What brought you to Missoula?

About 80% percent of the people I meet here are from somewhere else. That's understandable since this is such a great place. So, if you are a transplant, how did you end up here?

I lived here until I was five while my parents were at the University. Growing up, I always remembered it as my favorite place. We still lived in Montana and my parents were involved in education, so we got to visit a lot to go to meetings at the university and such. It wasn't until I was 21 that I decided to move back and attend school myself. Missoula has proved to be even better than my memory.

Graduate school for me.  Just graduated too. But I quickly fell in love. Great town, great people. Thankfully, too gray and not pretty enough for the hordes that have moved to Bend, Bozeman, Whitefish (where I lived two years).  Near perfect in my humble opinion.

I researched it.  Bicycle town (I was a bicycle purist back then) with enough size for culture + real weather.

What are your favorite bike routes?  I'm starting to get into it more.  I like to mtn bike in the Rattlesnake, but was just given a skinny tire bike and once I replace the handlebars, would like to start some road biking...where to go?

Damn! I just have to say, because I had to say it somewhere: MISSOULA IS SO LUCKY TO HAVE PAUL!!

Look at this freakin' whole Missoula forum. He won't toot his own horn so I will:
toot! toot! toot!

He did amazing things when he was in Seattle area, and we're just hoping Missoula is pretty magical for him.

Glad to be in such good company. 

I guess my favorite bike route is just going along the river. You don't really need a route though. Since it is my main mode of transportation, one of my favorite things about Missoula is how bike friendly it is. The lanes in most areas are usually well kept and Bob G. is always out working to get us more improvements and keep us safe. And Missoula itself is just nice for riding; the streets are beautiful, winter is short and mild (there were only a couple of days that I couldn't ride my bike this year), and cars stop for you almost as much as they stop for pedestrians.

Yes, I would put bike friendliness in the top ten list of reasons to love Missoula. C:

Greg M Peters wrote:
What are your favorite bike routes?  I'm starting to get into it more.  I like to mtn bike in the Rattlesnake, but was just given a skinny tire bike and once I replace the handlebars, would like to start some road biking...where to go?

I think you should start a whole new thread on that.

Kelda O. wrote:
Damn! I just have to say, because I had to say it somewhere: MISSOULA IS SO LUCKY TO HAVE PAUL!!

Look at this freakin' whole Missoula forum. He won't toot his own horn so I will:
toot! toot! toot!

He did amazing things when he was in Seattle area, and we're just hoping Missoula is pretty magical for him.

Kelda!  Are you writing to us from Haiti?  Is team permaculture all set up and rolling there?  You should update your sig to reflect that mission!

So, kelda, back on topic:  you used to live in missoula.  Fess up.  What brought you here?

I came here to be next to the Selway-Bitterroot and close to the Bob Marshall. Looked up one day and said, "Oh...look!  This town's pretty cool too."