Hail Missoula

Ok, this really could be called "Dork on a Bike" (or dork on the porch?) - but I had such a great time in Missoula, and riding around was part of the fun.

Like pretty much every place I went on this trip, a river flows through town - and there are bike & walking paths on both sides of it, along with bike/ped bridges across it.

I found myself riding pretty aimlessly around, just exploring the paths and crossing the river. After two weeks of aiming pretty carefully for specific campgrounds and needing to cover a lot of miles, it was fun to just sort of ride around like I was, well, on vacation.

What's more unusual is in the few blocks of real "downtown" Missoula, the bike lanes are
completely separated from the car traffic. There isn't much traffic even - but it was nice to have the space to ride so safely.

After going back and forth across town a few time, I eventually had to drop off my bike at a bike shop to be packed up and shipped back home. I've learned for most airlines in the US, this is easier and costs the same as taking it as checked baggage on the plane. It was kind of strange to leave it behind and I'm looking forward to getting it back in my, um, hands, next week.

Then I walked back to the hostel I was staying at - pretty much just in time to hang out on the porch with my fellow hostelers and enjoy the crazy storm we'd been expecting all afternoon.

It had been really hot for a couple of days - but

after the pounding rain and pounding hailstorm the temperature dropped about 20 degrees. I always enjoy a great storm but I was really happy I wasn't out on my bike in it...

And now I'm back in San Francisco, happy to be home again but already starting to think about when I get to go bike camping again. (Next week looks pretty good for riding over to Marin...)