montanapalooza 2002

“More rain overnight in Big Sky Country means less chance of forest fires later!

I believe I'm coming down with what Crazy Mike has. I have this urge to load my back, try on hiking boots and shop for new gear.

As Mikey would say, THAT ROCKS!”

“They said on the weather report this morning that there was new snow in the mountains. That bodes well for low fire danger by July.

BTW flyers- I've received a few flight schedules from folks so far. drop me an email when you get your flights and we'll arrange a pick-up at the airport.”

“Sorry Geezr, I had just copied and pasted the URL from where I was when editing - I guess the web site is smarter than me. Let's try this:

The Map”

“newgirl leaves and look at this place, hardly any posts so far this week.

Anybody heard from gojo or jerbear? They must be on the road by now.”

“Yeah, I hear jerber say last week he was headed out and I figured gojo and sarabelle were long gone.

Has there been any news on sarabelle? I know she needs surgery, but was wondering if she was gonna make this trip.

New gear, did someone say new gear? HA! I've got a road trip to REI in Austing planned for next weekend just in time to stock up before Montana.

Looking forward to meeting Yall.

Aero -
I'll get my itinerary to you as soon as I can.

Take care, Y'all!
Tex”

“"They said on the weather report this morning that there was new snow in the mountains."

THAT ROCKS!!!

Crazy Mike is addicting!

Hope to get my "Snow Nymph in the Snow" shot on Montanapalooza!”

“Aero,
What's the name of that store in Cooke City that sells camping stuff? I'm searching for a source for cannisters for my stove(Snow Peak Giga power).
Thanks.”

“Would that be "Snow Nymph in the Snow at Nymph Lake"?”

“Gearjunkie- It might be the Cooke City Bike Shack. They have a lot of stuff there. The Cooke City General Store might have some too.

You could call Bill at the Bike Shack at (406)838-2412
He'd be glad to hear from you (or anyone!)”

“thanks aero.”

“~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~yee haw
'gunna buy me a vest and head out west"...michael murphy/cosmic cowboy....
hee~~~~~~~~~

yo phil if you are reading here.......packing my food....what kind of cake ya want us to have for your birthday 7/16? ..(mel is july too right...) :)”

“Thank you very much for the driveing directions Aero!!!

You rock dude!!!!!

8)”

“23 days for us too!”

“Malinda and I drove the Beartoth Highway/Chief Joseph Hwy Loop today and if there was fresh snow it was minimal. Below is a few of the photos we took while in route.

Beartooth/Chief Joseph Loop”

“Oh joy oh joy!!!!!!

This is going to rock!!!!

8)”

“Martyb,
No problems accessing the topo this time. The GREEN Trail going west from the main trail and then branching to Sodalite and No Bones is the route I had planned out. Elevation change is almost nil so it should be an easy trek provided it isn't strewn with boulders. Thanks again.

While driving back the Chief Joseph Hwy today we scoped a herd of elk that numbered over 100, mainly cows and their calves. Unfortunately the camera didn't bring them in . . . no telephoto. Still a great sight with the binoculars!”

“So it sounds like there are going to be lots of cool animals too see there.

Man I am going to take so many pictures!!!!

8)”

“geezr, got an error on your link.”

“Snow Nymph,
It works fine for me. What does the error message say?

Can you access it with just the address?

http://community.webshots.com/scripts/editPhotos.fcgi?action=viewall&albumID=41124154”

“Snow Nymph,

The link I was giving was the page where I can edit, delete, etc and not the community page where the public views photos. Hoping I have it corrected. Let me know please.

Sorry everyone!”

“Good Morning Big Sky! Am I the only one home drinking coffee this morning?”

“Maybe at home, but I just finished a Mountain Mud Double Mocha here at work.

Any body heard from gojo or jerbear yet?”

“hell no! i see that's a "toaster pastries" box, a Pop Tarts imposter! what a phony. i feel so...used.

hey, waitaminute, do i get to post on here, since i'm not going? waaahhhh, i wish i was!”

“that was in response to Geezr's post, by the way.”

“Good Morning Lyra and Chief!

Sitting around waiting for it to warm enough to head out on the bike. 'Palooza is drawing near so the serious training begins . . . Weezr, grab me another beer fron the frig ;-)”

“Bought my ticket yesterday. I will be in Billings at 5:44 on Saturday evening. Now I just have to hope someone will pick me up and give me a little bit of Montana for pitching my tent (or rolling out my sleeping bag).

CAN"T WAIT!!!”

“I'm back peeps! What's up? Everyone is getting pumped (as I see from the posts, most of us are turning into Mike). Chief, I heard from Jerbear last night. He's on the road. LeSub, thanks soooo much for the Nalgene. I got them yesterday. Om, thanks soooo much for the tent. Got it yesterday. SnowNymph, again, thanks sooo much for the pack and other stuff.

I'm trying to get in "training" as much as possible. But it is frickin' hard. I have a jammed sched. Jerbear promised to carry me out if my feeble self gives way. I hope I am physically ready for this. Gettin' Pumped!”

“PepperDog,

No problem, Aero and myself are both available. I believe Jgeils comes in shortly after you, 6:20 perhaps. Pass along your flight info to Aero and once we get a handle on who, what and where we'll come up with a plan.

Same with lodging. We're both offering indoor and outdoor accommodations.”

“Welcome back Cool Whip, oops I mean Newgirl. ;-)”

“Newgirl stop fretting!!
I'm sure you won't fall behind this old guy. You don't need to keep up with anyone, you just need to enjoy the view, the trees, the lakes, just being there.
Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!!!”

“Newgirl,

I've seen you, just bat those lashes of yours at any of us old farts and we'll be begging to carry your gear. ;-)

Like Navi says, just enjoy! You ARE going to have a blast.”

“Thanks for the encouragement! I'll be fine. I'm just a little scared.”

“The bike beckons, I'll check in later!”

“Hope this works....

”

“Martyb,
It didn't come through. Now I'm going crazy trying to think what that evil mind of yours would have put on there.

P.S. The car is YIPEEIA”

“How cold is it going to get at night? How likely is extensive rain? Is this going to be more fun than a barrel full of monkeys?”

“Could get cold.
Might rain.
YES!!!!!!!!!!!”

“pdog,

It could very well drop to below freezing, but most likely it should stay in the 40s to 50s at night. Many a mornings we've woken to frozen h2o bottles though.

Very good chance for afternoon thunderstorms, severe perhaps, but brief.

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“How about more fun than a " Barrel of Crazy Mikes"?

That week is statistcally the warmest week of the year in Montana. It could be as low as the 30's at night and daytime high up to about 80, but most likely 40's-70's. If you had a rain jacket and a fleece top, you'd be ready for anything. The sun can get pretty brutal up there, so stay covered! it's probably a lot like the Sierras- maybe a little cooler.

There's usually a late afternoon thundershower of short duration, but unless a big cold front moves in it should be pretty dry.”

“I'm ready for whatever Montana throws at me!

Now about sharing gear - I can't bring my axe because I am flying so maybe I can borrow someone else's when s/he isn't murdering someone?

How about food - does anyone want to do any kind of cooperative meals or is it too complicated? Remember, I am from California where we do all that touchey-feelie stuff.”

“I'm not real hungry, but I'll take just a little of that touchey-feelie stuff!”

“Geezr, didn't know what you meant by "it didn't come through," since the image of your license plate DID appear when I first viewed this page (SUCCESS!!! I thought...). But now it doesn't. Hmmmm.... Just another case of not being as smart as a computer. Anyway, I had just cropped the photo of yer BIG TRUCK to show the license plate. You can go here to see it on my webshots page.

Getting more and more envious about the 'palooza........”

“Martyb, when it comes to being NOT as smart as a computer I know exactly what you mean.

Wish you were coming along. I suppose two trips to Montana is out of the question?”

“PepperDog, don't know what to tell you about meals. Personally, I've already planned out and purchased what I intend on taking. Aero and I did talk about getting everyone together and deciding on what needed to be taken. We don't need 20 stoves, 20 filters, etc. Perhaps when everyone is at his cabin, meals can be settled on as well.”

“Martyb, the plate is showing now. You're a genious. ;-)”

“Yes, unfortunately, I have this thing I call work. I would have to take more of the thing we call vacation, and spend more of what we call money.

Re: meals, a suggestion of what I've done before. Assuming everybody's on their own for breakfasts, lunches, and snacks, each person interested in sharing meals brings half the number of dinners, but twice the amount of food per meal. That way, you can basically have a pot luck of 2 or more people. Part of the fun of a group thingee is to try out what others bring for food. Of course, that's one of those touchy-feely things we do down here in CA....

Re: the license plate image - Ah, yes, I guess I are a genius....”

“We are getting almost as long as the fabled "Lime Green Jello" thread.”