Day 24: Tour de Beverages in Missoula and Day 25

We got breakfast at our B&B and grabbed gear we wanted to pack up in our bike boxes to ship home. And then we hopped on our bikes and rode back to Adventure Cycling's headquarters.

Mike really liked that their doorhandles were bike handlebars. 

We went in and grabbed our bike boxes, brought them outside and began the oh so fun process of breaking down our bikes and packing them up. We were working on Mike's bike first when a family rolled up on their bikes. Two children were on single bikes while the dad and two girls were on a triple seater bike. The mom was driving the support RV. They were doing a cross country tour. Pretty impressive! 

Pretty soon after that a man with a nice camera came out and started taking our photo. Kind of strange, but hey, they have a biking publications, I guess, so who knows what kind of photos they need. And we were set up right in front of their sign so I guess it was a good photo op. 

Although many of the photos could probably be titled how not to break down your bike. We definitely did not do it in the best order. 

The photographer ended up leaving and not soon after that I ended up snapping one of our hex wrenches with my brute strength. Since we needed it to continue taking Mike's bike apart, and we needed it for mine, we were kind of in a pinch. I went in to Adventure Cycling to ask if they had any that we could borrow, which they did thankfully. I came back out to find the photographer there again but this time he had a super tall ladder that he was standing on to get a better angle I guess. Hysterical. 

Somehow that case needs to be squished down to 11 inches. It involves lots of sitting on the case to cinch it down. 

Packing my bike was a little faster due to learning from the mistakes that we made with Mike's bike. We got them packed up and started lugging the cases two blocks to FedEx for shipment home. This was already a feat with those huge cases weighing 70 pounds each, but to make it even more fun, my nose decided to start bleeding. So now I have blood on my shirt, I'm carrying a huge massive case, and then Kleenex shoved up my nose. I was a sight to be seen. Mike was super helpful though ashe would take his case a little ways and then come back and get mine until my nose got under control. The scene that I was however led to a stranger calling me 'foxy' as I walked by. Oh Missoula. 

We finally got them dropped off which took far too long. Next time I think we may just pay a bike shop to pack them up for us. We decided to go get lunch and then begin our tour of beverages. We talked about going floating down the river today but after dealing with the bikes and with the weather not as warm as yesterday, we decided to just enjoy downtown Missoula. 

The tour of beverages wasn't exactly planned, but it ended up being quite fun. Mike had read in the weekly paper the 'Best of Missoula' section and found several tea houses. So naturally we had to visit all three of them and enjoy beverages at two of them.

Mike also purchased some looseleaf tea to bring back home. We popped into several other shops downtown including some that focused on fair trade clothing and peace shop. Then onto the breweries. We walked across the river to the Kettle House brewery. Along the way I passed an amazing candy store, and a place that made bubble tea.  I decided to pass on the bubble tea though as three different teas in one day would just be too much for me (though probably not too much for Mike but I'm not a tea snob like him 😉). 

We then walked by the beer run start area to pick up our packets for the 5K tomorrow. Yep, we're still doing that.  However, we did not partake in the beer run due to my Achilles and the fact that we just aren't that crazy. Then back to the B&B to shower up and head out for dinner. Mike found an amazing local place called Five on Black which is basically a Brazilian Chipotle. Delicious. We closed out the night by visiting the Flathead Brewing company which had a brewpub in town even though we visited the actual brewery a few days ago in Bigfork. 

Our final day in Missoula involved our earliest wake up at the entire trip. We are pretty ridiculous. The race started at 8 AM, and we ran while it was drizzling out the entire time. The locals are very excited about the rain however given the drought and nearby forest fires.

Why are we doing this?

The race was fun and down by the river so it was pretty. We both did well but nothing amazing due to injury and general fatigue from biking that far. We quickly scurried back to the B&B to catch breakfast, watch some of the Tour, and packed up. 

We were carrying our bags downtown to enjoy part of the day downtown before our flight at 3:30. Carrying bike panniers is no fun let me tell you. I know what it is like to be a pack mule now. Speaking of knowing what it's like to be things, I also now know what it's like to be a car windshield getting splattered by bugs. Some of those bigger ones hurt when they smack you. Anyway we walked by the Holiday Inn which is the hotel associated with the race and got the idea of asking them if they could hold our bags for the day while we walked around downtown. We knew it was a little shady since we weren't staying in the hotel but decided to ask and be honest if they questioned us. We were even willing to pay a small fee for the convenience of not having to carry them. I went up and asked but they never questioned me and just took our bags. We were free and enjoyed it!

Now free of our luggage, we went down to the Missoula farmers market. I have never seen so much beautiful cheap produce in my life. Each stand took such pride in how they displayed their goods. We bought a half a pound of huckleberries, which Mike downed and I had a few. We also purchased a large bowl of sugar snap peas, which would be wonderful treats on the airplane. Oh, and a pound of locally grown cherries which we are still enjoying.

We ended up going back to Five on Black for lunch because it was just that good. Then back to the Holiday Inn to grab our bags (tipping them nicely) and get a cab to the airport. The first flight to Chicago was smooth. We didn't have a lot of time in Chicago, however, so no dinner. Hungry Erin is not a happy Erin. Luckily, we still had some snacks left from our bike trip along with the fresh produce that we had got at the farmers market to tide us over on the flight back to Baltimore. We ended up getting Subway in the Baltimore airport at about midnight and learned that that subway will be closing at the end of the month and guess what will be taking its place? A STEAK N SHAKE!!

Cab ride back home and that was a wrap for our honeymoon. It was a wonderful journey and I know we are going to look back and enjoy reading these entries years down the road. Thanks for journeying with us!