Roxy and Linda's Bicycle Blog

13th posting on June 29, 2013 ..... Back to the welcome page and listings for other links

Day 18 - Grangeville, ID to Lowell, ID - 47 miles ... 714 total miles
Woke up to sunshine and warm! Left Grangeville and rolled downhill thru farmland, forests down to a river, the South Fork of the Clearwater. Found a great cafe along the way for breakfast. The waitress was also the cook, not uncommon in these small places. We followed the river downstream to Kooskia where we turned on hwy 12 and started following the Middle Fork of the Clearwater upstream. This section is part of the Lewis & Clark trail. We came to a section of road construction, flagger, one lane and pilot car. We took a 2 mile ride in the pilot car since they were paving and we couldn't ride. We arrived in Lowell early in the day and decided to stay since the next section is 66 miles uphill with no services. We are staying along side the Lochsa River. Lowell is located where the Lochsa & Selway Rivers flow into the Middle Fork of the Clearwater. Today was the warmest day yet and also humid. Locals say humidity here is uncommon, but because of all the rain and rapid warming it will be a bit steamy. We loaded up on water and gatorade for tomorrow. Looking forward to the climb, ha ha ha!

Day 19 - Lowell, ID to Powell, ID - 66 miles ... 780 total miles
We made it! We got an early start as the ride was uphill and the day was going to be hot. It didn't disappoint! We followed the Lochsa River up stream into the Bitterroot mountains. We hoped to see some rafters but the season ended last week, not enough water in the river. It was pretty following the river though we had to pay attention to the traffic as the road is narrow. We took lots of scenery breaks, more as the day went on! It was hot, in the 90's, and we were looking for shade. We arrived around 4:30 at Lochsa Lodge, hoping to rent a cabin for the night, but there were none available. Camping is allowed in a grassy area behind the general store so we set up the tent, took a shower and had dinner at the lodge. There is wifi here but very slow so we aren't able to post anything tonight or answer emails. The last few days we've met many touring cyclists. This section of the ride is part of Adventure Cycling's Lewis & Clark route in addition to the Trans America route. We've also seen 100's of motorcycles touring.

Day 20 - Powell, ID to Missoula, MT - 59 miles ... 839 total miles
A new state today! Started the day with a 13.5 mile climb up to Lolo Pass on the border of Idaho & Montana, fortunately it was cloudy and cooler than forecast. Montana welcomed us with a gentle downhill ride to Missoula. We stopped at many historical markers about Lewis & Clark. As the day progressed the sun came out and it got hot. We also encountered a headwind. At Lolo we turned on to hwy 93, a major hwy with lots of traffic and a wide shoulder. It was very scenic riding in to Missoula but we didn't stop for pics due to the heavy traffic. Happy to be here at the hotel! Had a shower and some dinner, we're beat tonight, going to take an epson salt bath and relax. Tomorrow we're staying here in Missoula.

Our email address is gusrox30@gmail.com . Feel free to drop a note and say hello anytime!