Day 19: Lolo Hot Springs

Distance: 40 avg: 9.3

We woke up to rain, which wasn’t letting up. We were low on water so we finally broke camp and got on the road about 1. It was still raining. We biked quietly through the rain, making slow miles. We needed to break for food after a couple hours and decided to go to ‘Powell’. It was just another place on our map.

We walked in and it’s a nice place, with a guy playing piano! I deliberately take a seat right across from him and he starts playing Rolling Stones’ ‘Paint It Black’ to impress us kids. He was an older black gentleman with a very white, broad smile and an approximation of James Brown’s hair. We chatted and he played moonlight sonata and various classical and contemporary pieces.

When you’ve been rained on for 8 hours, it’s a welcome relief to enjoy a warm break with live music. I love the piano, too.

We climbed up Lolo Pass and officially welcomed into the freezing bosom of Montana. We put on layer after layer and zoomed down to a comfortable, basic cabin and went to sleep.