Setting off on Leg 4

I arrived at my friend Eryn's a few days ago and then visited Glacier National Park. This place blows me away. From Kalispell you can see the side the mountain range, but behind those mountains lies a stretch of the most amazing peaks and lakes in America. I'd never seen anything like it before in my life. I've uploaded photos on my myspace and facebook pages.

Throughout Montana I've been through a slew of unique experiences (comfortable and uncomfortable) and it'd take far too long to explain them in detail here, but I'll at least attempt to give a general summary.

I went through Wyoming and went to a town about halfway through the state, broke a couple of spokes and had to make a visit to the local bike shop. I was running very low on money and the lady there was very obliging (gave me two slices of homemade apple pie!) and was sympathetic to my situation (I was getting flat tires daily because of the bad tires I'd bought in Sioux Falls) and gave me a very good tire on credit. This solved my very frustrating flat-tire problem.

Continuing on to Yellowstone I met some of the most astounding scenery so far. Vistas of lakes, mountains, canyons under a beautiful sky and friendly clouds. Going into Yellowstone I fought the wind all day, crawling along at around six miles per hour. The elevation increases from around 3,000 feet to 6,000 feet as soon as you enter the park, creating a very daunting introduction to the park. Throughout the park I saw a lot of wildlife and continued to be greeted by magnificent landscapes.

Leaving Yellowstone, I continued North into Montana. The first night there I couldn't figure out where I would stay. I was hesitant to camp in the trees due to the risk of bear attacks, so when I found some houses I chose one at random and knocked on the door to ask if I could camp on the owners' property. I was instantly accepted and offered beer, pizza, a couch to sleep on and introduced to the whole family who lived there. The next day I had a breakfast of eggs, hashbrowns, sausage, and orange juice and was given plenty of granola bars and energizing snacks to see me off into the day.

Good first impression of Montana

I continued north and when I was in the area of Deer Lodge, MT faced a few more broken spokes. The closest bike shop was in Missoula, about 90 miles farther north. With my bike being unridable I rode to the next interstate exit and held up my thumb, awaiting a ride. After a few minutes a truck pulled to the side and stopped, and a rancher with a few missing teeth and very large glasses stepped out and helped me load my bike into the truck bed. Once I was seated and we were riding he was smiling and eyeing me in a discomforting way and I began wondering if I'd made a mistake by accepting the ride. He handed me a Mountain Dew though and I tried to keep a conversation going. He began telling me about his situation with the ranch he worked on and I hinted that he'd been looking for a ranch hand to take over his work so he could just live on the land for the rest of his life.

He gave me a ride to Drummond (about halfway to Missoula) and said he'd be riding to Missoula in the morning so I could stay at his place if I wanted. I didn't see what other choice I had since the bike shops were already closed by that time anyway. He hinted continually through the night and into the next day that he wanted me to stay, educating me on the history of the ranch and trying to make me pity his situation. He fed me and volunteered to do my laundry and all sorts of akward situations ensued (too many to describe here) and the next day he fed me breakfast then took me a museum and basically filled time and talked, postponing my departure as much as possible. He took me out to eat and we meandered around the city, eventually stopping at a bike shop. Turns out they were too full up with jobs to get to my spokes that day and said they could have it done by Thursday (two days from then). I could not stand sitting through this guy's endless stories for another two days so we went to the next bike shop. They were also too b usy, but the owner said he'd do the work and told us to return in an hour. He took me out to eat, watching me throughout the whole meal, making me extremely uncomfortable, then we returned and I was finally out of his grasp. Before leaving he offered to fly me out to Montana over the winter season for free if I wanted. I have yet to come to a decision.

So after this I continued north and arrived in Kalispell within a few days, arriving at Eryn's house for supper. I rode through Glacier National Park, was blown away by what I saw and then came back to Kalispell, and am now typing this.

Even better final impression of Montana

Go ahead and view the pictures on either my facebook or myspace and see for yourself what floods of beauty Montana holds.

Next comes Seattle, then down the coast to the Redwood National Forest, San Francisco, Yosemite National Park, then onto Flagstaff and finally Phoenix, AZ. I'm estimating another month to a month and a half before I finally arrive there, finishing this trip. This trip has gone so far beyond my expectations already, and I'm sure I can't even imagine what God has planned for me within the distance ahead.

Edit: added photos.