From A(lpine) to B(ozeman)

It rained overnight but this morning the sky was cloudless and by 8:00 a.m. the temperature was already in the high 60s and by the time we left Alpine, at 8:30, it was already 71F.  Almost immediately after turning north the Route  began to climb, gaining altitude from the 5600 feet of  Alpine as it paralleled the Snake River.  From the relatively flat lands to the south the road snaked its way through the mountains.  Where yesterday we had only scrub brush at the beginning of the day, changing to periodic stands of various species of trees, now the hillsides were covered with evergreens while cottonwoods crowded the river.

 

We arrived in Jackson Hole before 10:00 a.m. and stopped at the main park in town.  This park is unique in that each corner has an entrance which  is made of interlocking elk antlers.  The antlers aren't from hunters.  Instead they are the antlers that are shed by the bull elk after the mating season is over.  The Boy Scouts go out and collect them and the antlers are then auctioned off with the proceeds going toward the local elk winter feeding program.

 

Jim at the Antler Arch, Jackson, WY

John at the Antler Arch, Jackson, WY

 

The streets have sculptures of various local animals as well and one studio has examples of its work displayed outside in the parking lot.  We walked around downtown then visited Cowboy Coffee, a local coffee shop for a cup of their dark roast and a cinnamon roll.  Both were excellent.  In the shop we met three couples from East Anglia, southeast of London.  They had rented H-Ds at Black Hills H-D in Rapid City, SD, and had been riding for six days.  They were planning to make it to Thermopolis, WY, and eventually back to Rapid City on July 4th.  They would then return to England.  Except for one day near the Devil's Tower when it rained and they had to wear their 'wets', (rain gear for those who don't speak English) they had had great weather.

Bear sculpture

Moose sculpture

Sculpture of a local Indian (the American term)

 

Stagecoach in Jackson, WY

 

We headed north from Jackson Hole toward the Grand Tetons. I didn't know it before but found out that in French, Grandes Tetons means Big Nipples.  The French guys who named these mountains either had vivid imaginations, or they hadn't seen a woman for a long time.  The mountains are spectacular seeming to jut out of the flat land at their bases.  The snow left of their summits emphasized their rugged contours.

The Grand Tetons

Mountain rising from the valley bottom

 

 

At one of the viewpoints I took a photo of two travelers and back in the parking lot Jim and I met a couple, Paul and Becky from Hinsdale, NH.  He was a Vietnam veteran who spoke of seeing the Pacific for the last time more than forty years ago when he flew back to Oakland, CA, form Danang, South Vietnam in the back of C-141 transport.  They had been on the road for a week and had five more weeks of riding left to do.. They were going to cover a good part of the west before heading back to Vermont in early August.  I took a picture of the both of them with their camera so they would have a picture of themselves in the Grand Tetons.

Paul & Becky from New Hampshire

We continued North to the entrance of Grand Teton National Park.  The entry fee for a motorcycle is twenty dollars but the ranger in the ticket booth asked if Jim and I were older than 62.  Since we were, we were able to buy a lifetime pass to any US National Park for ten dollars.  I was eligible for that two years ago but no one ever asked me so I paid a lot of money that I didn't have to visiting national parks during the past two years.  We were able to use our passes for the first time when we entered Yellowstone Park a while later.

 

The park is spectacular wherever you are in it.  If there was a god, and s/he had a back yard, I'm sure that this would be it.  Around every bend there is something new to see, from big game animals, to sparkling rivers, lakes, and ponds, to steaming pools and geysers.  It's all here.

Yellowstone Lake

 

We rode to the West Thumb then headed west to see Old Faithful.  We crossed the Continental Divide three times with the highest point being almost 8400 feet.  As we were stopped there we saw one of the stupidest things I've ever seen.  A motorcycle rider was using both hands to take a picture of the sign.  It was amazing that he was able to keep his bike under control.  I'm fond of the saying, "Stupid should hurt," and Jim says, "You can't fix stupid", but this guy appeared to have defied all odds and survived long enough not only to buy a bike but to avoid killing himself on it while doing stupid crap.

Jim at the Continental Divide

Those hillclimbin' Harleys!

 

Closer to the geyser we stopped to see the Kemper Cascades, waterfalls that cut their way through a steep gorge.  As I parked Big Red a man approached and complimented me, saying that my motorcycle was the nicest bike he's ever seen.  He was a farmer from Nebraska.  The conversation hadn't gone on for too long before the politics came out.  Out of the blue he said, "We're losing our democracy.  The communists (intentional small 'c') are trying to take over.  I wanted to ask him how 'he' was losing his democracy, or what a communist was, but it wouldn't have made a difference.

 

The Kemper Cascades

 

I'm amazed at the ignorance of so many people here.  They endlessly repeat the drivel they hear on Fox News wit apparently no critical analysis of what they are saying or understanding of what is actually happening in their country.  I believe that Fox News is responsible for feeding on the climate of fear that always accompanies change.  While the large corporations plunder the word economy, these guys are focusing the small things.  And Fox News gives them simple slogans and talking points through people like Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, and the other talking heads on that channel.  For the last three days, every restaurant we went into had Fox News on and in the last  motel rooms we rented, Fox News was on when we turned the TV on.  It's frightening that people are so willing to blame rather than try to figure out what is really going on.

Old Faithful recuperating

 

Old Faithful was a bust.  Just as it happened last year, we missed the eruption by ten minutes and were going to have to wait another hour for the next one.  We declined and left, heading north.   We saw a bull elk beside the road so we stopped to take some photos before continuing on to the Artist's Paint Pots to see the boiling pools, colourful bacteria, a hole which roared continuously with escaping steam and a small fumarole which behaves like a geyser.

Bull elk grazing in Yellowstone Park

 

Red Spouter

Boiling pool

Fountain Paint Pots

Erupting Fumarole

 

As we rode on we came upon dozens of cars and trucks parked along the road, viewing a herd of buffalo.  We stopped again so I could take some photos of these magnificent animals before continuing on.

Buffalo resting.

Having a dust bath.

 

Our original plan was to continue north, exiting the park at Gardiner, MT, riding to Livingston then catching I-90 to Bozeman.  It was along ride late in the day so we changed plans and exited at the West Portal, at Madison, MT, then took Route 191 along the Gallatin River to Bozeman.  The ninety mile ride is spectacular and the river parallels the highway for a good part of the way.  This river is the archetypal fly fishing river and as we rode along I saw two fly fisherman in the river.  We stopped, went down to the river and spent time speaking with the anglers.  They obviously loved this type of fishing, and while catching a fish is a bonus, I got the sense that it really wasn't about the fish so much as it was about the whole experience.  Catching a trout is just a bonus.

The Gallatin River

 

 

The fly fisherman

 

This road is a motorcyclist's delight.  It twists and turns along the river and it keeps you on your toes.  There is a dark side though.  In one thirty mile stretch we saw approximately twenty-five white crosses, often in twos and threes along the road.  They are used to mark spots on the highway where vehicle accident fatalities have occurred.  I haven't seen such a high concentration of these markers in all the riding I have done in the past three years, and the one we saw were only on one side of the road!

 

The ride into Bozeman after we reached the flat land was uneventful and we were easily able to find a motel for the night.  After settling in we walked to a bar, had a burger and a beer then returned to the motel to prepare for tomorrow.  We have no idea where we'll go tomorrow, but today was the best riding day of the trip because it was all on two lane roads that were fun to ride and we still put in 417 kilometres in eleven hours of travelling.  We'll have to talk to the people at Yellowstone H-D to see if they have any suggestions and we'll go from there.

And On the Seventh Day...

Saturday morning is usually a time to sleep in, have a leisurely cup of coffee,  and perhaps read the newspaper.  When you're on a road trip things don't work that way.  Saturday is just another day, so this morning the routine kicked in as usual.  Gather up your stuff, pack it away, load the bike, check the room for anything that might have been left behind, get into your gear and roll out. 

 

However, I went back to the little park to take a few photos of the submarine sail, the torpedo, and the Number Hill.  The caretaker whom I had talked to the evening before was there with his weed eater edging the sidewalk.  He wanted me to take some time checking out the little submarine museum there but I didn't have the time.  He did get me to sign the visitors' log though.  According to him there used to be a nuclear submarine training facility in southern Idaho and during the period that it was open  it was responsible for training more than 40 000 nuclear submariners.  It seems strange that a submarine facility would be so far from the sea, but in the US military facilities are spread out so every state gets a slice of their massive military spending.

 

As we were crossing Oregon we met several convoys of army vehicles moving, and just outside of Mountain Home, ID, there is a large Air Force base about ten miles from the city.  Tom Clancy actually wrote a book about a fighter wing that was based there.  So having a submarine base in a landlocked state probably is not that strange.

 

But, I digress.  As we rode east on Highway 20 evidence of the volcanism that we saw yesterday was still apparent.  At one point I could see seven extinct cinder cones rising above the flat plain, some of which may have been several hundred feet high.  Apparently this whole area is moving southwest at about two centimetres a year.  Over millions of years that can be quite a distance.  As it moves, the land is moving over a hot spot in the earth's surface.  Right now a large part of Yellowstone Park is above this hot spot and this accounts for all of the geysers, hot springs and pools, and fumaroles that are in the area.

 

An explanation of Idaho's volcanic history. (Click on the photo to enlarge.)

How the North American Plate has moved across the 'hot spot' in the past 14 million years.

 

One of the 'Three Buttes', extinct cinder cones near Arco.

The other two of the 'Three Buttes'.

 

Just outside of Arco we passed through Butte City, population 74.  There looked to be more old cars and trucks on blocks than there were people in this hamlet.  Further on there is another hamlet called Atomic City that has a population of 29.  It near the Idaho National Laboratory, a nuclear reactor research facility.

 

We rode into Idaho Falls to stop at Walmart to pick up more Power-ade we stumbled upon the local H-D dealership, Chester's Grand Teton H-D.  We stopped for a while to check it out then picked up our stuff at Walmart before again heading east toward Alpine, WY. 

Chester's Grand Teton H-D in Idaho Falls, ID.

 

Last year I noted the two words that motorcycle riders dread seeing on road signs: 'Loose Gravel'.  In combination with 'Road Work for the Next  __ Miles' and 'Motorcyclists Use Caution' can cause trepidation in the stoutest rider heart.  Today we experienced that.  Two and a half miles of loose gravel underlain with tar.  At any speed pieces of gravel were thrown up and threatening to cause rock chips on the fairing.  It was a relief to be done with the longest two and a half miles of the trip. We stopped shortly after at a viewpoint on the Snake River.  The rivers here are shallow, clear, and beautiful.

The Snake River

The Snake River looking west.

 

Within half an hour of leaving Idaho Falls the vegetation began to change.  Where before there had only been scrub vegetation with nothing growing taller than two feet and the landscape colour a series of browns and sage greens, now we wre seeing trees, shrubs, and a wider variety of colours.  The land itself was more varied with hills as well.  The farmers here irrigate their land and there are various crops which in patches give the landscape areas of rich green.  What seems like arid semi-desert seems to bloom when it receives enough water but he volumes of water must be enormous and it is easy to see why it is a precious resource here.

This area of Idaho and Wyoming has a series of reservoirs that are used for irrigation primarily, but also for power generation.  The Palisades Dam is part of the system and the highway runs along the northern edge of the reservoir.  It is a beautiful ride with great views around almost every bend. 

 

The Palisades Dam with a very low water level.

Palisades Reservoir

Palisades Reservoir

Looking east on the Palisades Reservoir.

 

We arrived in Alpine, WY, about 35 miles south of Jackson Hole, and decided to call it a day, so we found a motel, checked in parked the bikes and just relaxed for the rest of the day.  The restaurant next door is called Yankee Doodle an it is a super patriotic place.  It is the kind of place that has the logo of a handgun with text that states: 'Handguns are welcome but please keep them holstered unless the need arises. If it does aim judiciously'.  As I have said earlier, this is a very conservative part of the US and many people take what they call their 'Second Amendment Rights' very seriously, although for the life of me I don't get the connection between a 'well-regulated militia' and wearing a sidearm in a restaurant. But then, I'm Canadian, and I don't really get this stuff anyway.

 

Today we saw what I think passes for 'western chic'.  While we didn't have a wide experience, in Alpine we saw several woman who were wearing 'jorts' and cowboy boots.  It seemed a bit incongruous at the time but it seems to work for them so I'll just leave it as an observation.

The skies darkened this afternoon and we could see rain showers all around us and in the evening even saw a rainbow.  Right now the air is cooler and the wind is blowing quite steadily but it looks like things will be a bit cooler tomorrow with a high of 88F in Jackson Hole, WY, a bit of a relief from the three previous days of 100F plus temperatures.  The ride was relatively short today at 232 kilometres but we'll make up for it tomorrow I'm certain.

 

Today is my 64th birthday and I an thankful for the good wishes that have been sent to me on Facebook.  I am extremely fortunate to be able to do what I have been doing for the past week.  To be able to ride my motorcycle with a great friend across the western third of the United States and to see and experience what I have in the past several days is a real privilege.  I hope I am able to do this for quite a few more years.  Or at least as long I and Big Red hold out.  And right now things are looking pretty damned good!



The Old Guys Are Wilting

One of the things about riding more than 500 kilometres in heat that is north of 100 degrees F. is that by the end of the day you are done like dinner.  Yesterday we rode 516 kilometres putting us over 1000 since we started on Wednesday morning.  For the whole day all the rock outcroppings were the same as the volcanic rock that we started to see north of Omak, WA.  The whole area was covered by the Columbia River flood basalts more than fourteen million years ago and covers more than 164 000 square kilometres in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.  The amount of lava that erupted is absolutely incomprehensible.  It has been estimated that the lava in this are could cover the continental US under 12 metres of lava.  The deposits were still visible during the early part of today's ride.  As I said earlier, the geology of this part of the world is gargantuan.

 

As it was last year, the GPS is proving to be invaluable.  When we want to find a place or get on the right highway, I program it in, and Voila!, unless I don't read the display properly, we go where we're supposed to go.  When you are in places you've never seen before your stress level is reduced considerably.  And it is wonderful to know how far you have to go, especially when you are fighting 100F degree heat.

 

Ready to leave Ontario

 

We left Ontario, OR at about 9:00 a.m. heading for Meridian, ID and the H-D dealer there.  One of the things that Harley riders do is check out dealerships along the way.  High Desert H-D is a huge dealership.  There must have been more than two hundred bikes on display inside the store and in the lot out front.  When we walked in the door a middle-aged man walked over and asked where we were from.  When I told him that Jim was from Kamloops he said, "I have to talk to that guy and ask him if he knows a small town near Kamloops."  He asked Jim if he know where Falkland was and was amazed to find out that we had ridden through Falkland on Wednesday.

 

Bikes at High Desert H-D

More bikes at High Desert H-D

 

He had quite a story having worked in several H-D dealerships in Kennewick and Spokane, WA.  He was a partner and got out before the guy took Harley for $18 million.  He had fallen in his parking lot in January and fractured his skull causing some brain damage.  To date his medical bills are more than $80 000.  When he asked me my opinion about the US medical system I told him I thought it was screwed because people cannot get care without their prohibitively expensive insurance.  He pays $1200/month for his insurance but for some reason wasn't covered for the fractured skull.  As it turned out, he was the owner of the dealership and was just checking in with two travelers who were passing through.

 

Finally, he must of figured we were safe to talk to because he gave us his opinion about President Obama, and it wasn't favourable.  He wasn't the first person who told us that today.  People here take their politics seriously but the level of venom is hard for a Canadian to understand.  There is a subtext when people refer to the President as a 'community organizer' instead of a Harvard Law School graduate, editor of the Harvard Law Review, or constitutional law professor.  Part of it has to do with him being a Democrat, but I think there's more to it than that, and I'll leave it to you to read between the lines to get my meaning.

 

We stopped at the Mountain Home, ID, Walmart to buy more Power-ade since we were going through it quickly.  We met a couple in the parking lot who asked us where we were riding and who suggested rides to do if we had the time.  He rode a Gold Wing and she rode an 1100 Honda Ace.  Unfortunately we don't have the time to do those rides but they sounded like a lot of fun and worthwhile doing.  Just as we were leaving I snapped this picture of someone who wanted to make their politics quite clear.  They must be really disappointed with how the November election came out! 

 

I wonder how they really feel?

 

We got off I-84 and on to Route 20, a secondary road with a speed limit of 65 mph.  We took it easy doing just below 60.  The land here is desolate.  The views are great but what surprises me is that in the middle of nowhere there will be a house which is miles from the nearest neighbor.  I wonder why people would choose to live so far from the conveniences of a city but obviously some do.

 

Isolated farm below a rock bluff about 20 km from Mountain Home, ID

 

This is arid country

Jim patiently waiting for me to take pictures.

 

The road climbed over the mountains and we gained elevation rapidly.  At one point we were just under 1700 metres above seal level.  At one of the viewpoints we met a couple from Salem OR.  They had been travelling in their camper for two weeks and were heading home.  We spent a few minutes chatting before moving on.

 

The couple from Salem, OR.

 

Looking back the way we came.

 

Last year as we travelled Garry and I saw an incredible amount of road kill.  This year, fortunately we have seen far fewer dead animals and the ones we have seen have been smaller except for a couple of deer.  We've seen gophers, birds, and today, I believe we saw a badger on the side of the road although Jim thinks it could have been a marmot.  Occasionally a gopher will play the odds and race across the highway tempting fate.  I wonder if they do that to relieve the boredom of being a gopher.  A highlight of our ride today was seeing a pronghorn antelope cross the road in front of me.  It was close enough that I had to hit the brakes to give him room to cross.

 

Between the two small villages of Hill City and Fairfield we stopped so I could take some pictures.  While we were there a guy in an ice cream truck stopped and started to talk to us.  He recommended several rides including one over Galena Pass into central Idaho.  He said that it was a great ride with all kinds of small towns that were worthwhile seeing, "except for Ketchum. It's full of damned liberals."  Another person who obviously isn't a President Obama fan.

 

Rural scene near Fairfield, ID

Sawtooth Mountains?

Sawtooth Mountains?

The 'damned liberals' guy.

 

Sometimes you come across unusual names that stick.  One small place was called Picabo (pronounced Peekaboo) just like the American alpine skier, Picabo Street.  At a rest stop we met a rider who gave us advice on more rides in Idaho.  We have found that people are quite willing to talk to us and offer suggestions about where we could ride.  For the most part people have been quite friendly, but then we don't give them reason not to be.

 

The goal of today's ride was to visit The Craters of the Moon National Monument, a lava field that was laid down in eruptions that occurred from 15 000 to 2100 years ago.  The lava fields stretch up to 45 miles from the vents and there are cinder cones, lava tubes, and a variety of different lavas.  We stopped at the visitor centre then rode the loop.  Where we saw a variety of features.  Being black rock and with the sun shining directly on it, the heat was intense.

 

Views of the lava field

Cinder cone in Craters of the Moon

Spatter cone

Pahoehoe lava

A'a lava

 

At this point we decided to call it a day and try to get a room in Arco, ID, about 30 kilometres from the lava fields.  We stopped at the D-K Motel and were able to get a room for a reasonable price.  Even though our goal was to reach Idaho Fall, after 416 kilometres we felt that it was a big enough day so we stopped with no regrets.  There were already four motorcycles parked there so it felt OK. 

After unpacking we headed for a restaurant for a chicken dinner.  While we were there I noticed a man walking out the door with a semi-automatic pistol in a holster on his belt.  It was quite an unusual sight for a Canadian who is unused to seeing anyone other than police and military carrying sidearms.  Idaho has what is called 'open carry' laws which means that as long as the firearm is visible one does not need a permit to carry it and this guy was exercising his right to do so.

 

For a small town probably more than 700 miles as the crow flies, from the Pacific Ocean, it was unusual to see a submarine conning tower and a torpedo on a park.  Idaho is quite a religious state so it struck me as ironic that the sail had the number 666 in three foot high numerals.  The torpedo was a Mark XIV model which was the standard torpedo in use in the US Navy from the late 1920s until 1969 and which was used primarily in the war against Japan.

 

The sail of the USS Hawkbill (SSN 666)

 

Mark XIV torpedo on display

 

Across the highway from the motel, there is a rock bluff with numbers all over it. Locally it is called 'The Number Hill' and each of the number represents a graduation year.  The custom was started by the graduating class from Butte County High School in 1920 and has continued ever since.  Some of the numbers are from the '20s and 30s but they seem suspiciously well preserved.  One of the locals told me that whenever a class reunion too place the class would pay to have the numbers repainted.  He said that the Bureau of Land Management wanted to take the numbers off but the public outcry was so strong that they relented.

 

 

 

 

The Number Hill, Arco, ID

 

As I came back to the motel I met four guys and we started a conversation.  One was from Florida, another from Alabama, but the others didn't say.  One guy rode his Victory from Washington State to Missoula where he met the other three who rented H-Ds from Grizzly H-D for about $100 a day.  They are riding for a week or so like they do every year, then they return their bikes and go their own ways.  It seems like a good way to do things.

 

The conversation turned to politics as it seems to do quite often here and the guy from Alabama expressed his disdain for 'the community organizer in the White House.'  There seems to be a common theme in that people who don't like the President seek to demean him and delegitimize him by describing him in terms that minimize his accomplishments.  I don't know what is behind this 'take no prisoners' attitude but the election is over and it would seem to me that the country would be best served by working together rather than continuously trying to oppose and cripple the winner.  That's a knife that cuts both ways as the Republicans will no doubt find out if they ever win the White House again.

 

So, tomorrow we are planning to ride to Idaho Falls then to Jackson Hole, WY.  We plan on taking it pretty easy and staying south of Jackson Hole so we can make a run into Yellowstone Park on Sunday.  The trip is going well and when we get into the higher elevations of Yellowstone the temperatures may be a but lower than they are here because the heat is taking a toll on the old guys.  Wearing leathers in this heat is a young man's game but we're still trying.