September 5th, Messoula MT

[catfish]

hi just got an e amil from bicycle bob and he directed me to this site. I am presently inthe middle of a tour and was using his site to post aboput the journey and keep intouch with friends and family. It is so nice tyo log on and read words of encouragemnet and see what others are doing, I was a bit shocked when i last tried to log onto bicycleforum.comn and discovered it to have gone south for the winter.
i now am going to e mail my friends old and new and tell them to check me out here.

ok a lot of interesting posts both from me and the people following this second poart of my journey have been lost so we will begin new here in a new home. you know everything for a reason....

Kelli will soon post about this great time i had in baker city oregon.

since then i have gone into and crossed idaho and now into montana and in messoula sp? there is a hudge fire burning in glacier park and I am now forced to go arround it but that is ok i talked with tom Robertson over at adventure cycling route office and he gave me a suggestion of taking hy 200 out of town and catching hy 287 north which is in his opinion one of the best roads ever. it follows the east face of the rocky's and goes through bob marshall area Ill follow that up to maybe state road 44 or take it into browning and catch hy 2 going east.

ILL tell you now about day 16 Pulled out of baker city and headed for a pancake breakfast the waitress was a little crabby this morning so i messed with her ming a bit and finially got a smile out of her. i got on the road befor the heat and was comfortable for arround 20 minutes then it started warming up. there was a climb of 3500 ft but i must have been up high to start becuse this was a fairly easy climb today. at the top i got the pleasure of dropping down a fast windy road deeper and deeper ionto a canyon this down hill run would go on for about an hour or so not steep but just easy down hill grade.

by now it was getting hot id drank one full bottle of water, 2 left i kept squeezing the sweart out of the head band in my helmet, it was hot but dry if that means anything.

Man it had to be arrounbd 100 by now i looked up and would see catttle with nothing better to do than eat lay arround and watch me as i rode by. then i thought i was seeing things, ithere in the middle of this hot dry place was a big ole sign that saiid
"COLD POP" now i am not one to drink much soda water but i couldnt help to stop and get a ice cold rtoot beer and sit inthe shade a bit. befor long "too tall" an old broken down cowboy came out to talk and sit a spell soon we were joined by his son I took a pic of them and headed east.

I got into a town of richland and figured to camp in the town park, /the map says it is ok and the sign in the poark sys it is ok I went for lunch at the dinner the waitress thinks i am nuts to be riding a bike inthis heat as she smokeed her 8th cigerate since i got there I went to the park and was going to set up the tent and a crabby ole lady kicked me out saying to go to this other place to camp they had showers and was a better place. i went there down abig ole hill they wanted 15 bucks to camp just lioke an rv would pay i got pissed and left the only options were to go back to the town park and deal with the ole lady or go to the town of half way 12 miles away. that included a 7 mile climb at 7% grade no shade and it was over 100 degrees.

I dediced that i was mad enough to make the climb on pure adrenilen, about half way the adrenilan ran out and i was struggleing, i was wishing for a bit of shade i spotted a county sand shed and pulled in for a bit of a rest then continued on climbing , going through water like eggs through a hen, i car passed and blew the horn and then pu;;d over I thought it was pirets going to rob me, thats what the heatr and sun can do to your mind It turned out to be the waitress from the place i had lunch she said i was completly nuts i asked how far to the top and it was just about a mile left arround a corner and a couple bumps and then down hill into halfway.

Got to half way and found a place with a 3 dollar camp site with shower and restrooms , when it got dark i heard something big moving arround about 25 yards away i shined my light and saw these big eye balls then i got closer and saw a big actually hu8dge black body i figyred a big black bear..... damn, then i got a better look and i realized it was a holstine cow eating a snack of pasture grass, i went to sleep soon after that

time is up on the computer got to go hope you all find your way here and look forword to hearing form you
catfish/george t korkos

[Greg]

catfish,

Welcome to the Forum.

How about an overview of your trip to inform your new friends?

I'll live vicariously through your heroics while at my work desk!

Keep the posts comming.

[catfish]

gee an over view? ok I started last year in july I roide from wisconsin to the central oregon coast then down the pacific coast to L A for a SPIN NING convention, of course i took the scenic route along the way i had many adventures and made many friends kept a on line interactive journal that was on bobs site I got all hung up in the forest fires in montana last year and at one point was surrounded by fire burning on both sides of the road. the trip down the coast was nice i met more people in the first coupla days then i saw all the way accross the central part of the country. I rode with a guy named hankjahn for a while he was from holland and i called him the crazy dutchman. met my brother and his partner in sanfrancisco and spent some time with them

I eventually took the train back to wisconsin and because of some proib;lems with the train breaking down in the mioddle of nowhere and missing connections i got a free ticket on the train so i got on in wisconsin and rode to portland then headed to the coast and went to florance ore. and starter to cross back to wisconsin,

some hiughlights were climbing the makinziee pass the climb it was much steeper and longer comming from the west my time going through hells canyon Ill write about some time the day off in baker city Kelli is going to post about that was a real special day and evening visiting old friends in bend seeing the salmon river valley gee there so much i write in my journal every night my good friend Mary Jo who has inspired me in many ways for the last 4 years is suggesting i write a book about adventures i have been fortunate enough to exeriance.

One reason i decided to even go on this bike tour last yeart i someone told me i couldnt do it .... I have some physical restrictions from an accident resulting major back reconstructive surgery with plates and screws and a bone graft and my dr is one to push physical fitness and encouraged me to do this also I am making people aware that there is life after back surgery allthough a bit different, and spreading the word about SPINNING as i travel.

thats kinda ther nutshell wished i didnt loose all the posts from the old site however i did print out last years journey part 1
catfish

[catfish]

thanks Bob that would be great you are a good friend.

[Greg]

How about belongings? Are you carring everything in bags or a trailer?

Sounds like a lot of fun.

Greg

[Joe Pozer]

Catfish,

Welcome to BFC and thank you for posting your journal here. Like Greg mentioned, it's great being able to experience the country vicariously through your eyes while I'm stuck in a cube.

[Joe Gardner]

George, welcome to the forums, b-bob has sent me all the old posts from bicycleforum.com, i have added all these posts to your forum dedicated to your tour. I decided to start a new thread for each day you posted a new update. I named each thread with the date, and your location. You can use this format in the future if you want, its upto you I think it will be alot easyer for us to fallow your adventures in this format.

Everyone else, i reccomend reading the past posts in this forum, its well worth your time! :thumbup:

Friends and family of catfish, welcome to BikeForums.net, the forum software is quite different then the bicycleforum.com software, but it should only take a few minutes for you to find your way around. If you want to post here, you will need to register. Click the "register" link under the logo at the top of the page, registration is free, and should take just a few seconds. If you have any questions, please send me a private message, or email me at bikeforums@yahoo.com

[catfish]

joe:
thanks for all your kind help i was really lost for a while without bob's site. It is fun to post but it is so good to log on and read the kind words that others leave for me as i make my way east. Ive told kelli if i could afford it i would take someone along on these adventures, but i sometimes think that traveling alone it is eaiser to get involved with the locals and into the local culture as well as ride longer and farther or even shorter as i want.

[catfish]

greg:
you asked about belongings, i use pannieers but an thinking of trying a bob next time out. Elizabeth asked how much weight i carry and i figured it to be about 45-50 lbs i am guessing at this and it depends on how much food and water i am carrying. i will give a rundown of what i got in the bags....

trunk rack: tent, sleeping bag, thermarest

left rear pnnieeer: spare tube, some back medication (just in case), cold weather gloves and cap, cook kit, msr whisperlite stove, coffie cup, 22 oz bottle of stove fuel fleese pants, pack towell book to read tool kit

right rear pannieer: mostly cloths includeing extra bike shorts, a cotton t shirt, extra bike jerseys, 1 short one long sleeve, a thin woll sweater, 2 extra socks, a 50' piece of parashute chord, a thin pair of hi tech long underware pants for cold nights, maps combo swim suit shorts, lock and cable

right frount pannier: food bag instant oatmeal, single coffie bags cliff bars noodles, garlic, small bottle of olive oil, seasonings , and my bag with tooth brush shave cream soap ect.

left frount pannier: rain jacket thin nylon jacket, combo headlight flach lite fleese pull over , arm and leg warmers.

handle bar bag: wallet, camra map journal sun screen bandana

i probeley forgot to write something but that is about everything

[Rich]

Hi Catfish,

Good to find out so much about you...would you plan cycling elsewhere in the World??

Europe perhaps?

Take it easy

Rich :thumbup:

[catfish]

Rich asked "would you plan cycling elsewhere in the "
actually yes I have worked on the south island of New zealand and motorcycled arround and would like to go back and bicycle arround many of the same areas. I had thoughts of bicycling in eastern europe but asd things are right now those plans are on hold. I have a friensd in holland that I rode the pacific coast route with last summer that has invited me to come for a visit and bring my bike. For now though no imediate plans

[sue]

Hey George,
Hang in there you are doing agreat job. You're almost home. I started my spinning class. I'm still alive after 2 classes. Second night felt a little easier than the 1st. First night a guy got hurt. Seems his bike wasn't set up right. the instructor thinks the handle bar was too high and not secured into a hole. Well, when were told to stand up and pedle the handle bar flew off the bike fell the guy went over handle bar and was in great pain. He came back last night though. I like the class, think of you when it's hard. If you can be riding across the country , I should be able to keep up for 45 minutes. I try. You are a great inspiration. Dad will be here 1st week of October. I don't think I can keep him much longer than a week, but if you have a target date, I might be able to convince him to stay to welcome you home. I'll bet he'd enjoy going to a welcome home party for you.

Keep up the great work. Be careful!!!! Your posts are wonderful. Keep thinking about writing a book.

Love,
Sue