Kiki Bikes Across America

Friday, July 31st – Missoula, MT to Wendover Campground, ID

Today was a bit of a slacker day – we got a really late start, but mostly intentionally. We had planned to start about mid-day and just ride to get over our last major pass, Lolo Pass. So we slept till about 9/9:30 and then started to get organized and we did a last load of laundry at Brent’s before heading into Missoula around 1pm for Chase’s last Pita Pit experience. Then we mailed off a few odd things to shed some weight and then we were going to hit the road, but Chase realized he hadn’t yet replaced the broken sunglasses, so he went to the mall and then an outdoors store to try to find a decent pair. And then finally we left Missoula around 4pm and had the next 40 miles to climb slowly over Lolo Pass.

The riding wasn’t too bad actually – it was very gradual and we ran into Joe and Geordie just about 7 miles from the top of Lolo Pass at a RV park. They were taking a break and we had just stopped to refill on water. The guys were only going a few more miles up the road before calling it a day. We wanted to get over Lolo Pass and then down into Idaho before ending the day, especially since we’d had such a late start.

Entering Idaho for the second time, the real way (by bike)

At the top of Lolo Pass, we changed into Pacific Time and gained another hour, but lost an hour of sunlight so to speak. Instead of the sun setting around 9:15pm in Missoula, it would now set around 8:15pm in eastern Idaho. After the pass, we rode another 20 miles or so downhill and then it flattened out for a bit – but was still easy riding. We had hoped to make it to Jerry Johnson’s Hot Springs at mile marker 152, but we pulled into Wendover Campground to refill on water (we had seen a sign as we came down into Idaho about last stop for gas and all services for the next 65 miles), so we thought we’d better be safe and have plenty of water in case we didn’t find any for the next 65 miles or so.

The family we camped with in Wendover Campground. They're from Frederick, MD

We stopped into the campground and were instantly greeted by some folks who had just pulled in shortly before us. They invited us to stay for dinner (spaghetti and garlic bread) and to set up our tents on their campsite since they were all sleeping in an RV. It was amazing – awesome spaghetti and company. Turns out the McDonald’s (Mac and Lauri) are from Frederick, Maryland and just doing a 3-week adventure around the country with their two kids Marley (9) and Tyler (13). So we just sat around and chatted and then Tyler made a fire and we all made smores which were yummy. Finally we called it a night around 11:45pm or so (in Pacific Time).

Most random question about the bike trip:
Mac: “So how do you keep it platonic?”

Chase/Kiki: “Umm, wow. [Chase farting] – “well that answers that” – Kiki

Wow…that was funny and definitely an odd question and first question ever for this trip.