Grand total of the tour: 779
Seeley Lake was a neat area. Several bike routes pass through so we saw lots of cyclist friends both road biking and mountain bike touring. Although with it being so popular the locals aren't impressed with your tour. We heard about groups going all the way to Venezuela.
We loaded up and checked out and were on our bikes by 10am which is probably one of our earliest starts. Ha. We knew we had about 18 miles before we were off the road with no shoulder. It looked beautiful right along the water but was hard to enjoy with the traffic. Luckily we got a shoulder eventually before the 18 miles were up and a nice flat stretch that we flew through. I hopped on Mike's back wheel and we cruised. We arrived at Clearwater Junction, filled up our water bottles and got on a new road that would take us to Missoula!
It is only 39 miles away. We wanted to make it in before 5 so we could stop by Adventure Cycling's headquarters. I mostly wanted to make it so I could enjoy the free icecream they advertise!
We knew we had one more climb before the mostly downhill ride into Missoula. I was so excited to see this sign for the last time!
We pulled off at the top of our climb to find some shade in an experimental forest. No one knows what that means, but the flies were crazy in there. We celebrated our achievement with our last coke.
Yup, that is the last bottle of that six pack of coke we bought back in Fairmont Hotsprings. It was carried 526 miles and over who knows how many feet of elevation change. It tasted glorious!
Then back on the road. We enjoyed the mostly downhill ride but a strong head wind made it so you still had to work. However, with the blazing hot sun, the head wind was oddly welcome to keep us cool. I remember thinking at one point, we only have 23 more miles to go. It seemed so crazy and yet was such a welcomed thought. The journey was amazing and I am glad to be done, but oddly I really do think I would like to do it again.
We ducked off about 15 miles before Missoula to cool off in the creek. We saw plenty of people floating in rafts and tubes down the river so we had to get a part of it. We saw one raft go by full of third grade children and one chaperone. Mike was sure we could take them on, kick them off the rafts, load up our bikes and panniers and ride in style into Missoula before making the evening news. We decided to pass on that option although it was tempting.
So instead back on our trusty bikes to finish out our ride. 

We didn't have lunch today, but instead several stops where we enjoyed snacks of fresh fruit and granola bars partially due to the lack of amenities along the way. We arrived just outside of Missoula right off of I-90 and stopped at a travel plaza to refill water bottles. It was so hard to walk in there and not buy everything in sight. There was a Subway, Arby's, a deli, a convenience store, and grocery store all in this one building. I felt like a starved grizzly that just found a huckleberry patch! I had self control however. We decided to not buy anything, but I seriously don't know how I managed and biked the remaining 6.5 miles into town. The thought of free icecream rewards must have helped!
So there we went. Into Missoula, and to the Adventure Cycling headquarters. We were treated and shown where the icecream and pop was located!
I biked over 750 miles for that icecream. And let's talk about distance for a moment. I signed up for a 750 mile bike trip. This was definitely 779 miles!
We got to sign in, and looked for the photos of some of our fellow cyclists we had met along the way on the wall of travelers. We found a few familiar faces and added our own. 

It was neat to see where everyone was from and what tours they were taking.
We confirmed that they had received our bike boxes that they so graciously allowed us to ship to them, and held them for the weeks while we were biking. We will be back tomorrow to deal with packing them up.
As for tonight, we checked into our B&B which was so cool. We had the attic, and the house had such a neat history. It had been on the University's campus serving a variety of functions throughout the years before the university decided to demolish it. Local historians protested so the university said that anyone with a proposal to get it off campus could have it for free. So they found a construction company willing to take on the task of sawing the brick home in half and moving it across town. The pictures were unbelievable.
And then we capped off the night by visiting the Tamarack Brewery and walking through downtown.
The final numbers:
5 National Parks (a ton more state and provincial parks and National Forests)
779 miles
15,000+ feet climbed total
3 times crossed the Continental Divide
2 tubes of sunscreen
0 chasing dogs
5 bear sightings (4 Canadian bears and 1 American bear)
16 days of biking
2 nights of camping
5 breweries visited (2 Canadian)
4? Icecream treats
0 flat tires!!!
526 Miles the final coke was carried
4 loads of laundry
9 cans of tomato juice consumed by Erin
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