Short Ride, Neat People

I don't know what it is but Garry and I seem to be incapable of getting on the road before nine o'clock in the morning.  But I guess we are on vacation so it shouldn't be a surprise.  As I mentioned the motel in Spokane wasn't the best but it was adequate except for the problem with the internet.  However, when we got back from Starbucks last night there were five more bikes in the parking lot - four Harleys and a Kawasaki Vulcan.  We figured that it was a bunch of guys heading to Sturgis.

This morning after breakfast when I was walking back to my room one of the guys started a conversation with me.  I was somewhat wary considering that the rest of the guys had back patches and a whole lot of smaller patches or their vests in addition to looking like gang members.  From the patch on their backs I guessed that they were affiliated with the Banditos, a large outlaw club in the western US.  I asked the guy if that was the case and he replied, "No. We walk on the other side of the street."

One of the Roughnecks getting ready to leave.

Roughnecks almost ready to roll

It turns out that they are members of a club called the Roughnecks and all of their members are either police officers or firefighters.  I'd never have guessed from their appearance though.  The back patch is a parody of the Banditoes back patch and the have smaller patches like 99%er instead of the 1%er patch the Hell's Angels wear. HAs wear an 81 patch because H & A are the eighth and first letters of the alphabet while these guys wear an 18 patch because R is the 18th letter of the alphabet.  Apparently it irritates the Angels.  They were heading to a national gathering in Libby, MT.  It was a really friendly bunch of guys although you'd never know it to look at them at first.

We were late getting out of Spokane because we stopped at Lone Wolf H-D to pick up T-shirts then rode back in to Spokane to check out a better camera mount for my GoPro.  That didn't pan out so we were behind the 8 ball to start.

The ride out of Washington and into Idaho was terrific. I-90 snakes through the mountain passes and the highway winds its way past Lake Couer d'Alene and through towns like Kellogg and Wallace which have parts that look like real old western towns with brick buildings.  Living in the mountains of Idaho and western Montana in the days before the railway, highways, or skiing must have been difficult.  In summer though, it is beautiful.

In the mountains near the ID-MT border.

As we reached the summit of the pass near the Montana border we pulled off to a viewpoint so we could take some pictues of the pass.  We pulled up next to a guy who was standing next to the road with his backpack at his feet and a walking stick in his hand.  After starting to chat he mentioned that he had hiked 900 miles from the Nevada border in the past three months. He still had 200 miles more to go and he planned to finish by Agust 20th. 

Garry and the Hiker

I hiked over to the overpass and took a few photos of the area and on the way back I spoke with a guy who was with about ten other people ranging in age from about six to his age which I would guess was in the 50s.  All of them had buckets and they were going huckleberry picking.  He mentioned that you could tell grizzly bear scat because it had bear bells in it and smelled like pepper.  He wasn't too concerned about grizzlies but the whole family was really having a great time.  It was a real treat to meet them.

The huckleberry picking family

Shortly after we entered Montana we stopped at the $50 000 Bar in a little place called Haggan. Last ear when I sopped there the bar had more than $58 000 in silver dollars.  Now there is more than $60 200 in the bar.  Considering that a Morgan dollar is worth at least twenty dollars for its silver content alone, there is more than $1.2 million in the bar top and on the walls in that bar.

Morgan silver dollars in the bar top.

Silver dollars on the wall, each with the owner's name.

As we pulled in we met two guys, one from Chetwynd, BC and the other from Spokane.  As we talked to very attractive young ladies strolled across the parking lot.  The older of the two 'gentlemen' shouted, "Ladies,do you want to party?"  They rightfully ignored him.  More about them later.  However, they told us that they were heading to 'TesteFest' in Rock Creek, MT, about 26 miles east of Missoula.  The event is actually call the Testicle Festival and it is held every year.  Check it out on Google.  It's apparently way crazy but these guys keep going back year after year.  After hearing about the goings-on there Garry & I, conservative guys that we are, decided that it would be best to ride right on by to the relative calm of Sturgis.

Back to the two young ladies in the parking lot.  As I took a few pics in the bar they were sitting at the bar ordering a drink.  And both were VERY attractive.  Coincidentally, they sat in the booth behind ours so we couldn't help but overhear the exchange as the bartender approached them with a piece of paper in her hand.  She said, "Those two gentlemen at the bar asked me if I would give you this note with their names and phone numbers on it. And, by the way, they really like your puppies."  Having seen the ladies in the parking lot, at the bar, and in the booth next to ours, Garry and I both agreed that we liked their puppies too.

We met a rider from South Carolina who rode out to Idaho to meet his lady friend of thirty years.  He said she was great but, 'She's not the kind of girl you want to marry.'  He told Garry that the Hell's Angels and the Mongols had a confrontation at Sturgis last year and that this year the Mongols were rumoured to be bringing in reinforcements.  He said that if we saw guys with colours grouping up or people leaving an area, it would probably be a good thing to leave as well. We'll keep our eyes open for certain.  By the way, his license plate read: 4MYSINS.

We made a straight run in to Missoula but we stopped at the H-D dealer just outside of town.  Coincidentally, the US Forest Service Smokejumper Center is there.  My son, Ian, would probably be interested in this

.

The sign says it all.

After a few attempts we were able to get a room at the Super 8 in Missoula so we are set up for the night.  We did about 375 kilometres today. Not a long ride but we saw a lot of beautiful country and met some unusual people.  Tomorrow we're on to Bozeman and on Saturday we'll be riding through Yellowstone Park seeing geysers and hot pools and maybe a buffalo or elk or two.  We're getting close now!