hot hot heat

man, where do i begin? glacier national park is so incredible, you must go there at least once in your life. it was my second time there, and a little bittersweet since kelly and i had such an amazing vacation there last fall. it was strange being there without her.
but it truly feels like heaven on earth. it is my favorite place in america. i think it even beats the grand canyon, which is ridiculous. in fact, if you have a few extra dollars floating around, you should buy real estate in one of the following towns: sandpoint, idaho - kalispell, montana - or whitefish, montana. i was talking to a lady at a health food store in columbia falls, montana - by the time we were done talking she wanted to hire me. but she said that sylvester stallone had been in her store a few times. and bruce willis has a place up there. apparently that area is the new aspen, the millionaires are tired of aspen and this is the new hot spot.

sorry if i sound scrambled, my brain is fried. i just rode 70 miles to a town where the high yesterday was 104. and it can't be much cooler today! i'm hanging out at the library until the temperature drops a little bit. can somebody adjust the thermostat please? God, i'm looking in your direction... thanks!

there is a road in glacier national park called going-to-the-sun road. it summits at logan pass, the pass that gets you through/over the rockies. it's a 12 mile ascent to the top, and bikes are not allowed between 11 and 4, because the road is very narrow and windy. it is cut out of the mountain-side and has severe cliffs and drop offs that make you dizzy. it's similar to route 1 in california only much more dramatic. it's a little nerve wracking knowing that one false pedal or weave and sianara! geronimoooo! instead of riding over the pass at 6am (to make sure i was off the road by 11), i waited until 4pm. bad idea. it was unbearably hot, as usual. after about 3 miles i was sloppy dripping sweat. i came to a tunnel in the mountain, and on the other side i found jim and ana and their dog. and a waterfall by the side of the road. ana said - 'you gotta stand in the waterfall!' - and i said 'i most certainly do!'. i took off my shoes and socks and into the waterfall i went. the water was cold and coming fast and furious. it was the most alive i've felt in a long, long time. there was a rainbow that encircled you as you stood, ana took a picture. she said there was something very spiritual about the spot - i have a feeling she was some kind of medicine woman. at one point, she said 'just think about where this water is coming from' and it occurred to me, as i stood under this barrage of neverending glacier water - that it was coming from snow, from above. way above.
anyway, words cannot and will never do the moment justice. but it was the highlight of the past few days so i had to at least try and describe it. i said goodbye to ana and jim and continued up the mountain. again, to describe this road will not do it justice. it goes way up into the mountains and glaciers, and it's just amazing. you must go there.

i met a guy named floyd - floyd is awesome. at first i thought he was homeless, turns out he works for an oil company 6 months a year and tours on his bike for the other 6. he's been doing it for 6 years and has ridden over 65,000 miles on his bike! his goal is 100,000. floyd truman. what a character. so many stories, i made a few notes and will have to expound upon them when i have more time.

i'm trying to catch up to the group. i spent 3 days in glacier to their 2, so they are a day ahead. i've been on my own since whitefish.

oh - and i went whitewater rafting in glacier! i forgot about that. in the flathead river. i figured it was a once-in-a-lifetime thing, so i did it. by myself, although i was good friends with the guide and the people in the boat by the end of it. the guys in the boat bought the pictures of the trip and are going to e-mail them to me. cool guys. and the guide was super cool too. mark. he's been doing it for 7 summers. i hung out with the raft guides for awhile afterwards, they are a bunch of characters. they have this elaborate penalty system for people falling out of boats. it's funny. you have to buy a certain amount of beer for each person that falls out of your raft, unless ALL people fall out of your (your - meaning the raft guide) boat, then the other guides have to buy you beer. i'm not explaining it well, but what a great summer job. one of the other guides - disco derby they called him - dumped 7 people out of his raft. it was hilarious. our raft looked back to watch them go through the 'screaming right' rapid, and our guide said 'oh man, he's going in sideways - not good!' - next thing you know all people in the boat are flying into the water! ha. they were hanging on the side, then climbed back in. our boat picked up two of them. awesome time. there were a few lulls in the ride where i jumped into the river and floated along with my life preserver. thankful for refreshing crystal clear cold water and the light of the sun and pretty much every single thing in the world.

anyway, i have to hit the road. turns out that alexander, my russian friend that i'm traveling with, is keeping a blog too. he's able to upload pictures, so if you want to see a few pictures of our trip and the scenery you can check his blog out..

http://moudrov.blogspot.com/

in the meantime i am going back out into the hot hot heat to melt in the big hot sky of montana! i don't think it's rained up here since 1989. actually, i was talking to an older couple outside the library just before i came in, and of course we talked about the heat. and the lack of rainfall. he thought they averaged 14 inches a year, but asked an old local guy walking by just to make sure. 'hey, how many inches of rain do we average each year?' - he asked the old local guy.
'too damn few' - the old guy responded. ha. silly montanans. actually it's kinda serious, water is their lifeblood. without water, there's no crops. without crops, there's no money. without money, there's no food. so, i'll do a raindance for them as i walk out of the library. a raindance that specifies the rain cannot begin before i reach the campsite and set up my tent!