On that Ida-flow

Sorry I haven't blogged in so long. Long story short: pitiful 3G/wifi service and the one blog I managed to type up was lost in cyberspace and I was too mad to retry.
Friday: short 45-er from Hamilton to Missoula. We arrived in Missoula at Adventure cycling's headquarters just in time for the party they threw for us. It was actually the grand opening of the new wing of their building, but still, our timing rocks. We met John on our tour of the wing and awesomely he offered us to stay at his place, and as we hadn't planned where we would be staying, that was perfect and we accepted. His wife, Sandy, made us the best salad of my life for dinner and we even got pie for dessert. Sandy said,"for most people, pie is a special occasion, but we really have pie every night." that rocks.
We awoke on Saturday for a rest day in Missoula and John and Sandy were gracious enough to allow us to stay for a second day and night. I rode the fastest carousel in the USA, went to mass, ate three servings of ice cream, met up with Miles at the ACA headquarters as he had just arrived in town, at two more awesome meals cooked by Sandy, took a nap, saw a sweet movie (reveal the path) about bicycle touring, and hung out with some of thomas' friends at a bar where I also started an impromptu dance party to "play that funky music white boy"---all in all, it was definitely the best rest day yet.
Sunday: breakfast with our awesome hosts and then a late start on our way to Powell and over Lolo pass. It was not a bad climb until the heat decided to bake my liver and all other internal organs in the last 4 miles. At the top we crossed into Idaho and into Pacific time!!!!!! The waiter at the campsite's lodge was named Jethro and it was then that I knew I would love Idaho
Monday: awoke and ate a big breakfast at the lodge to hold us for 67 miles on the road without services; we joined two tourers going east named Ben and Saul. After 20-some miles we took an AWESOME, long, river-swimming/camp mattress rafting, lunch break at White Pine. This was one of the most beautiful rides of the trip, cruising beside the Lochsa river all day. We finished at Syringa, a total of 73 miles.
TODAY: another beautiful day, went around 62 miles, with a nice climb split in half by a lunch break in Grangeville. From the top of white bird summit down to our resting spot for the night, I cruised going over 50 mph at points (says a driver that passed me and talked to Thomas in town.) But on average I think I was between 40 and 45. It was sweet.
And now you're all caught up.