Day 14: Lolo Hots Springs,MT to Kooskia,ID

GOODBYE MONTANA....HELLO IDAHO!

Miles on Hwy 12 (Montana & Idaho) : 108

CLICK HERE ..... for the video of the day!

Weather: Perfect! The best day we've had yet! low 70's, mostly sunny, winds light and variable. This was a long time coming. After many days of feeling like I was in Siberia, we finally saw some blue skies.

Terrain: This was the easiest century we've had yet. It was pretty much 108 miles of downhill. We dropped over 4,000 feet in elevation. Unbelievable. It was gorgeous too as we literally rode next to the Lochsa River for 99 of those miles. And let me tell you the views were stunning. Some of the finest riding of my life today.

BULLFROGS AND BUTTERFLIES.....

Well, we didn't see any bullfrogs today, but we did have several dozen encounters with numerous butterflies that littered the road along the river where we were riding. Andrea"fresh legs" Rand, taking the lead for the first 70 miles, took the brunt of those. However, Luke did manage take a butterfly to the mouth. We heard him spitting and moaning for about 2 min after this happened. Very funny.

TODAY'S RUNDOWN.....

7:20am: woke up

8:00am: ate breakfast in the Lolo Lodge in Lolo Hots Springs

8:59am: hit the road

1:00pm: Our awesome sag crew brought us sandwiches to eat while on the road

3:51pm: Arrived in Kooskia (107 miles in less than 7 hours!
4:33: took a dip in the Lochsa

5:37: ate dinner at the Grapevine, a local diner in town

I AM NUMBER ONE! OR AM I......
One story from yesterday (Thursday) that I forgot too mention happened when we were just south of the bumbling metropolis of Lolo,MT. We happened to be riding on a dirt road (due to some construction) and there was basically no shoulder to ride on so we were taking up the entire lane....and cars had to go all the way over in the other lane to pass us. Well, one lady in a Ford Probe must have been pretty ecstatic about Hunger Ride 2010 b/c she decided to lay on her horn and speed up as she passed us. So, naturally, I wanted to acknowledge her appreciation for our efforts, so I kindly waved back to her. Well, next thing I know, her hand is in the air, and she has one finger in the air. The bummer though is that I couldn't figure out exactly what she meant. Does she, much like my wife, think that I am #1? Is that what her finger meant? Is she a fan as well and she just wanted to let me know? Or, was there some other meaning in this gesture? Could she have been expressing her excitement that there is (was) only one game of the NBA season left? Or, was she possibly trying to let us know that there was only one carton of eggs left at the grocery store and that we should be quick to buy? I'm not sure.... but apparently this will forever be a mystery.

TOMORROW'S RIDE....

82 miles from Kooskia to Lewiston. We drop down to 700 feet above sea level. Crazy! There's just so much air to breathe down here!

SHOUT OUTS...

*Thanks much to Mike and Arlene of the Western Motor Inn of Kooskia, ID. Kooskia (pronounced Koos-kee) is a town of about 275 people. The town is right along the Locksa River (where the boys shot the rapids this afternoon) and much like some of the other towns we've been riding through and finding accomodations for the night.

*Our love, support and prayers continues to go out to VALOR TEAM AFRICA as they're well into their stay. Hoping the best for you guys as you share God's love with those in need!

Day 13: Hamilton,MT to Lolo Hot Springs,MT

Miles on freezing Montana pavement: 61
(THURSDAY'S POST)

Weather: 43 degrees, rain, 14 mph headwind at the end

# of cups of coffee I drank today: 4

Songs stuck in my head: "Hold on Loosely" -38 Special, "Come on Eileen" -Dexy and the Mignight Runners??

# of days left on our trip: 9 (8 days of riding, 1 rest day)

Our lunch stop: "Taco Time" in Lolo, MT. Amazing soft shell tacos.

# of times that I actually felt warm while riding: 0
# of lamas we saw: numerous
# of miles on dirt roads: 7
# of miles on a bike path: 10
Longestest stretch that Luke went without talking about the Lion King, Carrie Underwood or Taylor Swift today: possibly 19 minutes, but it may have only been 5. That's under dispute.

Terrain: Slight decline most of the way, then we started to climb at the end.

THE HUNGER RIDE WELCOMES......
My wife! Andrea Rand joins the fun and adventure. We picked her up in Missoula last night and immediately headed to the IronHorse sports bar to watch game 7 of the NBA Finals. She was ecstatic to arrive to town and have the opportunity to watch 3 straight hours of hoops.(not) Unfortunately, the wrong team won. We were the only few Celtics fans in a predominantly pro-Laker crowd. We did, however, have a great time hanging in downtown Missoula.

Today's (Friday) Ride: 107 miles to Kooskia,ID lot of downhill for us today-HOORAY! Let's just hope the wind cooperates with us today. We'll be staying at the Kooskia Western Motor Inn. Giddy up!

SHOUTS OUT....
*Brian Marsh and Brent Ruby of Missoula,MT. A good friend of Andrea's (Megan Myers) of Denver connected us to these guys and they were a huge help to us! Brian picked Andrea up from the airport in Missoula and Brent helped unpack and put Andrea's bike together. Thanks, fellas! We can't wait to eat the electrolyte loli-pops you gave us! If you've seen "A River Runs Through it" .... Brian is a pastor of the church from the movie. Pretty cool.
*Michael of the Lolo Lodge. We appreciate the donated room! We also were especially grateful for the natural mineral hot springs that we were able to soak in yesterday afternoon after freezing our tails off all day on the bike!

Day 12: Wisdom,MT to Hamilton,MT

Miles on the Montana speedway: 76

Weather: I feel like we were “showered” with y’alls prayers today because, miraculously, we did not encounter any t-storms and hardly any rain (just a light sprinkle the first two hours) despite riding under dark clouds the entire day. In the words of Joey Lawrence, all I have to say is “WHOA!”

Wildlife viewing of the day: We saw about 12-15 elk crossing a stream on our way out of Wisdom this morning about 10:30. I felt like I was watching the Discovery channel....just live. Then, after lunch we saw about 7-8 rams crossing Hwy 93 on our way up to Hamilton. And, as the picture shows, we saw some more deer. This guy wanted to fight Luke, but then heard about how Luke is good friends with Simba, so he held back.

News Flash of the Day: Here in blogger world, we're ecstatic to reveal to you why Luke is constantly consummed with the Lion King movie and soundtrack. The pic above says it all. Supposedly it started at a very young age and his parents have no explaination for it. Rumor has it that after his first viewing he ran away from home and they found him two days later in the Denver Zoo....in, you guessed it, the cages with the lions. Psychologists are yet to figure out a name for this but many call it, "Simbamaniasm." I guess one could say Luke is a "Simbamaniac."

SUMMARY OF THE DAY.....

We woke up at 7:30am and went and ate breakfast in the home of Brenda, the owner of the Nez Perce Motel where we stayed last night in Wisdom. She cooked us a delicious breakfast of blueberry waffles and an egg/sausage mix. Of course, there was a pot of hot coffee for us as well. BTW, sorry Jones', but apparently I've turned your son into a coffee drinker. It's been his morning drink of choice as of late. I've heard coffee can stunt a young man's growth. But I guess in the case of Luke that might not be such a bad thing. We hit the road for Hamilton a little after 9am after spending a little time reflecting on Colossians chapter 1 together as a group. GREAT chapter. Reminds me a lot of Ephesians 1 in many ways. Paul gives us a picture of WHO Christ IS and WHAT He has DONE for us. God's word is so good and these are great promises to rest upon.

Like I said earlier, the rain held back for the most part today and we were extremely grateful for that. It was a bit nippy with temps in the high 40's, but we managed to break a bit of a sweet as the first 25 miles had 1400 ft of climbling. We probably saw 10-12 cross country bikers today. This is no surprise as we are currently on a road that is highly traveled by cross country bikers. CLICK HERE to see these sweet routes that Adventure Cycling has put together. I've never met a cross country bicyclist that I didn't like. There's always something to talk about and there's the obvious natural connection that immediately bonds us together.

OUR HOMER SIMPSON "DOH!" MOMENTS OF TODAY....

1. Happened right out of the gate when I lead us .63 miles in the WRONG DIRECTION out of Wisdom. Had my former student, Stewart "saves the day" Gunther not corrected us, we may be writing you from Butte,MT tonight.

2. About 60 minutes into the trip, the top of my head was starting to hurt. I couldn't figure out why I was having so much pain. I figured out that I had put my bike helmet on over my sunglasses (which I thought I left at the motel) before I started riding. There's no person that is laughing right now more than my wife .... because I do these things all of the time and she thinks it's hilarious.

3. Luke had a serious wipeout going about 3mph as we pulled into the Super 8 this afternoon. He unclipped and put his foot down, but unfortunately for him they didn't stick....and down went the Lukester. Yes, he is okay. The play was pretty close, but I think the ump called him safe.

FUNDRAISING UPDATE.....

As of this morning, we have raised $16,137! Thanks so much for your prayers, encouragement and support in our efforts to build a health center in Tikoling, Uganda! We are only $10,007 away from meeting our primary goal!

SHOUT OUTS....

*Shelley and Rob and the Super 8 of Hamilton for the donation of a motel room. Room 116 will never be the same after the Hunger Ride rides through it!

*I gotta give it up for Eric at the Pizza Hut in Hamilton. After riding 76 miles, I walked in to see if PH would be willing to partner with Hunger Ride 2010 and donate a deep dish pizza to the cause. Eric was thrilled to be able to give. Thanks, dude! Great pizza!

Day 11: Sheridan,MT to Wisdom,MT

Miles on the great Montana asphalt: 104 .... same as yesterday. But today we climbed over 4,000 ft including two mtn passes (Badger and Carroll)

# of centuries we've ridden on this trip so far: 4 (125, 112, 104, 104)
# of centuries left: 2
# of interstates we've ridden on: 3 (I-70 in Colorado, I-80 in Wyoming, I-15 today in MT)
# of deer we've seen in the last 48 hours: 25-30 at least
# of cows we rode by today: at least 1,000 .... I thought I was in a cow heaven
Tomorrow's Ride: 74 miles to Hamilton,MT (over 4,000 ft of descent!) CLICK HERE to see the route we're taking
Tomorrow's forecast: temps in the 40's and 50's, rain and t-storms all day

Today's Weather: Let's just say that we dodged several bullets and got partially wounded by one. And by bullets I'm talking about the insane weather that we had to deal with the entire day including rain, hail, wind and thick black clouds that, while harmless in and of themselves, could make some little boys run home and cry to their mommies. Do us a favor, Go ahead and look up the word "elusive" in the dictionary. What you'll see is several pictures of Luke and I in spandex on our bikes dodging many thunderstorms across the great state of Montana. I kind of felt like we were in a game of Ms. Pacman. We were constantly being chased. I feel like it would have been appropriate for someone to have blasted "Welcome to the jungle" by GNR right as we were leaving our motel this morning because we definitely felt like we were in the jungle all day long. Except this jungle didn't have fun and games. The pinnacle moment of the afternoon came when Luke and I were literally blown over on our bikes by the wind as we caught the tail end of a quicly moving t-storm. We contemplated going into the ditch as we were in the middle of bfn and there was virtually no coverage, but we were surrounded by water so their wasn't much choice but to try and stay standing and hold onto our bikes as we got pettled by smail pieces of hail. Fortunately, the storm passed and we were able to continue our ride. Let me just say that's one situation I hope that I'm not in any time soon.

HOW DO WE FEEL AFTER 11 DAYS OF THE ROAD?

Luke says: "I feel like if someone took a metal hammer and started pounding on my quads as hard as they possibly could ... that I wouldn't feel a thing. But, you need to know that I wouldn't have made it this far if I did not have constant thoughts about the Lion King. Also, I would not have made it up Badger Pass this afternoon had it not been for lyrical geniousness of Taylor Swift. That's about it."

Tom says: "Other than my butt hurting, having a little bit of a stuffy nose and being tired of eating overpriced northwest food, I feel like a million bucks and could keep riding all summer. I feel like, in a very non-Hindu way, I'm becoming one with my bike as each day passes. We are developing a special bond that is difficult to articulate in this language."

WHAT ARE WE DOING RIGHT NOW AT 7:48PM MTN TIME?
Playing cards and watching the NBA finals (and praying for blue skies tomorrow)

SHOUT OUTS.....
Thanks much to Brenda at the Nez Perce Motel in Wisdom, MT (pop. 125) for the donation of one room in which the four of us are crammed into.

Day 10: West Yellowstone, MT to Sheridan, MT

Miles on my Specialized: 104

Temps: low 80's at the end. Felt like I was riding my bike in a sauna

Terrain: the first 70 mi were rolling hills. We did that in exactly 4 hours with one short stop. We were definitely hauling tail! Looking back, we probably went out too fast because we basically got destroyed/obliterated/crushed/blown up by this 9 mile section of climbing on this hill called Virginia Pass coming out of Ennis, MT. We climbed into a fierce headwind, with about a 15 inch road shoulder on a 65 mph highway..... and did I mention it was hot as all Hades? However, it was an important test. And let me just say that Luke officially became a man today. If we were in the scouts, I'd give him a patch or pin or something. He stayed on my back tire the whole way. He never wavered through the hills, heat and sheer number of miles that we rode. He rode hard. I was proud of that mountain goat. It was pretty much a sufferfest for both of us. But, we made it through and lived to tell (and blog) about it. Fortuntately, the last 25 miles weren't too bad. However, we are both paying a price right now as we are tapping out for the night.

# of buys I swallowed: 2

# of insects/bugs of somesort that stung me today while riding: 2

Playlist while riding: (in my head, of course...as I left my CD walkman at home)

1. "Agnes Dei" -MWS

2. "Mighty to save" -MWS

3. "Omaha" -Counting Crows

4. "The one I love" -REM

5. "Training Montage" -from the movie Rocky IV

What I saw that made me almost vomit today: I saw some kid in an Aaron Rogers (Green Bay Packers) jersey walking down mainstreet in Ennis. Not a fan of the Pack, in case you didn't know.

Here's a conversation that occured today between LUke and some trucker at this bar (the only place we could get aqua) right after we got owned by Virginia Pass. It was kind of funny and what you should know is that these convo's happen on a regular basis in the towns that we stay in. Besides the bartender, we were the only three people in this place.

Trucker: I saw you two coming up that nasty mother (expletive) Virginia Pass a few minutes ago.

Luke: Yeah, that was us.

Trucker: If I'd of thought faster, I would have thrown you guys a tow rope and pulled you right up that mountain

Luke: I wish you would have b/c I would have taken it (shortly after this remark, Luke has his face and arms completely buried on the bar itself) Maybe next time.

Me: I was pretty much staring at the wall, listening but too tired to move at this point.

Possible alternative mode of transport to Oregon: see pic above. We are currently in negotiations with a bean farmer here in Sheridan for this tractor. We are hoping that he will trade it for a half a bag of banana chips, 23 cliff bars and a couple tire levers. He's pretty stubborn, though, so I would expect to see us on our rides manana.

Tomorrow's Ride: 103 miles to Wisdom, MT (4300 ft of climbing, two mtn passes)

SHOUT OUTS.....

*We are exremely grateful for the Happy Trails Motel who graciously donated 2 rooms for us tonight!

*Annalisa Galgano for the "Lion King" link! That is sure to come in handy at some point in this trip. Nice find.

HUNGER RIDE SAYS GOODBYE TO.....

David Butler. Most of you know that Davis has been with us since the very beginning of the trip. That's 650 miles and 9 days that he has ridden with us. And he was certainly a trooper, that's for sure. We're really going to miss having Davis with us. He was a really great guy to have around.

I like Davis because he's into a couple of the more important things in life one should be into; cross country and 70's & 80's music. We definitely had a good time turning the dial up to the likes of the Doobey Bro's, Boston and others on several mixed cd's that I've had spinning in my car since this trip started. Davis, we'll miss you buddy. Hope you enjoy Florida!

THE HUNGER RIDE WELCOMES.....

William Bateman and Stewart Gunther. Probably new faces and names for most of you unless you currently reside in Memphis, TN. Back when I was teaching in Memphis, I had William and Stewart in my "Defense of the Faith" Bible class when they were seniors. It's been three years since I've seen them, but they were more than willing to travel almost 2,000 miles to be a part of HR 2010. They will be driving vehicle support, quoting random 80's movies and providing comic relief for us until this Saturday .... and we're ecstatic to have them with us!

PLEASE PRAY FOR....

The Valor Africa team that is currently in both Uganda (Tikoling!) and Kenya. Pray for the unity of teams, the work they will be involved with and changed lives when they return on the 26th of June.

Day 9: REST DAY in Big Sky, MT

Day 9: REST DAY in Big Sky, MT

Miles on the road: .08 (I walked my bike from the bike shop to my car) other than that we did a whole lot of nothing. And it felt real nice. "Real nice, Clark, real nice."

Video of the day (from Saturday)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe8Arsn0OYE

SHOUT OUTS:

I gotta give it up today to my boy, Chris Hill of Memphis, TN for the hook up of a place to stay in beautiful Big Sky, MT. This morning, we drove from West Yellowstone, MT to Big Sky, MT for the day. Tomorrow morning we will drive back to West Yellowstone and continue our journey. Chris is a good buddy of mine who I used to teach with when I lived in Memphis way back when. He also stood up in my wedding last summer. He's got quite the blog himself--check out http://www.mrchrishill.com/ I should actually be giving a shout out to his wife, Kristen. It’s her parents place that we are staying at ….and we have them to thank for graciously offering us room and board for our day of rest. It’s just what the doctor ordered after 8 days of hard riding.

Here’s a run-down of what we’ve done today:

Luke and Davis watched tv for 7-8 hours. When they got done with that, they threw gummie worms off the balcony onto the golf course of where we’re staying. In between these two strenuous activities, they managed to pound all 22 otter pops that were left in the freezer by the last guests that stayed here as well as 3 Diet Cokes. Please lift these two warriors up in prayer when the Lord brings them to mind as they are truly exhausted from this arduous day of events. After I cooked them dinner, Luke mentioned (for the 15th time) how much he wants to watch the “Lion King.” Unfortunately, we were just not able to make this happen. However, he was able to take bubble bath late this evening. Can I get PTL for bubble baths, anyone?
Fellas, nice work this past week! You deserve the rest.

For myself, it’s been a pretty good day. Definitely thankful for Big Sky. What a sweet spot on the map. I’m not sure that I ever would have ventured here on my own without the connection to the Hill family. We’ve been blessed a couple of times now on this trip by friends who knew folks along our trail and who committed to opening up their homes to us. Now, I definitely would love to come back as BS is kind of like Breckenridge, CO, but not as commercialized or “resortee.” And that I really like a lot. We met a good dude at the one bike shop in town who did some minor repairs to my ride. He said that the skiing here is off the chain. So, I guess that settles it--I am going to have to find a way to get myself back here!

In the past, rest days on the Hunger Ride are good for laundry, sleeping and organizing all of your stuff/junk in the sag vehicle (my car) and getting some down time out in nature. For me, the latter was literally just walking outside of our place and sitting on a rock ……and just looking at the spectacular panoramic views here in Montana and trying to take it all in. Once again, hard to sum this up in words. But it was indeed breath-taking. It certainly renews the meaning of Psalm 19:1 to me.

Tomrrow’s Ride: about 105 miles to Sheridan, MT

THE HUNGER RIDE WELCOMES….
You’re just going to have to wait until tomorrow to find out who the next sag wagon crew is. But suffice it to say I ‘m pretty stoked about who is on deck. In fact, I’m surprised that we were even able to get them to drive support and be a part of Hunger Ride 2010. There is no one that is traveling further to take part in this adventure than these two cats. No question that adventure, fun and many deep convo’s are ahead.

Day 8:Colter Bay Village to West Yellowstone,MT

Miles on the hardroad: 88

Songs on the road today: I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Luke's rendition of "Can you feel the love tonight" from the Lion King up the hills of Yellowstone.

Songs stuck in my head: "Buffalo Solider" -Bob Marley (kind of fitting seeing that I saw like 68 buffaloes today)



Movie we watched tonight in the motel: "Back to the Future Part I" ....classic. Absolutely brilliant.

Miles ridden since 6/5: about 650 miles

# of times we said that words "Car Back" today: at least 240

How do we feel after 8 days of riding? Legs = Good , Butt = Bad


# of flat tires: Two for the Randman, none for Davis and Luke. Interestingly, I woke up this morning and my tire was flat. Hmmm. That's really funny how that just seemed to happen overnight. Personally, I think that I was sabotaged while sleeping by two individuals who will remain nameless. I believe that this video is my proof! (This was me changing my first flat tire a few days ago....and these two jokesters seemed to think it was friggin' hilarious.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtlpM79e0s4


Forecast from weather.com last night: High's in the 30's with a 70% chance of snow


Today's weather: High's in the low 40's, mostly cloudly, but no snow or rain...whew, we dodged a bullet on that one. I think someone was looking out for us today. But man, there were a few moments that I felt like I was doing a cross country ride across Alaska. Sheesh. They call this summer up here?


Best sites of the day: Yellowstone National Park and everything in it! Fantastico!


At one point we were about 20 yards from an enraged buffalo charging an RV camper. That was pretty cool. Glad I wasn't in that camper though. Perhaps it was one of Ralphie's children upset about CU's move to the Pac-10?


Also, we saw Old Faithful. Er, kinda-sorta. We didn't actually see the water shoot out due to the fact that we would have had to wait 90 minutes and we were in a bit of time crunch trying to get into West Yellowstone. But, I think that Luke said it best when he said, "Oh, we can just find it on youtube tonight." However, we did see a ton of buffalo (none charged us, fortunately) and several elk. And then there was this other weird looking animal that we saw quite a few of .... not really sure what it was. It kind of looked like a miniture camal.


What did we eat for dinner tonight? Mcdonald's and Dairy Queen for dessert. Dinner of champions right there my friends.



HUNGER RIDE SAYS GOODBYE TO .....
At about 10am this morning, we waived goodbye to Randall and Kathy as they headed to West Yellowstone to catch their flight back to Denver. Gosh, It's been a heckuva week. So many stories. So many laughs (most provided by Randall). Words will not adequately sum up the good times. Thanks Thompson's! You guys rock.


Wind: We actually had a cross-tail wind for the 20 miles....that was sweet


Quote of the day: "I'm going to do nothing but play games on my phone the entire day tomorrow" -Luke Jones referring to what he's going to do on our first rest day. And, to be honest, if I even get around to doing that much it will be a pretty crazy day for all of us. Our legs need the rest. Cheers to mind-numbing games on our phones!


Hello Montana, Goodbye Wyoming!
We said goodbye to the Wyoming winds today and gladly welcomed a new state on our journey to the mighty Pacific. I can't really tell you why, but our hearts are already endeared to the this state despite the fact that we've only actually ridden a whoping two miles over the border.