2023 TOUR - PART 1

 

For many months I had been planning a motorcycle trip over some of the best roads I have ridden in the West. As usual, I included my riding partner, Sam, but this time two of my sons, Clint and Yancey, would also accompany us. Clint lives in Lewiston so he would do the whole tour but Yancey who lives in Denver would meet us in Grand Junction for just three days of the nine day trip. My planning included setting each day’s route, lining up geocaches along the way to use as navigation points and lining up motels. All of this is much easier said than done, especially the motels.

New Triumph Tiger 900

A couple of weeks before our planned departure on June 24^th Clint had a motorcycle wreck that totaled his bike and put him in the hospital. He has wearing good protection gear and fortunately wasn’t seriously injured, just a slight concussion and sore body parts for a while. Nevertheless, it knocked him out of the trip.

The trip did not begin exactly glitch free. We met at Sam’s house early Saturday, June 24^th I led from Sam’s and assumed he was behind me. He always starts out slowly to be easy on his equipment so I thought nothing about not seeing him right away. However, after riding a while down Evans Rd and still not seeing him in my rear view mirror I stopped just before the intersection with Hwy 12. After waiting a couple of minutes I figured he must have gone up Ben Johnson and then down 15^th St. which was probably a better way anyway. So I went on down Hwy 12 to 15^th St. and crossed the Red Wolf bridge to bypass going through Lewiston. Still no Sam. We had prearranged to make our first stop in Kamiah about 65 miles up Hwy 12 so I figured he must have gone on ahead. I was riding at a fairly brisk pace but I still didn’t come upon Sam. Finally I got to our prearranged stopping place and no Sam. Now I was really worried. Just as I was about to send him a text here he comes. He had had some trouble with his ear plugs which had delayed his departure.

After a laugh and a little break we continued east up Hwy 12 along the scenic Lochsa River. It was beautiful and little traffic due I suspect to our early departure. We did encounter some road construction which delayed us a little and entailed some riding over gravel but it did little to dampen our spirits. At the construction we saw this piece of art (pictured) made from limbs in the back of a pickup. We refueled at Lolo, Montana, and proceeded south down Highway 93 to Salmon, Idaho. It had gotten quite warm by the time we reached Salmon. I had a bad experience as we were entering Salmon. There is a tee intersection that slopes down to the left. Unfortunately the slope was so steep that when I stopped to put my foot down my bike leaned so far over that I couldn’t keep it up. So there I was on the ground with traffic lined up behind me. Sam had wisely gone through the intersection so had no problem. Several people stopped to help me get my bike back up. Fortunately, no damage. We had traveled 328 miles this first day.

Driftwood Horse

There was no breakfast served at our motel and we left the next morning before any food serving places were open. The next town was Challis which is 60 miles away. The ride from Salmon to Challis along the Salmon river is a fabulous ride which we enjoyed. We found only one place to eat in Challis which was crowded but the service was good. I had only one pancake which was about a foot in diameter and all I could eat. We continued down Hwy 93 to Arco where we veered southeast on Hwy 28 toward Blackfoot. At Moreland, just west of Blackfoot, we reversed direction on Hwy 39 which is a little back road that runs parallel to Interstate 86 to Aberdeen. Along the way we stopped for a picnic lunch at Springfield reservoir which was a nice shady spot giving a relief from the steadily increasing heat.

At Aberdeen we headed south on Hwy 37, one of my favorites which I discovered many years ago when I was doing my Idaho counties motocaching. It was one of the rare roads that was new to Sam. We passed through Rockford and shortly thereafter the road narrows to the point where it doesn’t even have any lines. At Holcomb we turned east and went through Malad City and Preston before eventually reaching Montpelier, our day’s destination, after covering 421 miles. This was a long day but beautiful riding.(To be continued)  M/W