15th April
The weather was fine when I got up, but forecast to clag in later in the day. After a quick ‘surf’ at the Hard Drive Café, I pack the bike and head up the 26 towards the Idaho state line…
…the road starts entering some serious mountains…
…this pass tops out at 8200 ft.
I ride over the border into Idaho, heading towards Idaho Falls. I ride through the city, remembering why I try to avoid large conurbations
Eventually I’m out the other side heading West on the 20. There is a strong wind from the South West, with very strong gusts. It makes riding the bike very uncomfortable, especially when oncoming traffic causes a sudden ‘gap’. The wind is blowing the top soil off the fields to the right of the road – the plume of dust is visible for over 30 miles…
Eventually I reach Pickle’s Place in Arco – a restaurant and very welcome refuge from the wind. I ask the waitress if it’s always this windy… ‘No, honey – sometimes it gets real bad…’
After lunch I continue North West, sheltered from the wind to a large extent by the range of hills which now line the road…
I turn right up the 93 towards the town of Salmon, where I intend to stop for the day. The road gets more picturesque the further I head North…
…as it follows the course of the Salmon River (the longest undammed river in the continental USA)…
…to the small town of Salmon - population 3000, elevation 4000ft - which apparently survives on fishing and tourism…
In the evening I go to the local cinema, The River, to see Hidalgo, which proves to be a disappointment – I was hoping for something a little less “let’s show the Arabs we Americans can do it best, especially when the deceitful British are concerned” – beautifully photographed – but subtle, it wasn’t ...
The cinema itself was like a trip back in time – it was clearly a traditional ‘one screen’ cinema when built – the current owners must have spent literally hundreds of dollars converting it to the poorly focussed, badly ventilated hole with terrible acoustics that it is today.
It also seems to be culturally acceptable to continue conversations throughout the film, if the middle aged couple behind me were anything to go by – still, at least I now know where to get the best value oil change done on a Durango…
The weather was fine when I got up, but forecast to clag in later in the day. After a quick ‘surf’ at the Hard Drive Café, I pack the bike and head up the 26 towards the Idaho state line…
…the road starts entering some serious mountains…
…this pass tops out at 8200 ft.
I ride over the border into Idaho, heading towards Idaho Falls. I ride through the city, remembering why I try to avoid large conurbations
Eventually I’m out the other side heading West on the 20. There is a strong wind from the South West, with very strong gusts. It makes riding the bike very uncomfortable, especially when oncoming traffic causes a sudden ‘gap’. The wind is blowing the top soil off the fields to the right of the road – the plume of dust is visible for over 30 miles…
Eventually I reach Pickle’s Place in Arco – a restaurant and very welcome refuge from the wind. I ask the waitress if it’s always this windy… ‘No, honey – sometimes it gets real bad…’
After lunch I continue North West, sheltered from the wind to a large extent by the range of hills which now line the road…
I turn right up the 93 towards the town of Salmon, where I intend to stop for the day. The road gets more picturesque the further I head North…
…as it follows the course of the Salmon River (the longest undammed river in the continental USA)…
…to the small town of Salmon - population 3000, elevation 4000ft - which apparently survives on fishing and tourism…
In the evening I go to the local cinema, The River, to see Hidalgo, which proves to be a disappointment – I was hoping for something a little less “let’s show the Arabs we Americans can do it best, especially when the deceitful British are concerned”
– beautifully photographed – but subtle, it wasn’t ... The cinema itself was like a trip back in time – it was clearly a traditional ‘one screen’ cinema when built – the current owners must have spent literally hundreds of dollars converting it to the poorly focussed, badly ventilated hole with terrible acoustics that it is today.
It also seems to be culturally acceptable to continue conversations throughout the film, if the middle aged couple behind me were anything to go by – still, at least I now know where to get the best value oil change done on a Durango…
