June 24, 1998 - Missoula - Rest Day

DISTANCE TRAVELED: 0 Miles

TIME: 0 Hours

AVERAGE SPEED: 0 Miles/Hour

TRAVEL CONDITIONS: Warm and sunny in the morning turning into a very rainy and ugly afternoon.

ROAD CONDITIONS: N/A

TERRAIN/DIFFICULTY LEVEL: N/A

DAILY JOURNAL COMMENTS:
Today I got up around 7:00 and quickly threw my gear into my bags which then went into one of the YMCA offices. We had to be out of the room by 8:00 so we had to move quickly. After eating a breakfast of Corn Flakes, a few of us sat outside of the room on some couches and went back to sleep until about 9:00. When we wakened again, we had to go and make a presentation to a group of kids who were about 8 years old.(Picture17) We talked to them about where they were from, what we are doing, and bike safety. This lasted for about 20 minutes. I then went with Matt to a local bike shop and we bought a chain cleaner, a new tire, a bandanna, and some food. We found a car wash where you put in some money and clean the car yourself. It just so happened that a person who worked there was cleaning the place with a hose at the time so because our bikes were so dirty, we used the hose to clean them up a little. After getting most of the dirt off, we used the chain cleaner to get off all of the grease. I cleaned out all of the cogs and put the bike back together after putting some White Lightening onto the chain. I got back and ate a quick lunch of some sandwiches and a few pieces of junk food which tasted much better than they actually are for you. Around 1:00 a person came over to the YMCA to take us to a place where we were to do another service project.(Picture18) Bob took us to a place that he had just moved into where there were hundreds of old bikes and rims. We helped to arrange the bikes and sort out the rims according to size and whether they were front or rear. I helped to put in a floor in the upper level of the building so that there was more room for them to put their gear. The bikes that were there were part of a Free Cycles program in Missoula where the bikes are put out on the streets and painted a green color. They are then used by any of the people in the town and are supposed to be left for other people to use. They put out about 50 bikes and at the end of the year, they retrieve about 35. They constantly fix up the bikes and help children who don't have bikes obtain one by fixing up one that they find in the vast stockpile of bikes. After cleaning up, we helped to repair a few bikes that were around replacing tires and tubes and adjusting the brakes and derailers. After fixing up everything, we left around 5:00 to go to a local park for a potluck dinner that they had arranged for us. We had lots of different pasta salads, bread, cookies, and many other types of food. Unfortunately it was raining hard and I didn't have any rain gear with me so I took the SAG back to the YMCA while some other people went to a talk about a person who had biked around the world. I got back and discovered that my chain had lots of rust on it so I put on some more White Lightening after wiping off some water. Once again I ate some more food before getting to bed at around 11:30.

TRIP ROUTE:
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