Day 0 - arriving in Whitefish, MT

Day 0 - I decided that my first day of driving, yesterday, was day -1, and today is day 0, since tomorrow is Day 1 of my actual biking on the bike trip. 

Today I met up with Tim and Jenny in Whitefish, Montanna. Tim and I did RAGBRAI together back in 2009 and he's bike toured all over the world and on all the continents. You can read about him at http://www.downtheroad.org

I hadn't thought about writing a comprehensive post where I explained who Tim is etc on this post, so maybe when I stay in Whitefish again in two days I'll write more about that. I will, actually, stay tuned.

Day -1 and 0 I drove 12 hours in Whitefish. I took photos. Today I hung out with Tim for a bunch of hours after I got to Whitefish at noon, and we all went to get food and drinks. It was great! They have a great cat and dog.

Tomorrow I get a ride from Tim about an hour north, and then ride only 40 or 50 miles into the middle of nowhere to camp in the woods with bears. That's short mileage, but a good first day.

We talked about bears a lot today.  A. Lot.  Did you know bear spray was developed here? Right. Here.  Geeeeeeze.

Great clouds on the drive up

I slept in my car in Wallace, MT, and I enjoyed their mining museum / shrine with statues and great old equipment.

I wasn't until late that I was told the Silver mining was so pollutting that is had become an EPA superfund sight. The museum made no mention of that.

The sign on this Whitefish T-Rex read - What do you call a T-Rex and a something something, come inside to find out!

I didn't go inside to find out the punchline, so I'm not all that worried that I don't remember the setup. I'm sure it was something something cleverasuarus.

Mountain biking on ski slopes just over town!

Town is just below this.

Tim!

Porter!

It wasn't me! It was this guy!

The bar here has had some great bands come through!

Whitefish!  Those hills in the distance are those ski slopes I was on earlier.