July 4th. (Just another "workday" for me). I got it together to start riding at 6 today and reached Driggs, ID around noon. I chatted with these two ladies at lunch--from Bozeman, MT of course. Erin (right) and her husband own and run one of the major nightspots in Bozeman. Rozlyn is an office manager in a stock brokerage. Both were very sensitive to the trap of materialism our culture has fallen into. The conversation helped me to recognize that my intention to be at home wherever I find myself is actually becoming true. Rozlyn (who has 2 teenage kids and is in the thick of the struggle to balance career and kids and self-realization) suggested that "nomadism" is a better description of my situation and stance to life (right now) than "homelessness." I continue to be amazed how willing people are to talk seriously about the things that really matter to me and to them in very informal settings. I stocked up at the great supermarket in Driggs and headed out.

A pleasant young man, Fred, called a "stop and chat" on my way out of town. He was positive and admiring about the ride I have done and am doing. He's a lift mechanic at the local ski area (Grand Targhee I think it's called) and was very encouraging about my idea (among many) of spending the winter here to catch up on my skiing. Now I need a better term for "ski bum". I guess it's a good time to reveal that I am riding to Steamboat Springs, Colorado now with the intention of meeting my delightful new friend Jill (of Vermont, Woods Hole, and Martha's Vineyard) there for a three week bicycling vacation together. She had been planning to spend two weeks on The Tour (South Dakota to Michigan) but when I left the Tour she cancelled and we worked out this alternate plan--probably a better one. I now have 8 days to make the 400 miles to Steamboat. If all goes well, that permits a rest day in the middle and a rest day before Jill arrives. We will probably bike together down to Denver and hang out with my old friend and pizza partner, John W for a few days.

After the long run up (south) Teton Valley I came to the little town of Victor. There The Tour's yellow arrows went left, heading for Jackson, WY. I decided that the southern route out of the valley (staying on the western side of the divide) made more sense for my run to Steamboat, so I bid a fond farewell to The Route and headed over Pine Creek Pass into the next intermountain park. It was a semi-tough ascent, but truly the most delightful descent of the trip, for a few reasons: it was a very long descent; it was as wild as things get around here with nary a house or ranch, and generally very beautiful; and for the first time I was doing my own navigation--charting my own course. I've got a thing about that. I made 75 miles today, riding from 6 am to 6 pm, but with plenty of time in the middle for breaks, meals and social interaction.

By the way, speaking of navigation, I bought the cheapest possible TomTom car GPS in Spokane because I decided the navigational equipment in the Tour's sagwagon was inadequate (a totally illegible LED odometer) and the boss did not want to hear about it. A hundred bucks! It turned out, right from the first hour, to be absolutely indispensible. It charges with a USB plug from an AC adaptor, from the laptop, or a cigarette lighter adaptor and has about a 3 hour run time. This means I can check it several times during the ride (it lives in my handlebar pack) with plenty of runtime to spare for night-time planning. It's taken a while to find all its features, but one of them is to choose routes for a bicyclist--just like GoogleMaps. It is not perfect of course, but it has saved me many hours of backtracking and wandering--especially in cities--already. It took a while to find it, but it reads latitude and longitude as well as the usual car GPS features so it can be used with topo maps.