Today was the hardest day of the trip by far. It was sorta like climbing Mt Adams on a bicycle. We road 61 miles and the first 53 miles was all very steep uphill. I pushed my bike the last 5 miles to the summit with 6+ % grade. Several concerned people stopped and asked if I wanted a ride to the top, but I told them I needed to do it otherwise my boys would call me a wimp. 🙂 I will sleep really well tonight I am sure.

We entered into Montana when we went over Lolo Summit, and tomorrow will go through Missoula and head towards Great Falls. Tomorrow we bike 75 miles but will be relatively flat with no mountains to climb. That will be so nice. In a couple of days the mountains will be behind us, and hopefully we will have the wind at our backs instead of a head wind.

The new seat that I got is working great. Still some soreness, but not near as bad. A fellow in our church Mike Burner sent me some great ointment as well that was miraculous in taking away the pain after I got off the bike. I am feeling super tired tonight but confident that I will get stronger everyday, and finish the trip successfully.

I am enjoying my evenings reading and studying and working on my new sermon series on the Gospel of John that I will start in October. I usually lay in my tent with it all zipped up to keep out the mosquitoes laying on my very comfortable air mattress and air pillow. They squeeze down in the morning to just a couple of pounds and very small package that works super for a trip like this. I have several hundred books downloaded onto my iPad and have a wonderful time reading and writing.

The riding conditions have been mixed. Sometimes there is a nice wide shoulder, and sometimes there is none. Drivers have been good about slowing down and going around us, and many wave and yell encouragement. They are probably bikers. We had one close call with someone in a Motorhome missing us by a couple of inches as they passed us. That was on the second day going up to Hoodoo. We have seen a lot of other bicyclers doing the same route that we are. They have all been young!

Mary Ann heads home in the morning so it will be just John and I from this point on. It has been nice for the last week having Mary Ann carry our stuff in the car. In the morning all 60 pounds goes back on the bike.

Occasionally like yesterday when I don’t blog it will because there is no cell service or wifi where we are camping.

Love ya all. Dee