East. Day 39.

patti brehler
May 14, 2021
2 min read

July 17, 2016

Missoula to Ovando, Montana

Eastward ho! Yes, I was riding home.

A woman rides a loaded recumbent bicycle and is looking at the camera. The scene is tilted, with a sidewalk and trees and grass behind her. — Leaving Missoula. Photo by Big Dave.

A sepia-toned photo of a woman riding a loaded recumbent bicycle away from the camera on a road toward mountains and the morning sun. — Riding into the sunrise. Photo by Big Dave.

My original Facebook post:

Postcard from the road. July 17, 2017 Ovando, MT

Should be patti's law: ride five weeks west with mostly headwinds, turn around one day, wind shifts east.

I leave Missoula and a busy BIKEapalooza behind. I miss the calm of the open road.

Big Dave calls me when I am 13 miles from the day's destination. "I found Colleen!"

Colleen was 11 years old in 1976. Her 46-years-old-at-the-time mother, Shirley, dragged her along with our Bikecentennial '76 group. Their longest ride 10 days prior to our departure from Reedsport, Oregon was 12 miles. On new bikes.

Colleen lives in Missoula now, and she wanted to see me. So, she and Dave drove east to Ovando, MT were I'm camped in the hoosgow again. She brought photos and we shared stories of yesteryear and the years in between-and a delightful dinner (thanks Colleen!).

Our reunion is extended.

A man with a long white beard wearing a tie-dyed shirt and cap stands on the left with two women. The middle woman is behind the others and wears a pink shirt and has short brown hair. The other woman is on the right with mid-length brown hair. They stand in front of an old wood building with a sign saying "hoosegow." — Big Dave, me, and Colleen in Ovando.

From my B'76 journal:

7/18/76

Been having several LONG days so I haven’t had a chance to do much of anything except ride. Leaving Newton, Len and Loree and I didn’t get out until after 11:00. We went about 75 miles.

A lady stopped us on the road in her car and we rode a couple miles out of the way to get ice cream and cookies. Then we just made it to Cassoday as a storm started. It was a fantastic storm. We could just see the clouds rolling in. Anyway – we didn’t get to camp till after 10:00. Shirley and Colleen never made it – they stayed in Cassoday.

The photo of the woman with me and Loree was included in my Day 32 blog post. Her husband let Len sit in the driver's seat of his John Deer tractor, quite the thing back in 1976--it even had air-conditioning.

The out-of-the-way route on a dirt road was worth getting into camp late.

A John Deer tractor with one man at the wheel and another man standing outside the door. — Len test drives a tractor. 1976.

A man and woman on a tandem bicycle crest a hill on a dirt road in the country. Clouds fill the sky behind them. — Len and Loree leaving the farmer's house. Check out the clouds rolling in. 1976.

patti brehler

East. Day 39.

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