Winthrop KOA
There was a trailhead directly across from the KOA for a 9.5 mile long trail that lead to Sun Mountain Lodge which acted as a hub for another 8 or nine trails. It was 6pm, but I decided to try take a look at the start of the trail for the next day. I rode past where the trailhead was supposed to be and towards the town of Winthrop. It is a quaint little tourist trap of a community with its main street decked out like an old western town, but housing modern restaraunts, bars, and gift shops. I stopped at the forest service vistor center and picked up some brochures.
On the way back to find the trailhead I stumbled across the town library sharing with a montessori school a very small building made to look like a log cabin. The library was open until 8pm and the librarian (30-ish looking country girl) was still there. After waiting for her to leave a message about an overdue book for one of her patrons, I inquired about the collection of "trade" books outside as I did not have one to leave, but was interested in taking one. She said the program was run by the school but she was sure it would be OK.
I picked the only book that interested me, "Honor Thy Father." It is a mafia book from the early seventies about Bill Bonanao. Coincidentally Bill died a few weeks before I left Tucson. I had never heard of him but when he died PBS ran a local special on him because he lived in Tucson much of his life and they had interviewed him a few years earlier. It is reputed that many of the scenes from the Godfather were based on his or his fathers life.
Lately I have been thinking I would like to work in a small library. One of the more pleasant parts of my trip has been visiting libraries in small towns. I spent a lot of time in the library in college and learned a lot about using them. There was an ad for a part time librarian in Hamilton, Montana that sounded pretty good. Eighteen hours per week (nights and weekends), seven dollars per hour, BA degree and at least 3 professional references. Its about 50 miles south of Missoula and I am sure I could find cheap housing there. Hopefully and opportunity like that will still be available when I am ready to take it.
I found the trailhead on the way back at about 7pm. I rode for a couple of miles mostly through farmers fields and privately owned forests. I saw several deer that seemed exceptionally alrge to me, almost liek Reindeer. I made it back to camp around nine pm. I started examining some of the forest service brochures and found there were several campgrounds for 3, 6 or 8 dollars per night near the town of Twisp about 15 miles south. I could save up to 15 dollars a night and according to my map there were some bicycle trails nearby. I went to bed reading my new book with sound of the nearby river rushing through my ears and trying to decide whether to stay another night and explore all the nearby trails or move to cheaper accomadations. Tomorrow was another day I would have to decide where to stay.