Old Lovers

9/7/2006: Day 19, 49.3 miles; Total 692.4 Miles

We were up and out by 8:30, best we could do after a cup of coffee and a muffin at the hotel office. As I left Lolo, I heard the TB shouting from the roadside. I pulled over and he was getting an oil change! Now I was proud of him. No one has ever changed the oil in any of his vehicles because of all the damage they can do. And here he was for the first time loosening up. Then I saw him carry out his own five-quart Pennzoil can. I took the picture and rode on. I Rode 12 miles from Lolo to Missoula and had another muffin and cup of coffee. I checked our room and he was reading the paper. I congratulated him on getting the oil change, and he said: “I shouldn’t have done it. They used my oil and charged me the full price of $19.” So I made the mistake of asking why not use their branded oil and take his back, and he said (Honest to goodness he did): “They use bulk oil and who knows what brand.” After about 4 miles through town I was up on I-90 and did very well for 32 miles. I then hit the heaviest head winds of the trip. Even the truckers were complaining at the rest stop.

I-90 east toward Butte is very flat along Crooked Creek, which flows westward—too bad for L & C who didn’t find this stream for floating to the Pacific. It would have saved all the perils of the Bitterroots.

The Squeak was now persistent. At the rest stop I got some 3 in 1 oil from a Canadian and we applied it to the sealed bearings of the bottom bracket. He wouldn’t sell it to me. I was out early and had good mileage the earliest of the whole trip but the mid morning easterly wind was killing my progress. We made it to 43 miles and ate lunch and took a half hour nap. When I awakened I thought the wind had stopped. So I did 3 more miles in so vicious of a head wind that I could do a maximum speed of 8 mph on a downhill. I was wasting energy. So I called TB and he picked me up at the rest stop 2 more miles down the road. I had done a good 49 miles for the day but was so spent that when I parked the bike beside the van and headed for a bench to sit I tripped over the curb and fell hard into the grass just off the sidewalk. The TB was sitting in the van back seat reading the paper and missed it, but a lady truck driver jumped out and ran over to check on me. I hit the left shoulder pretty hard, but I guess these old fat bones are tough, as I was not injured.

WE drove to the next exit at Drummond—“state football champs and second in track.” The town was so small that they must be busing kids in to have any type of team. The town looked like an old western with one street and false fronts, and at least a half dozen signs saying: “Say No to Meth. ” At the town park for $10 there is “dry camping.” Although the sprinklers were on all evening and half the night, all camper water spigots were off. Restroom was clean on the floor and had a clean sink and washed my bike clothes. The urinal and commode were as bad as I have seen. I flushed the commode for all those ahead of me, but the urinal wouldn’t flush. Finally, the TB (a very bold move for him) found the ladies room in better shape. I was embarrassed that I had not figured that out.

The best part of the day was meeting Alvena and Art who camped near us. They are lover’s their 70’s and knew each other in high school. They each married others and lived in Kalispell where he was her (and everybody else’s) jeweler. Both spouses died in 2000. In 2003 they got together when he asked her out on a date to drive one of his 15 antique cars and 5 motorcycles. She made an immediate hit since she could drive stick shift! I said, “Your husband is an interesting man.” And she replied, “He’s not my husband; we’re shacking up!” Then she said, “He’s two years younger than me and I’m glad because I want a man with energy!” She said about one of his car, “It’s a 1928 Chevy. You don’t get in. You put it on! It’s a teal blue color.” On one of their early dates they went on an antique car tour in a 1929 touring Car. She sat real close to him and the others following were watching what they were doing. (What were they doing?) So she crawled back over the seat and pulled down the rear curtain! He then pulled out his pocket watch that he had bought off of E-bay. He described it as an erotic watch made in Germany showing a couple in a car in an uncompromising position. As he said, “It’s a great watch for a jeweler and antique car owner and septuagenarian lover.” I should have taken a picture. Art, send me a picture of that watch! They were on their way to an antique car show in Dillon, MT.