arriving in montana

Yesterday, June 8th, Stacey graciously took Brittany and Anna from Lincoln, NE around 5 am to catch a plane out of Omaha. With not much time to spare, we juggled 5 suitcases and 2 bikes in boxes. Uncertain of whether our luggage would arrive with us, there was much rejoicing as we sat on the plane headed for Seattle and saw two oversized bike boxes on the conveyor belt below us.

From Omaha to Denver to Seattle to Kalispell, we were so excited to arrive in rainy Montana and be reunited after 2 years! Together again we loaded up Maggie the Waggie (aka Amanda's Passat Wagon) and headed over to Whitefish for a walk around and the best coffee in the world at Montana Coffee Traders. After checking out a bike store to get us excited, we headed to Eureka. Upon our arrival, we stopped by the Front Porch (a coffee/book/yarn/music/art studio shop) where Amanda's most recent art work is displayed. We were able to meet a couple of Amanda's friends from town.

On our ride down to Sue and Dennis', Amanda prepared us for a Better Homes and Gardens front page cottage. We walked around amazed by the beauty and creativity of Sue's garden and the house Dennis built. All of us agreed that we wanted to live in a place like this, but realized that we have many more adventures before we let vines grow on our houses.

Then we had to get to work. Amanda brought her stuff down from the house and organized food from clothes from camping gear. Anna and Brittany put together the bikes just before it started pouring. But in end we successfully loaded everything--saving room for all 3 of us to ride in the car--with room to spare. We win.

Coming back into the house we were greeted by amazing grange-raised chicken and dumpling soup and conversation about bear and buffalo safety. Amanda frantically went over the first aid kit, and Brittany verbally reminded us that we were exhausted and that we could finish this up in the morning. And that was the day.