Illini 4000

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Day 56: Drummond, MT to Missoula, MT

Today’s ride was dedicated to Jodi’s brother-in-law Kelly Flynn, who has renal cancer. Jodi is the amazing librarian in Drummond who invited us into the library to present about our organization and she and her husband provided us with refreshments. We were thankful to meet her and honored to dedicate the ride to her brother-in-law.

Our ride today was beautiful once again through Montana into Missoula. The first 20 miles were very eventful. Our route on the frontage road next to I-90 was partially closed due to a landslide from the neighboring mountain! Luckily because we are on bikes, we were able to navigate around the rocks and did not have to change our route (our route had already been changed by the amazing Nathan who cut our day down from 90 miles to 55 miles!!!) and were able to continue on. Along the way we also found a “hot springs” which could probably be renamed to warm/cold springs. They were absolutely beautiful and we enjoyed a little morning swim before getting on the bikes to finish the rest of the ride.

The rider shout-out for today goes to Maria for being incredibly helpful in the van! She is off the bike for a little bit due to doctor’s orders but continues to be an amazing part of the team and always a smiling and kind face to see at each rest stop. She helps have snacks ready and fills water bottles and is all around an amazing and supportive teammate!

We are staying at the Grace United Methodist Church for the next 2 days and are thankful for their in-house showers and the food they have provided us. We are thrilled to be in Missoula and have a rest day tomorrow! Our last rest day was spent camping in the Tetons, which was beautiful and a ton of fun, but being inside and being able to sleep in past sunrise will truly feel so restful and is necessary as we set out to complete our last 20 days of this adventure.