Getting back on the horse...

[MikeO]

15th August

I had a day off yesterday. There were a couple of reasons for this – my leg was very sore (and a spectacular colour ) and I’d reflected a bit on what happened on Friday. The fact is, if I’d sustained an injury which had left me unable to walk (leg fracture, or even a sprained ankle), I’m unable to think of a way I would’ve got out of the situation. I’ve decided to take more precautions in future, especially with regard to carrying water. With this in mind, as I fill up with fuel this morning, I fill up with water at the same time.

This garage sells frozen bottled water, which is a great idea if you’re on a bike – I buy a couple of frozen ones and a couple of cold ones and store them on the side bags and tank bag.

I’m on the road for 0800, fully fuelled and fed (cold pizza – breakfast of champions ). I head south east along the old US30 – now replaced by I84. The old road is little used and, in the cool of the morning…

…it’s a pleasant ride. The countryside I’m travelling through is arid – but, as in almost every area I’ve ridden, the irrigation machines are hard at work, growing crops in what would otherwise be near desert…

I continue south east, stifling the desire to ask ‘So what?’ as I pass this sign…

I’m soon through Baker City – a dried up little town – and heading south on Highway 7, then turning left onto the old Dooley Mountain Highway…

…which wends its way through the Wallowa Whitman National Forest. Pretty soon I come across a dirt road leading off to the left.

I’ve got to ‘get back on the horse’ at some stage – it might as well be now. I ride down the track, with Bettie insistently asking if I know if I’m ‘off route’ – I ignore her…

It feels good to be back on gravel. I press on, heading roughly south – I have no particular destination for tonight, so, if I end up having to retrace my steps, it’ll not be the end of the world. To begin with, the going’s good, and the track is in good condition…

…but soon, I start getting flashes of déjà vu as I ride off Bettie’s map (much to her consternation), and the track deteriorates…

I keep going, as there are clearly visible recent tyre tracks here, which leads me to believe this leads somewhere. I soon come across a gate – bugger! But wait – it’s latched, rather than locked, and has a sign asking users to re-latch it!

I do just this, and continue down the narrowing track. I pass a sign facing the other way, announcing entry into the National Forest - great! That means they expect people to travel here from the other direction! Quite suddenly, I’m back on asphalt and turning left onto Shumway Road.

The asphalt’s short-lived, though, and the road soon turns back to gravel as it follows Rose Creek, then Lost Creek…

The road takes me past several abandoned farms and homesteads…

…which is hardly surprising in this parched country…

…but the views and solitude make it a peaceful and rewarding ride. Eventually I reach Beulah Reservoir…

…which is very low – the base of the dam is almost dry and vivid green vegetation grows where there should be water. Looking back towards the hills I’ve just left, the forecast ‘30% chance of rain’ seems like it might be developing and heading this way…

I continue towards Juntura, where I stop for a thoroughly ordinary late lunch (I’ve crossed a time zone and it’s now 1500) at ‘The Oasis’. I’m soon back on the road, looking for a motel. I decide against this one in Vale

…before pressing on towards the next town, Ontario, where I get a room in a thoroughly run down (but cheap) motel with spectacular views of Interstate 84. I have a shower and then go into town to find something to eat. It’s a dried up little town, where a lot of real estate is up for sale. Some old gentlemen wait to see what’s in store…

It’s been a good day

 

[MikeO]

16th August

After a poor night’s sleep, I’m up and on the bike by 0900. I’ve absolutely no idea where I’m going to go today – but some of my best days riding have started like that…

I ride through Ontario, turning left the airport. They have an interesting collection of aircraft here…

including, in the foreground here, a Douglas F5D Skylancer. It was one of two prototypes built to tender for a Navy contract. It failed and never went into production, but this one was used for flight testing by NASA – God knows how it ended up here. It sits alongside a Mig 21 of the former Soviet Union, and a Phantom. Further along (all completely unfenced) I find an F86D Sabre…

…as well as the ever-popular T33…

…alongside a pile of old scrap – this is the nose of a Thunderchief.

There are no signs advertising a museum here, although it seems unlikely that any of these ageing jets take to the air any more.

I ride off looking for somewhere to have breakfast. The trouble is, there doesn’t seem to be anywhere suitable. I refuse to eat at McBurgerKing unless forced, so I’m on the lookout for a small town café. Unfortunately, each small town I come to seems more run down than the last, with the windows of many stores on Main Street being whitewashed and sporting ‘For Sale’ signs…

I pull into a gas station when I see a couple of old cars abandoned in the corner…

…and, noticing that they’re getting a delivery, pause to take a picture – why can’t I come across one this clean & shiny on the road?...

I ride south, exiting and then re-entering Oregon, eventually reaching Jordan Valley – where I stayed back on 3rd May in the, less than clinically clean, Sahara Motel. I stop now, for a late breakfast, in the diner there. Whilst eating, I have a quick look at the map and decide to go and have a look at a couple of lakes nearby, enticingly named Lower Cow Lake and Upper Cow Lake. I ride a few miles up gravel and dirt roads to find…

…that they’re every bit as exciting as they sound. I return to the main road, refuel in Jordan Valley and then press east, towards the mining town of Silver City.

I spot this old car on the way – anybody know what it might be?

At first, the road is fine – wide and with well graded gravel…

…but pretty soon, I pass one of those ‘At Your Own Risk’ signs and things begin to get a little muddy. Things like me. And my bike.

After about 20 miles of sliding about in the occasional mud wallow but, somehow, managing to keep the Adv upright, I arrive in the tiny town of Silver City.

It started life as a mining town – indeed, I passed a couple of ‘claims’ staked on the way – but now it’s inhabited by a collection of eccentrics, or so it seems. The winters are harsh here and the place gets cut off early (apparently they had 7 feet of snow last year). The town empties in the winter, but they employ a winter watchman to look after all the houses. The summer population is 12, plus tourists. They have a ‘Cowboy Barbeque’ each summer, attended by over 1000 people – it must be quite a sight…

I stop for lunch at the Idaho Hotel & Bar – it’s the only place serving food. There’s no electricity (except that supplied by solar panels), but I’m served a decent cheeseburger by Meredith, who’s the 9 yr old granddaughter of the owner (who’s out in the kitchen, cooking)…

I ask her what it’s like living up here for the summer (she lives with her parents in Boise for the rest of the year). She says that most of the time there are lots of tourists, so she’s kept fairly busy, but that she’s got really good at playing Solitaire…

It’s a strange little town, but has a good, wholesome feel to it – unlike most tourist areas I’ve been to.

I decide to head off towards Boise and find somewhere to stay for the night. Unfortunately I’ve blown my timing – Jay (Sasquatch) offered me a room if I got here before Sunday, but he’s now off travelling on business for a few days. I ride the excellent dirt road out toward Highway 78 at Murphy…

I’d already seen evidence of some pretty heavy precipitation on the road into Silver City, and I’ve no wish to be caught out by the weather I can see closing from behind me, before I make it onto asphalt…

I join the 78, heading north, then east, and check into the Motel 6 at Meridian. Another good day…

 

[MikeO]

17th August

I wake early, after another poor night’s sleep. I pack the bike and, after donning my waterproof gloves, set off into the humid intermittent drizzle along Interstate 84.

I get off the freeway at Mountain Home and start heading east along US20 – the rain is steady now and, as I enter the Sawtooth Hills, the rain turns to hail. It’s not much fun, to be honest. I stop for lunch at a small restaurant in Fairfield, where I encounter Danielle.

Danielle is a trainee waitress, and this is her first day. I watch, with a kind of guilty fascination, as she does everything wrong – to everybody she serves. People get brought desserts before they’ve ordered anything, get the wrong bills, the wrong food- at one stage she tops up someone’s coffee with iced water. I felt embarrassed for her & tipped her 20%

I’m soon back on the road and decide to head off up to Ketchum, a ski resort to the north, thinking that it might be a good place to find some cheap accommodation out of season. Wrong. For some reason (the receptionists were as perplexed by this as me), the place hardly had a room vacant, and those that were cost the earth (or at least, a large enough part of it to deter me…).

I ride back through a thunderstorm towards Arco.

The road to Arco is flat and pretty uninteresting. I ride past the Craters of the Moon National Park with barely a sideways glance – it’s stopped raining now, but there’s a storm on the horizon…

The ride gets so tedious that even an overturned truck provides some light relief…

…the disconsolate driver, sitting miserably in the doorway of the police car, is having a much worse day than me.

I eventually get into Arco – an isolated little town – and decide to stop for the day…

The numbers on the walls of the mining roads overlooking the town are painted there by successive High School graduates – something they’ve been doing since the 1920s.

I get a clean, cheap room in one of the motels on Main Street, unpack and fall asleep immediately.

 

[MikeO]

18th August

At last - a good night's sleep! I wake at 0900 and I'm on the road at 1000ish, heading out of Arco on US 20 towards Idaho Falls.

I ride past the world's first nuclear reactor, which I had a look at last time I passed this way. I still have no desire to go inside.

Soon I'm entering Blackfoot, where I stop for brunch at Martha's Cafe.

I'm disappointed to find that Martha doesn't look at all like her statue outside (she's much smaller, for one thing). She's also one of these American ladies who says things like:

'Go on, say something'

'Like what?'

'I love your accent - say something else'

These conversations can go on for a long time.

I've found that the best thing to say is 'Will you bring me a Denver omelette and some coffee please'.

This works. She does, and it's very good

I still feel a bit tired, so decide to stop early. I find a room at the Ameritel Inn at Idaho Falls and turn the TV on...