June 17

Powell to Missoula. Again, we had great accommodations at Lochsa Lodge. We were waiting on there doorstep for them to open for breakfast. That is typical as we try to get an early start. We rode up hill over Lolo Pass excited about the fact that we could see new fallen snow up on the mountains. The climb was hard, but not as tough as we anticipated. It was, however colder than we anticipated, and it snowed on us for the last 2 miles of the climb. We were glad to see the ranger station at the Pass, and lingered there with their fireplace and hot chocolate. After the pass, again a big descent with snow producing temperature exacerbated by a 30 mph wind chill created by the bikes rapid descent. We stopped in town of Lolo, and had Mexican for lunch to break away from the burger routine. 0n the descent we must have passed through major moose territory as they had moose crossing signs up as well as being painted on the road. Coming into Missoula we stopped at a neighborhood lemonade stand and then set up shop for the night at the Bel-Aire