He Said, She Said: Day 46-Boy were my toes cold!

He said: Was ready to leave around 7 but it was only 37 degrees, so I thought I'd wait and let it warm up a bit. Waited til 8 and when it was 36 degrees I figured I better get going before I got frost on my bike. Had another Continental Divide to go over (Chief Joseph Pass). I'm not sure but I think it might be the last one. Not the last mountain pass, but the last Continental Divide. The ride up to the pass had another big change in scenery. We went from wide open valley to the thickly forested mountain drive. On the ride up the Beaverhead Mountains were on the west and the scenery stayed like that till we reached the peak. By the time we got to the top of the pass it was a balmy 47 degrees. Took off my jacket and was basking in the sun when a guy came over from the other side. Sharon took his picture for him, we got to talking, Charlie was on his way from Astoria, OR to Denver, CO. and was flying home to New Hampshire from Denver. We told him we were from CT-he said "what town"? When we told him Hampton he said, "Oh, that's near Pomfret?" Turns out he works for a company that manufactures wood pellets and they buy chips and saw dust from a forester who lives about 6 miles from us. What's the chance of something like that happening, I mean we had to be coming over at the exact same time, etc., etc. From the pass, there was a 1 mile downhill intersecting another road. When I got to the intersection, I had to go left or right, left would put me in Idaho, but right would send me where I needed to go. I thought to myself, boy Charlie had an easy climb-just a 1 mile uphill. Then I turned the corner and coasted downhill for 7 1/2 miles. Guess it wasn't as easy as I thought. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. We are staying in Stevensville, MT at a motel owned by a couple with an interesting history. 95 miles.
She said: It was another beautiful day in the mountains. Met Paul at the Continental Divide and got my history lesson about the area. Chief Joseph (who the pass is named after) was a peace loving Chief of the Nez Perce tribe. The US military pushed them out of their territory and after a bloody massacre in the middle of the night forced the Nez Perce to surrender. The pass on the road that parallels the route we took is named after the General that led the battle, Gibbons Pass. We are following the Lewis and Clark trail from 1804-1806 and there are historical markers everywhere. Quite interesting. I'm glad I have a road to follow. When I look around while I'm driving through these wide open valleys and huge mountains I wonder how they knew where to go! We are staying in Stevensville, MT tonite, just 26 miles from Missoula- the home of Adventure Cycling Association and the University of Montana. We will be there tomorrow morning and Paul will have his bicycle tuned up, a new cable installed and be in business for the last push of the trip. The owners of the motel we are staying in are from Alaska. They spent 9 years sailing in the Pacific, lived in Australia and New Zealand and then once their daughter was school age, came back to the States, bought an old Historical building and converted it back into a hotel. Pretty cool. Like I said, another great day on the road.

Just after leaving Wisdom-I thought the cloud on the mountain was cool.

Another Continental Divide-thumbs up!

While we were at the pass we heard a very loud bird in the trees-Paul called him Chief Joseph, and he sat there the whole time we were there-didn't quite get a picture of him.