10th June
An early start. Jay and I are on the road for 0800 and riding over to his place of work to meet up with his father and a couple of workmates who are going to ride a little way north with me, then stop for breakfast. We make a motley collection
…
Jay & his father, Janard, run a business making hardware and software for the RV market – trip computers and other gizmos like these mini cameras fitted in the mirrors…
I’ve probably got all those details wrong. The crew comprises Jay and his dad on Triumph Tigers, Darryl, on a Gold Wing Aspencade and Jeff on an old Yamaha XS1100 – an old favourite of mine – particularly with the cool Vetter Windjammer fairing fitted…
Jay is considering putting on his heated jacket. I threaten to publish the fact on ADVRider and call him a wuss – he folds like a house of cards – wuss!. Janard puts his on & I don’t say a word – he’s got enough to put up with having to cope with a son like Jay…
We set off heading north towards darkening skies…
…after a little while, Jay waves Darryl & Jeff past and we turned down the old highway, which has been disused for a few years…
The road was apparently built on poor substrate and there are huge amounts of heave - I’m glad to be on the GS and not Jeff’s or Darryl’s bikes. Soon we join up again and follow the 55 north – a beautiful sweeping, well surface road which follows the course of the Payette River. In the narrow sections it’s seriously white water…
…we pull over to stretch our legs…
…and, naturally, straight afterward get held up at road works…
…I do like that fairing. Soon we stop and have a great breakfast at the Cougar Mountain Lodge. Janard, very generously, picks up the bill – top bloke
.
Jay decides to fly in the face of wussdom and dons his heated jacket for the trip back to work. We all say our farewells – they’re all heading back to Boise and I’m carrying on north…
Another thoroughly decent and likeable group of blokes (they need to seriously consider buying BMWs, though).
Just up the road is another treat for bridge fans…
I continue heading north, but the weather ahead is looking very grim. The road continues to follow the Payette. I eventually cross into Pacific time. Since I now have a spare hour, I stop and take another picture…
…before pressing on – I’ve a lot of miles to cover today…
Just before I turn right at Kooskia the promised rain arrives – it pours down…
…what a time to see a sign like this!
The road follows the path of the Middle Fork river. The road surface is, on the whole, excellent, but it seems a long time since I road a technically challenging road in heavy rain. Smoothness and safety are closely related in these conditions, so, as an experiment, and a training exercise, I try and keep as close to 65mph as I can on the road, without using the brakes at all. Just over an hour and a quarter and 65 miles later, I use my brakes for the first time, to stop and take a picture back down the Lolo Pass…
I join the Interstate at Missoula and set course for Spokane. The rain is now torrential (I later find my left boot has leaked – a first for Daytona’s
). I eventually arrive at The Hampton Inn at Spokane Airport at 2020 (Pacific Time) – I’ve been riding for about 13 hrs and have covered 563 miles.
I carry my kit from the bike to my room. As I take off my Gore-Tex suit, I notice some discomfort behind my knees. To my alarm, I find that I’ve got massive welts behind my knees and in other places where I’ve been ‘hunched-up’ against my clothing. It’s quickly so bad that I can’t bend my knees, and itches like hell. I ring Jorge (who I’m visiting tomorrow night) to tell him I may be delaying whilst I see a doc. He advises me to get some Benadryl – a sort of anti-histamine. Jorge is convinced I have an allergic reaction to something. Thankfully the front desk of the hotel have some to hand and they send someone up with some. I take 2 tablets and, as I type, 2 ½ hrs later, the rash & swelling is much reduced. I’ll have to see how it is in the morning…
An early start. Jay and I are on the road for 0800 and riding over to his place of work to meet up with his father and a couple of workmates who are going to ride a little way north with me, then stop for breakfast. We make a motley collection
…
Jay & his father, Janard, run a business making hardware and software for the RV market – trip computers and other gizmos like these mini cameras fitted in the mirrors…
I’ve probably got all those details wrong. The crew comprises Jay and his dad on Triumph Tigers, Darryl, on a Gold Wing Aspencade and Jeff on an old Yamaha XS1100 – an old favourite of mine – particularly with the cool Vetter Windjammer fairing fitted…
Jay is considering putting on his heated jacket. I threaten to publish the fact on ADVRider and call him a wuss – he folds like a house of cards – wuss!
. Janard puts his on & I don’t say a word – he’s got enough to put up with having to cope with a son like Jay…We set off heading north towards darkening skies…
…after a little while, Jay waves Darryl & Jeff past and we turned down the old highway, which has been disused for a few years…
The road was apparently built on poor substrate and there are huge amounts of heave - I’m glad to be on the GS and not Jeff’s or Darryl’s bikes. Soon we join up again and follow the 55 north – a beautiful sweeping, well surface road which follows the course of the Payette River. In the narrow sections it’s seriously white water…
…we pull over to stretch our legs…
…and, naturally, straight afterward get held up at road works…
…I do like that fairing. Soon we stop and have a great breakfast at the Cougar Mountain Lodge. Janard, very generously, picks up the bill – top bloke
.Jay decides to fly in the face of wussdom and dons his heated jacket for the trip back to work. We all say our farewells – they’re all heading back to Boise and I’m carrying on north…
Another thoroughly decent and likeable group of blokes (they need to seriously consider buying BMWs, though
).Just up the road is another treat for bridge fans…
I continue heading north, but the weather ahead is looking very grim. The road continues to follow the Payette. I eventually cross into Pacific time. Since I now have a spare hour, I stop and take another picture…
…before pressing on – I’ve a lot of miles to cover today…
Just before I turn right at Kooskia the promised rain arrives – it pours down…
…what a time to see a sign like this!
The road follows the path of the Middle Fork river. The road surface is, on the whole, excellent, but it seems a long time since I road a technically challenging road in heavy rain. Smoothness and safety are closely related in these conditions, so, as an experiment, and a training exercise, I try and keep as close to 65mph as I can on the road, without using the brakes at all. Just over an hour and a quarter and 65 miles later, I use my brakes for the first time, to stop and take a picture back down the Lolo Pass…
I join the Interstate at Missoula and set course for Spokane. The rain is now torrential (I later find my left boot has leaked – a first for Daytona’s
). I eventually arrive at The Hampton Inn at Spokane Airport at 2020 (Pacific Time) – I’ve been riding for about 13 hrs and have covered 563 miles.I carry my kit from the bike to my room. As I take off my Gore-Tex suit, I notice some discomfort behind my knees. To my alarm, I find that I’ve got massive welts behind my knees and in other places where I’ve been ‘hunched-up’ against my clothing. It’s quickly so bad that I can’t bend my knees, and itches like hell. I ring Jorge (who I’m visiting tomorrow night) to tell him I may be delaying whilst I see a doc. He advises me to get some Benadryl – a sort of anti-histamine. Jorge is convinced I have an allergic reaction to something. Thankfully the front desk of the hotel have some to hand and they send someone up with some. I take 2 tablets and, as I type, 2 ½ hrs later, the rash & swelling is much reduced. I’ll have to see how it is in the morning…
