My brother Davy drove an epic 950 miles from Lake Tahoe, California to Missoula, Montana last Sunday. The following day we hiked up to the “M” (putting letters on hillsides is a big thing in Montana) and watched the sunset from Sentinel Mountain.
Starting tomorrow Davy and I will be starting the drive back to North Carolina. It’ll be the first time I’ve been to Asheville since Christmas.
Went for a bike ride yesterday in the Missoula Valley along the Clark Fork River. I brought along the old point and shoot almost as an afterthought, and I’m certainly glad I did. One thing is for sure, you ain’t gonna be takin’ no pictures if you don’t have a camera with you.
We intended it to be 2 or 3 hours and it ended up being about 8. We got a little lost, but I think that is part of the fun of riding a bike sometimes. We’d brought along a decent amount of food and water, but we definitely stopped at the first gas station we saw coming back into town.
Our rides were two newly purchased Long Haul Truckers, the first steel-framed, as well as the first brand new bike I’ve ever owned.
Rock Creek is about 20 miles east of Missoula. It is a nice place to do some car camping, even if you forget your sleeping bag.
Yesterday in Bozeman we had a couple of short but serious storms. In summer the weather around here is typically dry but yesterday was an exception.
I had my camera for the 2nd storm.
I am a firm believer that the bicycle is one of the greatest inventions ever.
It was a pleasant surprise to stumble upon the Adventure Cycling Association in Missoula, which seems to exist solely for the purpose of promoting bicycle touring, one of the best ways to travel possible.
There were a lot of fun pictures on the wall of people doing tours who stopped by and ended up having their pictures taken, so I did the ol’ take a picture of a picture. Hopefully they are big enough here to see whats going on.
Ah yes, bicycle transportation, no war required.
After having a very carefree beginning of the summer with lots of time to take and post pictures, this week has found yours truly both starting to teach summer school and being the only person responsible for the de-cluttering and subsequent cleaning for a landlord’s inspection of a 5 bedroom house that has spent 3 years being a free for all.
Today was supposed to be the end of my residence at 1320 S 6th Ave all but the inspector person didn’t show up. ( actually 4 days ago was the original plan but things keep coming up).
The point is 7 hours of scrubbing starts to get to you.
Another point is don’t fill your abode with a bunch of crap you don’t actually want/need because one day you (or your roommate) might have to move it.
My final pictures of California. The first set is from my epic Razor Scooter Tour of San Jose. The second is from my last day in San Francisco (thanks for letting me use your car Davy), it was finally clear down by the waterfront. Huzzah!
Our second day in San Francisco I rented a bike and we did a fairly decent 40 mile bike ride. We biked across the Golden Gate Bridge and into the magical city of Sausalito, where the humongous waterfront houses everywhere made San Francisco look like a shanty town.
After the bridge we went through Sausalito and up a large hill with some good views of the bay towards our destination of the John Muir woods, home to some large Redwood trees. The woods were lovely, it was interesting to see the tallest tree species on earth (although we didn’t actually see the tallest tree).
Exiting the woods we hopped on our bikes and caught scenic Highway 1 for a little bit, we did another decent uphill there and the traffic was fairly constant. I definitely was glad we weren’t taking some long bike trip on that road.
Eventually we went back across the Golden Gate where it was a lot foggier, windier, colder, and wetter than the first time we went over. I dropped the bike back at the rental place and we walked across town back to the car.
The day turned out to be an interesting blend of urban and natural worlds.
After Yosemite we camped right outside the park in some national forest. In the morning we drove the remaining couple of hours into San Jose and found the place Davy had acquired back in Asheville. The next day we drove to San Francisco, a surprisingly scenic hour drive on Highway 280.
We had been blasting the AC all the way since San Jose was about 90 degrees. Arriving in San Francisco I suggested we try the windows. Rolling them down we were really surprised to feel that San Francisco was about 30-40 degrees colder than San Jose. It has its own weather due to ocean winds and the whole day I was wishing I had brought warmer clothes.
Picture overload probably. I wasn’t seeing me having a lot of time to post these in the next week so I thought making this post would be a good study break. The costumes these people had were really incredible. The clothes are totally handmade as well, with really intricate bead work that doesn’t show up in the tiny pictures I’m posting on here.
The last picture is of Luke and a Native American Studies student Michael Sweeney as they were leading their congratulatory procession. It was really heartwarming to watch as people come up to shake hands and give hugs and then get in line.
So I was at the Montana State University American Indian Council Pow Wow for a couple hours yesterday. My friend Luke was honored for his service to the Native American community at the school. Congratulations Luke!
Pow Wows are especially unique events for someone like myself who hasn’t been exposed to a lot of Native American culture. I took a lot of pictures and here are a few. I’ll put up more later but right now I have to study for the final I have tomorrow.
Monday afternoon and my classes for the semester will be finished. It has been a warm weekend in Bozeman as well, which I am grateful for.
Friday was my roommate Dawn’s 30th Birthday. She is the last remaining person of our house who has been here longer than me, and she is also totally rad. I vote her most likely to make cookies for everyone. She is graduating this year and leaving Bozeman. Dawn you will be missed.
We had a most excellent dinner at the house and then headed downtown to check out the ol’ Bozeman bar scene. Before Friday I can’t remember the last time I was in a bar. Well actually it was in Missoula. I almost forgot what college bars are like, a social psychologist’s field day.
Good times were had by all and even the walk home in the cold wasn’t too bad. Happy Birthday Dawn.
