Cross Country Recumbent
Saturda July 26, 2003. Missoula MT to Philipsburg MT
Start time
|
8:22 am
|
End time
|
3:00 pm
|
Miles
|
81.7
|
Time pedaling
|
6:06
|
Average speed
|
13.3
|
| Odometer |
988
|
Yesterday in Missoula was nice. I got my errands done, saw a
movie, and generally tried to relax. The odometer reading has
jumped a bit because I road 25 miles or so tooling around Missoula.
Today I followed the alternate route. It turns out that 93 is now
open, but you need an escort car to get through. I don't think
they would've been happy to see a bike! Plus the smoke would make
riding hard. Interstate 90 is just like you'd imagine it, except
much louder. You don't realize how your car shelters you from the
noise. The shoulder was good basically the whole way, but it
takes a lot of concentration because you have to constantly avoid
debris (glass, spare bits of truck tire, etc). It was a gradual
climb and a bit of a headwind, so progress was slow. However, it
wasn't as slow as this guy's progress:
He's on a recumbent tadpole trike, pulling a massive trailer. At
the time this picture was taken he was making approximiately 1.5 miles
per hour. It is hard to tell in the picture, but he's actually
reading something while riding. The guy seemed totally content to
go his own speed, and he obviously has everything he needs to live
tucked in that trailer. I wonder: is this the nomad, or someone who was
inspired by him? I didn't get a chance to talk to him because we
were separated by I-90.
Eventually I reached Drummond and turned South on 1. 1 is
perfectly flat, but not level; it climbs the whole way up to
Philipsburg. There is supposed to be a campground at Georgetown
lake further up the road, but I was too pooped to keep going, so I
decided to see what was in Philipsburg. Sometimes I get down
about being on the road solo, but days like this are sure fun. It
turns out that Philipsburg is an old mining town which now trades
mostly on charm. It has a very pretty downtown, that was peopled
with all kind of folks who had turned out for the "Flint creek
Valley days", an annual event.
After perusing downtown, I worked my way to the city park, scoping for
camp sites. I think strictly speaking I'm not supposed to
ber here, but camping options are limited. They do have a public
shower down the road, so I got to get clean. At the park I met up
with Thad and Su from Great Falls MT. They are both musicians
(cello and piano respectively) who love the outdoors and had been
camping in the area. They were making dinner in the park, and
eventually offered me some. Hot home-cooked food beats what I
had, so I joined them and we had a good time.
They told me about a show they were going to see at the old Opera house
here. It sounded good so I went too. The opera house was
built in 1896. A relatively small troup put on an outstanding show
consisting of a play (A Royale Deception); and a series of Vaudeville
acts. I got the impression that this is the one showing of
the play, done for the Valley Days. It was exceptionally fun.