2023 TOUR - PART 4

 

Here comes that train again



Staying in Helper, our motel particularly, was quite an experience. Helper reminded me in some ways of Eureka, Nevada, in that it had seen better days and yet some were trying to improve things. That couldn’t be said of our motel, I’m afraid. Angel, the owner who was buying it from an 83-year-old gentleman was very friendly and accommodating but the whole place was a dump. The parking lot was an unpaved potholed area where I worried about keeping my motorcycle upright. Angel’s son, also Angel, had an old trailer set up in the parking lot selling tacos for $3. Sam said I was welcome to try one but he wouldn’t touch one with a ten foot pole or words to that effect. There were a few attempts at making the place inviting, such as some mismatched furniture under a tree on a gravel area. My pictures really don’t do justice to the area. There was a railroad track that ran along side the motel and trains that passed several times giving four ear splitting horn blasts each time.



Old truck collection




50's era service station

Angel Jr.'s taco trailer

Sam in front of out room

After settling into the motel, I took a walk around picking up a couple of geocaches that the state association had placed. One was particularly good. It was a sort of spigot attached to a board and when you pulled the spigot handle a small container fell out of the faucet containing the geocache.

Later we hiked down town to a restaurant that had been a big hotel, I think. It had a mezzanine that was partially supported by 1” iron rods. Along our walk we saw an old restored service station that had numerous old trucks displayed. There were other restorations that were meant to appeal to tourists. The restaurant was reported to have generous portions and it lived up to its reputation.

When we got back to the motel I sat out in front under the tree and read while Sam got buttonholed on the walk in front of our room by the old previous owner. He wouldn’t quit talking and amazingly, he was immensely proud of this dump of a motel. However, I had no complaints about the bed as I slept reasonably well.

We got another early start the next morning and naturally, there was no place to have breakfast. We began riding northeast on Hwy 191 toward Duchesne where we planned to have breakfast. This was a beautiful winding mountain road up a pass that reached over 10,000 feet in elevation. However, we took the curves rather cautiously as the temperature was 34 degrees (the coldest of the trip) and many of the curves were shaded which made us fearful of ice. At Duchesne we gassed up at a big convenience store and had breakfast. After breakfast we turned northwest on Hwy 35 to Kamas where we turned northeast on Hwy 150. This was beautiful riding mostly through the Wasatch National Forest. We left the Wasatch as we entered Wyoming and rode up through Evanston. Here we rode north on Hwy 89 which turned to Hwy 16 as we crossed the line back into Idaho. This was a beautiful little ride up through the little town of Randolph where I had never been. Next we turned northeast back into Wyoming and up to Cokeville. Following Hwy 30 we were soon back in Idaho again and proceeded through Montpelier where we had stayed our second night of the trip. We continued on Hwy 30 up to our day’s destination at Soda Springs having traveled 332 miles for the day. We stayed at the JR Inn which was a considerable upgrade from the Riverside Inn in Helper.