Day 5: Missoula, MT

Mileage: 135
Total mileage: 2568

We hit the road south the 100 miles that seemed so far on Friday night to get to my good friend LeeAnn’s place in Missoula before she had to go on shift at 2. I was very excited about arriving in Missoula, not only because it is Missoula and the place I first landed “out west” in the Rockies two years ago, but because my buddy was there with open arms and totally pumped that I was finally coming to visit her. LeeAnn made sure that we checked out Flathead Lake just north of Missoula. It's one of her recent favorite spots.

After my GPS took us to the Lolo trailhead instead of LeeAnn's apartment, we managed to get ourselves out of there and to the real place.

Debbie and I by Saruba

Right away, it was like we hadn’t been separated for years. I have a lot of ‘favorite people’ and Leeann is definitely one of them – she is a brilliant ball of energy, so when you get us together feeding off of each other it’s a darn good time. To help things out, we lived together for a short time so we spent some quality time together. It was really cool to see how she’s made it in the world and how she is moving on up with her dreams.

Debbie and I stopped by LA's office with pizza and did jumping photos. ;) While LeeAnn was busy working, we hiked up Mt. Sentinel before the sun faded for the day.

After work we went down to the Iron Horse for some drinks as well as another classy bar, and got late night pizza after. It was potentially the most perfect “rest day”. It’s one thing going all of these new places, but it is something so special to have friends to spend it with. What I really like about Missoula is all of the young people. So many faces that are just as confused and enjoying the young life and trying to get by and establish themselves as I am.

Debbie, me, LeeAnn, Matt and Mark

Thanks Missoula, it was fun once again.