Rainy and Cold in Missoula, Montana

We always envisioned Missoula, Montana as a cool, hip mountain town similar to other towns we have visited in the past and loved like Boulder, Colorado or Flagstaff, Arizona.  But when we arrived in Missoula it was much more urban than we expected.  There were lots of cars, stores and people.  We decided to stay at a KOA (Kampgrounds of America) because it was in town and we really wanted to check out the town itself.  KOA campgrounds have all the amenities – showers, laundry, camp store but the sites were packed in.  We were able to plug in and now we actually have a coax cable to get some cable TV as well.  They do have wifi but it was just too slow, we had to use our own cellular data.  KOA ended up costing $44 per night.

Tim had thoughts of doing a road bike ride in Missoula but the weather was cold and rainy so ultimately we did not ride.  We were able to catch the free bus to the downtown area.  We had lunch and just walked around.  There is a river that runs right through town and a walking path along side.  They do have a cycling culture here as evidenced by all the bicycles outside the businesses downtown, so we like that.  The Adventure Cycling headquarters is also in Missoula.  They are all about bicycle touring. Touring is taking a several day trip on your bike with all your gear strapped on the bike and usually involves camping along the way.  Of course there are bikes made specifically for this purpose which can carry the weight and make it up those hills with all the gear.  Bicycling touring has always intrigued me, maybe one of these days we will try it.

And of course there are the breweries. We were able to walk to Highlander Beer from the KOA where we had to wait in line at the bar to get beer, then they give you two tickets.  They are only allowed to serve each person three beers per day, so you have to trade in your tickets if you want additional beers.  Some kind of law in Montana.  Each state or county or town for that matter can have its own liquor laws, so we are never sure what to expect.  The only food they had at Highlander was pizza and nachos which you also order at the bar and they bring the food out to you.  We did have a slice.  The beer and pizza tasted great but it was a little cold as we were sitting outside.  At least you don’t have to worry about your beer getting warm!

When we were downtown we had lunch a Tamarack Brewing which was more of what we are used to – a full menu with table service in addition to the great beer.  The Mafia Citra IPA was delicious!  Food was good as well, I was able to get a vegetarian wrap and a side salad so I was happy.

Montana has some kind of legalized gambling.  You see tiny “casinos” everywhere like in strip malls and gas stations.  Tim kept encouraging me to stop in at Montana Lil’s and see if we could “double the nest egg”.  This is a reference to an old movie from 1985 that someone suggested we watch before head out to go live in a van. The movie is “Lost in America”, a couple sells everything and heads out in an RV with visions of “dropping out of society”.  Sounds good so far right?  At the very start of their trip, the wife ends up gambling away the nest egg in Vegas.  They are forced to go back to their old jobs in the city.  Let’s hope our story goes better than that one!

As a side note, we had more of our mail forwarded to Missoula but it was a bit more complicated picking it up in Missoula than when we were in Baker, Nevada.  Baker only has one post office, Missoula has three.  When you address something with the words “General Delivery” you are supposed to put the city, state and zip, no address of the actual post office.  Each of the three post offices in Missoula said they offered General Delivery services so since they each had a different zip code we thought our package would be delivered to the post office of whatever zip code we addressed it to.  We had it addressed to the zip code of the post office that was within walking distance of the KOA.  When we went there to pick it up they informed us that they do not do General Delivery at that post office and all Missoula General Delivery is sent to one of their other post offices.  We were able to pick up the mail at the other location the next day.  So it seems like the easiest thing to do when sending mail General Delivery is to send it to a small town with only one post office.