July 30 - August 1

July 30

After camping at Agency Creek, Jamye and I stopped at Tendoy Store in Tendoy, Idaho for a coffee and donut breakfast. To our delight, we met Viola Anglin, who had been operating the store for the past 62 years! Viola, 91 years old, addressed a question that I had regarding Sacajawea. Our journey along the Lewis and Clark Trail clearly acknowledged her as a heroine but with different spellings and pronunciations of her name along the way. In North Dakota, they insist that Sakakawea is the correct spelling. This was the name given to her by her captors the Hidatsa and it translates as ‘Bird Woman’. When we went to the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center in Great Falls, the spelling was Sacagawea (hard g), which is also the spelling considered correct by most scholars and, in fact, is the spelling used by the U.S. Mint on the commemorative coin and by Stephen Ambrose in his book, Undaunted Courage. So I asked Viola for the scoop…what is correct? Viola looked at me with unwavering certainty and said the correct spelling was Sacajawea. Sacajawea was born in Tendoy, Idaho, knew her name as a 12-year old, and her name was given to her by the Shoshone, who, according to Viola, insist the correct spelling is Sacajawea. Even though scholars are in disagreement, I’m going with Viola. After pedaling 58 miles on a very hot day by Idaho/Montana standards (95), lightening put a stop to my ride. We followed the west fork of the Bitterroot River to a Forest Service campground right on the river called Rombo (back in Montana). On the way in, we saw a cow moose up to her knees in water gulping away. We mentioned her to the Ranger and he said, “Oh, yeah, that’s Bullwinkel”. I got out on the river by 7PM and tried some dry flies. I caught a small (10”) rainbow, which made for a nice finish to the day.

Viola Anglin

July 31

I didn’t get many miles in today. After eating a big breakfast at a diner in Darby, MT, I got off at about noon and 17 miles later the lightening appeared. Fortunately, Jamye showed up about 5 minutes before a hail storm hit. We headed on to Missoula where we put 4 new tires on the 4Runner. As we were hooking up at a KOA, another hail storm hit us. Every time it rains or I see other bikers carrying heavy loads, I’m particularly thankful that Jamye and I are teamed up for this adventure. On another note, I have been conducting an informal, just for the heck of it qualitative survey on this journey regarding pickup trucks. So far, Fords blow out the competition in the Great Plains by about 3:1 and almost every truck is a US brand (Ford, Chevy, GMC, Dodge). In western Montana, you begin to see Toyotas. I have noticed that the small towns in western Montana are loaded with old Chevy trucks. Stay tuned for what people are driving in Washington and Oregon.

August 1

I cleaned the bikes today, getting ready for the ride tomorrow through the Bitterroot Mountains. Jamye worked on the blog. Tomorrow we will be leaving Montana and begin crossing Idaho on our way to the headwaters of the Columbia River.