September 19, 2022
I got a pretty good night’s sleep. I woke up about 5:30 with a chill in the air and the fog still sitting heavy in the campground so I read on my Kindle for a while before finally braving the elements and getting dressed.
I knew that I’d warm up if I went for a hike so I headed out around the pond and took a different route than I did yesterday. It was obvious that I was the only one out here and the hike was pleasant and did warm me up. I was out for an hour and 15 minutes.
That’s my orange tent in the photo above.
By the time I got back, the Day Use area was filled with white pick up trucks with people getting geared up for something. I had talked to a guy in an RV here and he told me that he used to camp at a big pull-pout further down the highway but when he checked it out earlier, there was a major construction going on. It was some kind of site improvement and, as the white trucks all ended up pulling out together and heading that way, it looks like that’s the work crew.
It was still a bit foggy but the sun was starting to burn through. I started pulling everything out of the tent and getting the preliminary packing done. I pulled the tent down and spread the rain fly and the footprint out to let them dry. While they were drying I fired up the stove and made some oatmeal. By the time breakfast was over, the tent pieces were dry I got them packed up.
By 9am, most of the fog had burned off so it was time to load the bike and think about heading out. I had zero cell service there so I’d have to wait until I was back in range to pull up my maps and chart the course. I do know that Hwy 26 is still my friend for a while.
The ride was great and the adventures started at mile 6. I was going around a bend in the road when a big cow wandered from the right side directly in front of me. This required both breaking in a swerve, something I’d practiced to get passed on my license test back in June. I was going about 60 and went down to 25 by the time I passed the bovine. Then I saw the cowboy herding a bunch of them on the right side of the road.
From there it was lots of curves and twist through forested areas. Lots of fun. When I hit the flats after coming down off the mountain, another motorcycle passed me. They were riding two-up and I didn’t see what kind of bike it was except that it didn’t sound like a Harley and had metal side cases so some kind of dual sport.
When I got to Vale, I pulled in for gas. I was at a Sinclair station and one pump indicated that the card reader was broken so I backed up to another one. I inserted my card and it asked “How much?” Huh? How much what? I want a fill and I don’t know much it will take or what the dollar value will be. I type in a “1” and it didn’t respond. I tried a few other things before I hit Cancel and decided to go somewhere else.
The somewhere else was on the other end of town and I saw the people on the bike that had passed me earlier. I gassed up and then pulled up to chat with them. They are riding a Triumph 1200 dual sport. The are middle-aged, from Oregon, and we had a nice chat. He’s an airline pilot with UPS and this is one of 3 bikes he has. The other two are stashed in other cities he flies to. We talked riding and such and they mentioned that they’d gone to Ireland and rented a bike and rode all over the place there. I was familiar with that, having seen part of a documentary on it. I think it’s “Celtic Adventures.” Anyway, he said they put a GPS on the bike and you just follow that and it brings you to a B&B at the end of the day. They did a 9-day trip. That sounds great. We said our goodbyes and I got back on the road. I spent the next few hours on twisties. Does it ever get better than that?
When I went through Ontario, I stopped for lunch at a Subway, as per usual, and thought I’d get the blog updated while I was there but they didn’t have wifi and my phone’s hot spot sucked. After eating, I geared back up and got on my way but before I did, I shot a picture of a business across the parking lot. It’s hardly subtle. Idaho is right next door and they don’t have these businesses there.
The road continued through all types of terrain. Near Emmett I rode around a huge reservoir.
Then it was back into the mountains and more twisties.
And great scenery.
I continued along Hwy 75 toward Ellis, ID. My plan was to find a campground near there but since I’d had a later start, the sunlight was rapidly disappearing. There are lots of campgrounds along this road but some are already closed for the season.
I forget what town it was, but I stopped for gas and picked up an IPA to go with dinner.
At some point I just decided to grab the next campground I saw and that was Upper O’Brien Campground. It was small and right on the Salmon River. I saw only one other camper, a couple with a trailer, and I picked a spot away from them that overlooked the river.
After getting set up, I got my dinner started. Pad Thai is on the menu.
While I waited for the food, I wrote this blog entry, offline or course. This is my 2nd day without cell service. I’ll get the blog entries caught up when I can.
Today was a 285 mile ride.
