I didn't wake up at all until 4:40. I used the bathroom and went back to sleep. Hurray! Jacinto got up at 8:23 - I was happy he made it until after 8 AM. I tried to talk him into 9, but he got up anyway and hurried down to the office for coffee in case they stopped serving at 9.

I haven't mentioned coffee lately. Jacinto left all of the coffee fixings home after the first half. Remember that he asked me if I could fill up one of his panniers, what would I put in it? That was the coffee pannier he was offering. I didn't have anything extra to send. His panniers have a lot of space in them. The better to stop at the grocery on the way to the room.

Jacinto has complained a couple of times about not having real cream or honey for the coffee. We won't talk about the quality of the coffee itself. Then he hit on the idea of mixing an envelope of cocoa mix into the coffee. That seems to be doing the trick. It's sweet and thick and tastes just enough like coffee. That has worked for him.

Marilyn told me about a laundry product called Awesome that is available at Dollar Tree for $1.00 that is a great cleaner of stains in clothes. There is a Family Dollar about a block down. We walked over to see if they also carried Awesome. There was a sign on the door saying, sorry, closed today. We proceeded to the adjacent Safeway store. They do not carry Awesome. I will have to look for it at home. Our bicycle shirts are in bad shape. Being worn daily and washed in the sink is hard on clothes. Jacinto and I both wore the same shirt daily the first half. When we got home, I treated them multiple times with Shout and washed them multiple times without satisfactory results. We both have different shirts for the second half. They are looking rough. I'd love to give Awesome a try. Specifically, Marilyn had some dance wear that she bought from a home that had a fire. Marilyn says after a couple of treatments of Awesome, the clothes were clean again. She has also tried it on bicycle grease stained clothes and it works great with no odor.

When Jacinto went for coffee this morning, the clerk was just putting a sign on the door that said masks required. I googled that - there is a new Montana mandate that masks are now required in any county that has more than 4 cases. That is most of the counties, but not all.

We were in awe of the selections at Safeway. Look at all of those fruits! Vegetables! The deli - let's eat at the deli tonight. Yum, yum. I had read reviews on the little general stores in the area we just rode through. Several people said how bad the selections were. When we went in those stores, we thought the selections were good. I guess it depends on how many days you've spent in small towns vs places with large groceries with bakeries and delis. Tim, that would be an example of hedonic adaptation?

Our next leg of the trip has four mountainous days. There are only three days of the entire trip with over 3,000 feet of climbing (Clifton-Glenwood, AZ, Gateway-Clifton, CO, and Dillon-Jackson, MT). Tomorrow we climb over Big Hole and Badger Passes. The next day is Chief Joseph Pass. We added in this loop because I remember it fondly from the Lewis and Clark trip. I don't remember the climbing as being onerous. Jacinto pointed out I was much younger then . . . let's see how it goes. It would have been easy enough to skip this loop and just head north through Helena to Missoula.