The Three Guy Ride Continues
Thursday, July 2nd, 2015
Through Idaho along the Salmon River.
We rode the Beartooth. Kevin and Jeff were appropriately impressed. Spent the night in Cooke City so we could go up early in the morning, which is always a good plan. And that brought us down to Red Lodge with plenty of day left.
We headed out of town going north and then west. And there is extreme heat all over the west. I’m really enjoying on this trip that I’m on my V-Strom because these guys go off the pavement numerous times each day. On this particular one we were blasting along and Jeff suddenly hit his brakes, signaled a left turn, and we turned down a fishing access gravel road to soak t-shirts and cooling vests. That sort of thing does not happen with the OFMC.
We reached I-90 and needed to blast west about 70 miles on it so blast we did to get it over with. Then it was north again before connecting with a state road going west. Down a river valley and we came to Townsend, Montana. There’s a big lake here with numerous campgrounds around it but none well marked. We camped in a free campground with minimal amenities but at least we did have trains. All night long. Blowing their horns to let you know they were there.
Come morning we cruised into Helena and hit some shops to find things that had been lost. Then up and over a good sized hill and took another northward state highway to avoid doing 70 miles of interstate to Missoula.
Lunch in Missoula and then it was on up over Lolo Pass. I had last been up that pass, to Lolo hot springs, back in 1977 or 1978. The hot springs were natural and no one else was there. Now it’s a business. Sad but no surprise.
Going over the top of Lolo, however, we were all tickled to see a sign that read “Winding road next 99 miles.” We cruised down along the Lochsa River for that many miles, although not all at once. About 70 miles down we turned up the Selway River and found another nice, free campground. And this one did not have a train.
In the morning we went back to the Lochsa and on the rest of the 99 miles and then rode a lot of hours more on various winding roads down river valleys. This is Idaho and Idaho has a plentiful supply of motorcycle roads.
Jeff lives outside Boise so we made it on to his house, which is why I have wi-fi again, and tomorrow we’ll part company with him. But Kevin and I still have two days plus to get back to our homes in Colorado. So this ride is not over.
Biker Quote for Today
A touring bike is whatever you have in the garage when you want to go somewhere.
