Helena

This is Sal who I met while checking in at Motel 6. We ended up having spagetti at Pizza Hut and ecellent conversation. Sal is motorcycling the Continental Divide trail from Canada to New Mexico his home state. That includes a bunch of off road trails etc which is a lot of work . Sal is also a mountain/glacier climber . Very interesting man to talk to.

Btw, Sal now a student again working on his doctorate, was a college administrator and also a teacher of internet technology. Like how to use the tools available, like how to write blogs and all that. He asked me to send blog info to him so he could check it out. I am sure he will believe that Neaderthal's do still exist and at least one has discovered the internet and is blogging about a bike trip. Maybe he will send me an instruction manual on how to do this better.

This is as close as I want to get to a Grizzley which is on display at the Montana Historical Museum. I spent 2 hours in there and could have spent 2 more. A lot of things have happened in Montana in a fairly short period of time considering it did not get a lot of attention until Lewis and Clark put it on the map(so to speak).

Cool statue outside the historical museum.

I went to a baseball game tonight between the Helena Brewers and the Missoula Ospreys of the Pioneer (rookie) league. I rode bike to stadium and they let me bring it inside and chain to tree (see left) and the security guy kept an eye on it the entire night. It was opening night and also free water bottle night, which just fit on bike bottle rack(see on left). I have never been to a lower minor league game and laughed my head off at all the between innings promotions. The crowd really got into it. My favorite was having a kid with a big fishing net trying to catch rubber salmon flung high in the air by some guys with a big sling shot. The kid was 1 for 4.

There was a drawing for a new bicycle and my ticket was only a few numbers off. That would have been interesting.

These are all first year minor leaguers and it was fun to watch from close in sitting in wooden bleachers that have been there a long time. Rene Gonzalez is the manager and one of the infielders is Cutter Dykstra son of Lenny. The field has a lot of history and one guy who played there is country singer Charlie Pride when he was a baseball prospect. The Brewers won 10-5 and there was a lot of action. One thing I noticed is that almost every player had a double digit number starting at 50.

The highlight of the evening for me was meeting a local guy named Phil in the ticket line. We started talking and ended up sitting together during the game. We took turns talking the entire time. This man knows his history--local-USA-world. If I am ever on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Phil will be my lifeline. I fancy myself fairly well versed on history stuff but I learned a lot tonight . Look forward to conversing with Phil again.

When I walked in I got a pic with the mascot --that is me on the left.