures of Philip and Evan that we met a few days ago, along with a guy who had also stayed with Cassie and Tim, he's been touring for 14 years! In the headquarters there was the National Geographic Article about the people who founded Adventure Cycling, one of which was one of our Warm Shower's Hosts on our NY-FL trip a couple years ago! I was excited and said "Look here is the picture of Lys!" The receptionist was interested to know how we knew Lys and said that one of the other founders would probably like to talk to us. Since we figured we would be taking at least one day off here so we could get the bikes in tip-top shape before the hard part of the trip begins, we said we would stop back tomorrow when he was there. As we were sitting outside of the headquarters eating our ice cream, we met a nice couple who had stopped by the headquarters too. The man was getting ready to ride across country on the Northern Tier Route and was planning on leaving from the west cost in a day or so. His wife was a kindergarten teacher and was a little nervous about him going on this tour. We had some great conversation about his upcoming adventure and tried to offer some tips from our experience that might be of use to him. Since it looked like it was about to downpour any minute, we figured we better call our Warm Shower's Host, Brent, for the evening and figure out how to get there. Luckily we made it to his house before it started to rain. When we got there, there was another touring cyclist, Amy, who was going to be staying there too!! She was riding from Boise, ID to Jackson, WY with a couple of her friends. Her friends weren't supposed to be in until the next evening because she ended up renting a car for a little bit so she could have an extra rest day because she somehow hurt her knee. Another surprise we found out when we got there was that the owner of the house, Bruce, enjoys hosting Jazz Shows and that they were getting ready for one that evening! What a wonderful treat! We got cleaned up and settled just in time for people to start arriving for the concert. Bruce made an amazing spread of food for dinner for everyone that came to the show. There were probably around 40 people there, if not more. The show was absolutely incredible! The musicians that were playing were Dan Tepfer (piano, sax) and Ben Wendel (sax, melotica, bassoon). These guys were so talented, and a good portion of what they played was without music. We chit-chatted with a lot of great people before the show and during intermission (during which there were some tasty desserts!). After the majority of the crowd had left, the musicians and a couple other music students from Missoula played/ sang some more songs and did some improv. It was pretty amazing to see a bunch of musically inclined people putting their talents together in a spur of the moment type situation. The good news is that we get to see these guys play again tomorrow night in another concert. Its pretty amazing that we ended up getting to see two jazz concerts while we were here, that was definately not something we expected to get to experience. If Joe's spoke hadn't broken and we hadn't gotten that ride a few days ago, we would have missed out. But that's why I always say everything always happens for a reason. By the time Joe and I went to bed it was after midinight. What an amazing day! We rode 51.74 today.
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