Day 17/May 18 Beyond Missoula
This day was full of adventures. We reluctantly left Lolo Hot Springs and headed to Lolo and took a tour of two fascinating attractions right across the street from each other. The Holt Heritage Museum focuses on cowboys, the rodeo and native history. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and could have stayed longer if time weren’t a factor.
We left and went across the street to Travelers’ Rest, the only spot that Lewis and Clark visited that can be documented. We toured and learned of the Lewis and Clark adventures and then made our way toward Missoula, but first, we had to stop for lunch at a legendary Mexican restaurant in Lolo.
Lunch was good and a treat, unlike the road into Missoula. We hadn’t been near a big city in ages and traffic lights and heavy traffic were foreign to us. We made it safely into town and looked for a pathway to take us to the center of the city. As luck would have it, we found another kind stranger who led us into town and directed us to the library so that we could update the blog and check email.
Missoula was not our final stop since we had such a short day yesterday. We had many more miles to get to our final destination of Rock Creek, so we opted to take I-90 as it was the shortest route possible. The first several miles of riding were quite unpleasant as there was lots of traffic and the shoulder totally disappeared when we crossed over bridges. This forced us into the lanes of traffic, which was quite treacherous. At least we had a tailwind for this part of the ride and were ticking off the miles quickly.
When we reached Rock Creek we found our lodging for the night and headed to a very nice restaurant. I was distracted by signs at the nearby campground warning about bears; not my favorite animal. We found a nice laundry facility and washed our clothes for the first time in awhile. It’s always so nice to have clean clothes. Smelly clothes probably attract bears.
From here on in, we have many days to traverse Montana. There are more passes coming along the way. We decided not to go to Helena, but through Butte and then over to Livingston and Billings. Until we return again, we don’t know what we missed going this direction. We do know that there is a scenic mountain road that we would like to travel on - with a car.