We're in Missoula, MT. and we have a day off from riding. This morning we volunteered at a community bike place called Free Cycle (kind of like Bikes not Bombs). Than we had a tour of an organic farm, went to Adventure Cycling to visit them and get our picture taken and we all got a free six months subscription to their magazine.
Now I'm back at the synagogue where we spent last night and we will spend tonight. We sleep on the floor but at least we did 't have to set up our tents in the pouring rain. And Garth one of the staff, made eggs for us this morning for breakfast.
I'm going out to dinner tonight with Dena and Ilan and whoever else wants to come, but we have to be back for community meeting at 6:30. I think it will be a long one.
So this is what happened
On Monday afternoon a very friendly big dog decided to follow us as we began riding up this terrible rocky unpaved path. When we got to the top we had a rest stop which happened to across from a restaurant and bike rental shop. We went in to use the bathroom and also to find out if she knew what we should do about the dog. The person there said that she thought she knew the owner of the dog and would call them.
The rest of the day was downhill, but it was going to be on this rocky dirt path and I decided I was not going to ride. The other choice was riding on route 90 which is the same as our route 90 except that the speed limit here in Montana is 75. Most people decided to take route 90 after being on the dirt path for a while. If I had known that I probably would have biked down.
Anyway I was in the van a d we learned much later that the dog had continues to follow the riders and when they went on the highway the dog would sometimes go into the road, so two people, Dena and Terry walked with the dog and their bikes to a place where they could make phone calls about a mile away from where they were. They found out that there we no shelters so they called Eli, a staff member to come pick up the dog. I went with Eli in the van. By this time it was around 5:00. We brought the dog back to camp and Freddy, a woman married to Terry, decided to go up to the office to see if they knew of a place for the dog. I told her I didn't think that was a good idea and as it turned out it wasn't. The woman who owns the camp said if we didn't get rid of the dog she would come and shot it and Freddy believed she would.
So I thought the best idea was to bring the dog back to the bike rental place, tie him up with food and water and when they opened in the morning they would find the dog. I did not know that Terry, who lives in Idaho, thought that if we tied him up he would be killed by a pack of wolves. Terry wanted us to find a home for him in the town we were in. But I did not know about Terry's concern about the wolves. So while Terry and Dena were biking back Eli and I drove back about 40 miles and left the dog tied up. That's why I did not get in two nights ago until 11:00.
A number of people knew what Eli and I did with the dog, but apparently Terry was not one of them. So
Yesterday morning while I was putting something away on the truck Terry came over and asked "what happened with the dog. "I thought he was just wanting to chit chat about the dog, so I said something like wait a second or I'll be with you in a minute. Well, by the time I realized that Terry was really getting upset it was too late. He had totally lost it and was screaming What happened to the dog. By this time Eli came over and told him what we had done and then he became uncontrollable saying the dog would have been better off shot than torn apart by wolves and this went on for at least ten minutes. This was as 6:30 am and the bike rental shop didn't open til 8:00. It was really awful. The good news is that the dog is fine and was brought to a shelter, but we still haven't had a meeting because last night we were hosted by the Jewish community of Missoula and so we are going to have to talk about it tonight.
Anyway, never a dull moment
Back on the bike tomorrow
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