The Missoula Tweed Ride

The Tweed Ride has finally come and gone, and after occupying my thoughts, and to- do lists for the last two months, I'm now left with reflections, lots of free time, and lots of tweed in my closet. All in all it was a huge success. We had double the crowd (around 100), and many more activities planned.

prepping! mopping/ sweeping? or pushing the dirt into
 the floor cracks? hard to tell the difference

I was able to put the finishing touches on peoples outfits the day of with I Need Tweed, but let go of the idea of expecting  money from it. We decided this year we'd just suggest people donate whatever they can for what they use.

The doors we put against the bike pit and tied twine cob
webs to

Also I rode a 3-wheel bike for the ride, which looked really neat, but was really hard to maneuver. I'm pretty sure everyone who saw me trying to get up the hills on the dirt path, and take sharp turns resulting in a collision with the curb, thought I was drunk. I would like to clarify that I was not.



Our first stop was for a photo, taken by Sean Kochel, who uses all antique photo equipment and prints on wet plates. It takes him about 10 minutes to get the camera focused (which was a challenge for kids), and then for the photo itself, we had to stay perfectly still for 30 seconds which sounds easy, but in those 30 seconds, every peep makes you want to giggle, and you suddenly get an itch under you nose, or feel like you have to cough. For the photo we also were fortunate to have "Doc" supply his antique bike collection to put in the foreground and make us look more authentic.

 We then went on, stopping for tea twice; once at Buttercup Cafe which was very quaint. The lady who runs this new little cafe set out homegrown apples, pastries, tea, and coffee all for free! The second stop was at Bernice's Bakery for more tea, and we then concluded our ride at Free Cycles where we ate soup, listened to music, got photos taken by Annie Florin, had a fashion show, and gave out prizes.