DAY 58 - IDAHO

I woke up again in the same place as the day before and it felt a little odd, I guess its been a while since I had a rest day!  I was still a little undecided if I wanted to continue on the TransAm or venture off onto the Lewis & Clark, so after I packed up and ate some breakfast and talked to the guys still hanging out at the house, I ventured back to the ACA headquarters to look at their maps of the Lewis & Clark trail.  I decided to pick them up and the guy who rung me out also said the Lewis & Clark route was more scenic than the TransAm, and that clinched it for me, I was going L&C.

I swung back to the house and couldn't find anyone, they must have all been off doing stuff.  I knew Reese had to go to a sports exchange place that didn't open till 11:30am, so I rolled out figuring we'd meet along the way since the TransAm and L&C both follow the same route for the next 150 miles into Idaho.

I biked back down to Lolo and stopped into the post office to pick up the "care package" Lyman sent me.  I was a little scared of what it contained, but I opened it and was greeted by: A snuggie, emergency whistle, bear bell, water bottle, spare tube, anti-chaffing rub, chocolate frosting, and cycling suppliments... At least there was no bowling ball or marble statue!  What am I going to do with a snuggie??

I packed all my new things into my panniers and took off towards the 2,000ft climb of the day, Lolo Pass.  It turned out to be a pretty easy climb as the elevation was spread out over many miles, and soon I found myself at the top and crossed into Idaho and pacific time!  On the decent side, I was meet with a "Warning - curvy road next 99 miles" and thought that it would be a great road to take a motorcycle on.

Since I left Missoula later in the morning and now was getting later in the afternoon, I cycled another 23 miles where there were some forest access camping sites that looked like a good place to camp. 

I turned into a camping area that I thought was the forest access but  it turned out to be a decently fancy private campground with general store, resturant, and cabins.  A guy sitting infront of the gas station said he was one of the owners and that cyclists could camp for free in the field behind the general store.  It beat $10/night forest access with latrines, so I graciously accepted.

I was feeling hungry and didn't want to eat the can of chili I had with me so I headed over to the resturant which had wifi (I had no cell service since I entered Idaho) and got a burger and fries.  When I finished up and headed back to the field, I found Reese there, he had also turned into the same place and took them up on their free camping offer.  We hung out for a bit before it got dark (seemed early since we were now an hour back) and I threw up the tent and fell asleep. 

Start: Missoula, MT
End: Powell, ID
Distance: 62.83 miles