the worst part about riding the divide are the moments when urban life becomes unavoidable. yesterday, we ended two days on back roads…maybe 10 vehicles in 50 miles, in the belly of whitefish, mt.
it was choked with traffic and hot. traffic was backed up at each intersection and it was easy to measure my anxiety in: being there, finding a bike shop, finding a store supplying non-empty calories, food, fuel and finally , getting the fuck out of there.
after two hours of funkified, and painful “city life”, we took a left off of hwy 93 and were back on the divide.
exhale.
we pedaled south and ended up camping in the front yard of tom and pat arnone. they are famous on the divide for hosting stragglers and more famous for being incredible human beings. they are truly trail angels.
their story is long and fabled and too much to enter here, as we ready for another day of pedaling in an air fryer, but wow, tom and pat evened out the mess that was whitefish.
the other side of daylight 
July 13th, 2023 at 9:22 pm
The road is long but the adventures outweigh the length.