My Own Private Idaho

After last night's steady rain and heavy clouds, we found that the sun was out and while the motorcycles were still slightly wet, the sky held both sun and clouds, but nothing to worry about.  The day was getting off to a good start when we wandered over to the Old European Restaurant. Not being much of a breakfast person I went for coffee instead. For the first time ever I had the choice of a cup of coffee or a French press. I chose the latter and was presently surprised by how good it was. It was a nice way to begin the day.

Tom getting ready to leave Pullman, WA



Back at the motel we were loading our bikes as an extended family was saying their goodbyes. One of the gentlemen whose name was Jock Shumann, told me that his son had just graduated from the University of Idaho in Moscow, ID and after attending the ceremonies he was heading back to Spokane to fly home to Laramie, WY. He checked out our motorcycles and mentioned that he would be riding to Sturgis in August since he was only an eight hour ride from the town. And, he was going to be staying at the Buffalo Chip while he was there.  Since he was the only other long-haired guy there I asked him if he would let me take a few pictures with him.  We parted hoping that we would run into each other while we were at the 'Chip'.

Jock Schuman & me in Pullman, WA



Jock & me again



As we headed south to Lewiston, ID we passed through a little town called Grangeville. This was yet another small town that had had its railway tracks removed, severing its rail connection to the rest of the country. We were to see more than a few places like that this day.

The highway winds its way through rolling farmland. In mid-May the wheat and other crops are almost a foot high and they stretch across the rolling landscape all the to the horizon.  In places where the land hadn't been planted the soil was a dark black. I don't know much about agriculture but this looked like rich farmland and the rains last night made it look even richer.

We passed through small towns with names like Colton, Uniontown, and Grangeville. They are sleepy little places that exist only to serve the local agriculture industry and they look like they are in decline as fewer and fewer people work on farms and the farms become larger and larger.

Lewiston, is a mid-sized city which lies on the Clearwater River.  The city lies in a river valley and as the highway approaches the vista is astounding.  There are viewpoints on the way down into the valley and we pulled into one to have a look.  The viewpoint was about 1500 feet above the river so we could see the river valley for perhaps thirty kilometres.  The highway itself has a step grade because of the elevation drop and it switches back on itself as it runs into the valley. The curves are long and fun to take on a motorcycle.

Looking west above Lewiston, ID

Looking southeast over Lewiston, ID

Volcanic rock above Lewiston, ID

View to the east above Lewiston, ID



Here is where I made a goofy error. In Pullman I had programmed my GPS to get to Lewiston, but I entered a random address in the city. When we arrived at the junction od Highway 95 I ignored the highway signs and followed the GPS which was taking me to that address. Kerry and the other guys took the right exit so I was separated.  I stopped to think it out and decided to get back on the highway.  I took the exit and not too much further along the guys were pulled over waiting for me so we were able to continue on together. I experienced a bit of concern for a few moments though.

From Lewiston we rode along the Clearwater River through farmland until the landscape began to change and we entered a canyon and began to climb.  We had been paralleling a disused railway line which climbed the same pass. The terrain is rugged and to cross some of the gorges on the sides of the canyon the engineers had to build trestles. Some of these are quite high and it is hard to imagine trains crossing these structures which look quite flimsy from a distance. However, they did for the best part of one hundred years so the structures are obviously not as flimsy as they look.

We topped out of the pass at about 4200 feet and almost immediately the highway began its plunge down to the Salmon River Valley far below. I'm not certain of the distance, but it didn't seem to be too long before the highway had snaked through a series of sharp and sometimes sweeping curves as it dropped almost 2500 feet.

The highway followed the curves of the swiftly flowing river as it entered the Salmon River Canyon. The volcanic rocks that we saw in Washington State were evident in the cuts along the river as well. Several of the small towns along the river cater to the tourist trade by providing raft rides down the Salmon River. There are several rapids that look dangerous, but to experienced rafting guides it's probably all in a day's work to shoot these rapids.

Along the Salmon River



We stopped for lunch at Subway in Grangeville, ID.  Ian tells me that there is a Smokejumper base in Grangeville, but I didn't know that at the time. Grangeville is yet another small town that has lost its railway tracks. All that remains is the rail grade which is now overgrown with weeds and disappearing. Again, sad for those small towns.

A few leftover railway ties on the abandoned rail grade, Grangeville, ID

The feed mill which used to be served by the railway.



All day we had been battling the wind and as we rode south it seemed to be getting colder. It seemed that the clouds were becoming more threatening as we rode south and began to climb yet again reaching an altitude of more than 5200 feet before entering the town of McCall where we pulled in to Paul's Market. While not unusual from the outside, the first thing I saw was a large sign that advertised growler refills. For those who don't know what a growler is, it is a large bottle of about two litres, or 65 ounces. People fill them with draft beer, often directly from the brewery, doing away with the need for packaging and paying the money that the government doesn't take directly to the producer. It's a good deal for buyer and seller.

The sign in the entrance to Paul's Market

The beer selection at Paul's

The woman who was filling the growlers was named Adrien. She had tattoos on both arms but they had a musical theme with notes, staffs and other symbols. She was quite willing to let me take a few photos of her with her tattoos. I also bought an aluminum growler and filled it with an IPA that is rated at 100+ IBUs.  Quite tasty!

Adrien's musical tattoos

Adrien

the other side of Adrien's arm tattos



As we left McCall and headed toward Boise the clouds in the south became even more threatening and we could see wisps of rain from the clouds that seemed to fill the pass that we had to traverse to get to Boise. By the time we passed Payette Lake rain was looking certain so when we arrived at the small village of Cascade we called it quits and found rooms in the BirchGlen Motel, a rather rustic place. As we were unloading our bikes the rain began. We had made the right call and even had our motorcycles under cover.

After settling in we walked to the restaurant on the other side of the motel we had meatloaf. I usually think of meatloaf as rather disgusting, but this was surprisingly good and when we finished we sat around just chatting. Before we knew it close to an hour had passed and it was a good time. We finished off by playing a few games of pool in the motel's rec room. I even won two games. Not bad, considering that I'm a terrible pool player. I suppose that the saying, "It's better to be lucky than good," was true in this case.

Garry has been looking at the weather forecasts and it looks like this whole part of the country is gong to be having rain. Where's the drought I've been hearing about when I really need it? We'll push through to Boise tomorrow then we'll have to decide which direction to take. Right now it looks like the best choice may be to ride east then north through southern Idaho then Wyoming possibly crossing in to Canada south of Calgary. Not quite what anyone had in mind at the beginning of the trip, but we didn't have a definite route in mind anyway. We're nothing if not flexible.

The country we passed through today was amazingly different, from rolling farmland the mountain passes, river canyons, high plains, evergreen forest. The variety and the companionship of good friends is what makes doing a trip like this really worthwhile and I am certainly enjoying it all.