Butte, Montana

I woke up, showered and met Rick and Tom who are riding the Great Divide from Whitefish to Lima. They met on an Adventure Cycling trip on the divide to Whitefish last year. They liked it so much, they decided to do some more! Rick is from Washington state and Tom is from Iowa. Rick said his biggest challenge is the fact that the Adventure Cycling maps have turns based upon miles. As a consequence of riding in town, etc., the miles on the cyclo-computer and the miles on the maps rarely match up, which results in a lot of calculations in one’s head.

I brought my bike over to Bad Beaver Bike. Rochelle and Shane were already there talking to Ed, the owner. Rochelle was having some work done on her bike. When I first told Ed I wanted my bike boxed, he said he has this really big box, but the airlines will charge you an arm and a leg. He asked me if my Surly was a medium and went downstairs to check his box inventory. He said I have one; he said most bikes are coming in at 27.5, not at 29 inches these days. He told me he would call when he was done. Another customer named Len heard me mention i was walking to the U-Haul store and then back to the KOA, so he offered me a ride to the U-Haul store.

U-Haul had my boxes, so I bought two as well as some packing tape. I went back to the KOA and had a turkey and cheddar cheese sandwich. I called Lorraine and said everything is arranged, and asked her to book me a flight on Wednesday. She got back to me and said she could only get me a flight on Thursday. At around 1:30 p.m., I heard from Ed. I walked over and he told me the bike fit in nicely, and he used all the packing material that was with the new bike that had come out if the box.

Ed asked if I was with the big group that was in his shop on Saturday. I told him I was until I fell. He said it was unfortunate that I came all the way from Banff and then fell on the pavement.

I called the taxi; Ed put the box in the minivan for me and I thanked him for his help. When I got to the KOA, I confirmed with the driver she would be here at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday. I labeled my bike box, packaged my gear boxes and did some journaling.