After breakfast, I rode MC down to Big Sky Cycle and dropped her off so Andy could replace her bottom bracket. Turned out she also needed a new chain. From the shop, Yvonne, Derik, Connor, and I headed to Boulder Hot Springs to have a nice soak.
It used to be a fully functioning hotel. Now part of the hotel has been refurbished, and it is open. The pools are open to the public.
The history.
I didn't bring a swim suit on this tour. No problem, they rent them for $1. I found a suit (so did Connor). Turns out the suit fits better than the ones I have at home! After our soak, I actually bought the suit for $5! We may have more hot spring opportunities.
Anyway, there were two pools (three counting the men's hot pool). An indoor hot one for the women, and an outdoor warm pool. Yvonne and I soaked for awhile in the hot pool.
Not a good photo because my camera kept fogging up.
Then we moved to the outdoor pool. Derik and Connor joined us outside.
The lady to the left of Derik is Lynn. She's from Boulder. We had a nice chat.
After we prunified ourselves outside, we went back for another dip in the hot pool to get toasty warm again after walking back inside. Then we showered, and met the guys in the lobby. When I asked the gal if I could purchase the suit, she said no one had ever asked her that before (I had warned her I had a weird question to ask). She asked how much I wanted to pay for a used suit. I offered the $5, and she said, "Sure."
We drove back into Helena to complete our other errands. We went to an outdoor store in search of filter cat ridge replacements for our Platypus gravity filters. No luck there. Next to the outdoor store was a natural foods market. We restocked our groceries, and ate lunch there too. After lunch we dropped Yvonne back at the house so she could do some work, and proceeded to another outdoor store called Base Camp. They, too, did not have the filters we needed. Since filtering water is pretty important on this trip, and almost a daily occurrence, I decided to buy a whole new filter. We noticed all the shops we've looked for filter replacements have carried the Katadyn brand, so I got a Katadyn gravity filter. I'll send the majority of my Platypus filter home. And the big news is that Derik was able to finally find some pants that fit! His other pants were too big. So, we'll send a box home with a few things (Derik is relinquishing his saw).
When we were in Seeley Lake, I called Great Divide Cyclery and ordered a new tire. I would have gotten one from Andy's shop, but at the time, Derik didn't know the name of the shop, and the other one was the only name that came up when I googled Helena bike shops. Unfortunately, they didn't order the tire I wanted, but it will do. At least the guy forgot to charge me the shipping to overnight it.
That completed our errands, so we returned to the house. We got our laundry done, I changed the tire, and I patched the tube from the flat I had yesterday.
For dinner, Yvonne ordered something pizza, and we picked it up and took it to the Blackfoot Brewery next door.
We've had an awesome day off! Yvonne and Andy are really great people, and their boys are totally fun. Connor even got to play Magic and Legos! Tomorrow, we'll be back on the bikes continuing our trek south! A million thanks to Andy, Yvonne, Bene, and Griffin! I hope they come to Olympia for a visit!
No comments:
Post a Comment