Touring the West – Lewis and Clark Caverns
It pays to seek out the interesting folks you can find on the road. Pulling into the small town of Whitehall, Montana, I spied a bicycle weighed down with cross-country packs, resting outside the town’s cafe. Liz and I decided to stop for lunch and ordered a couple burgers from a harried waitress while absorbing the stares of tables full of locals. We found our seats, and I panned the room for the owner of the bike.
I found a tanned woman with gray hair, wearing spandex. I walked over and asked if she’d like to sit with us, and she courteously accepted. Through our conversation I found out she was on the tail end of a solo trip from Virginia to Idaho. Her name was Jan, and she had more adventure stories than would fit into one lunch. For one, if I remember right, she had ridden a train through Mongolia while pregnant. After finishing her burger and tall chocolate milkshake she gave me her card, which had a link to her blog.
Before she left, Jan also mentioned visiting nearby Lewis and Clark Caverns, which we had completely overlooked while planning our trip. The state park was only a few miles away. It was lucky that we ran into Jan, because otherwise we wouldn’t have backtracked and spent the afternoon crawling through stalagmites hundreds of feet under Montana.
Touring the West – Lewis and Clark Caverns – Images by Will Parson
