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The downside of bike rides in the Everglades - besides the possibility of alligators - is lack of cell coverage.

Or maybe that's an upside. Still, it wasn't until after Montana's Dan Carpenter got back on the freeway Wednesday that he learned he was headed to the Pro Bowl, which is Sunday in Miami.

He's replacing San Diego place kicker Nate Kaeding on the AFC roster, and he'll be kicking off familiar turf: Dolphin Stadium is host to the game, which begins at 5:30 p.m. MST.

"I just found out today at like 4 o'clock," said Carpenter, the former Griz turned Miami Dolphin. "They'd been trying to get a hold of me since noon, but myself and Kaela (Clawson, his girlfriend), Chad Henne and his fiancé were out doing this 15-mile bike ride.

 "I get back into town and I've got three text messages, two voice mails and all these missed calls. I was like, ‘Great. What did I do?' "

What the Helena High product did in the 2009 season was drill 25 of 28 field goals, with a long of 52 yards, and score 112 points for the 7-9 Dolphins. His field goal percentage of 89.3 was slightly behind Kaeding's 91.4 (32 of 35 during the regular season).

Carpenter knew he was the backup to Kaeding, who missed a trio of field goals in San Diego's 17-14 playoff loss to the New York Jets. The loss kept Kaeding out of the Super Bowl, which is keeping several players out of the Pro Bowl. The Pro Bowl is being played before the NFL championship game for the first time.

"As far as I knew, I wasn't doing this," said Carpenter. "Once the Chargers ended up losing, I figured Kaeding was coming.

"He definitely deserved to go, with his season stats, but he had some unfortunate injury. As far as I know it was something today. He doesn't want to risk it and I don't blame him."

Carpenter, 24, just finished his second season in the NFL after twice earning All-American honors with the Griz in 2006-07. He scored 102 points and tied an NFL rookie record with 14 straight field goal makes in 2008.

The career scoring leader for the Football Championship Subdivision with 413 points went to the Dolphins as a free agent in the spring of 2008.

Now he's a Pro Bowl player.

 "He's pretty excited, as anyone would be," said his agent, Ken Staninger of Missoula.

Neither Carpenter nor Staninger knew if any bonus kicked in because of the selection, but Staninger noted the winning players earn $30,000.

"It's pretty timely, too, since his contract is up," Staninger added. "That doesn't hurt any."

As of Wednesday evening Carpenter was still unsure of his itinerary for the rest of the week. He knows there are some appearances the players will make, which he'll learn more about Thursday.

"All I know we have a meeting in the morning," he said. "A short meeting, then a practice. Then we get back to the hotel and get a little down time.


"It's just been kind of crazy, running around, figuring out where I've got to go and when I've to be there."

He doesn't have to go far. The Pro Bowl is being played some place other than Honolulu for the first time in 30 years, so Carpenter can pack light.

"They said that was nice, too," he said, laughing. " ‘We don't have to get a flight for you.' "