Just Rollin’ With The Flow…
My young friend and his geriatric partner made their way into Montana after a necessary stop and reevaluation of our course. Yep, I'd missed another turn and... Well, it wasn't exactly that. What had happened was I'd turned onto a different route than the one previously decided upon, and then I missed a crucial turn.
Never rattled or flustered... My easy-going partner took everything right in stride...
Old habits of changing things around on the spur of the moment often lead to unexpected pleasantries... Other times, however, that sort of improvisation simply takes us out of the way... like this time, for instance. Still, nothing that couldn't be corrected, so on we rode.
We did travel some of my favorite backroads during the next few days, and... As my friend discovered, there are some rather isolated areas in the eastern and central Big Sky state...
Bathrooms can be like Dollar General Stores: everywhere until you really need one!
Onward we rode. Most of our journey was nice and easy, scenic and mesmerizing... The temperatures were unseasonably cool, though, but mostly we were moisture free... not entirely, but the vast majority of the time. Many times, I said a silent 'Thanks' to Big Wolf and Mitcho for the gift of those heated grips!
One time, however, it did get a little dicey... I misjudged the distance from Great Falls to Lewiston, MT, by relying upon my recollection and not bothering to double-check first... I coasted down grades, slowed our speed down keeping the engine at 2K RPMs the last twenty miles or so, and of course I annoyed all those who had to pick a spot to pass us. We did make it, but barely... Josh came very close that day to joining that elite club of folks who've had to go get gas to rescue this stranded rider!
Once nearly all the way across Montana, we cruised over the LOLO Pass, then down along the Clearwater River, and finally into Orofino, Idaho. ‘A quaint little drinking village with a fishing problem’ a tee shirt had once proudly proclaimed. It’s still one of my favorite out-of-the-way places to visit and spend a day or three. I first stayed there over twenty years ago… The folks at the motel remember me for my nearly annual visits.
The bank branch across the side street from the motel… Troutdude took that pic five years ago, when he observed “You often find ‘big bucks’ at a bank and always some ‘doe’…”
Josh had told me early in our journey that he’d never ridden in either Washington State or Oregon, and that he’d like to visit those if it were convenient. Bragging rights are important especially to newer riders, so I’d taken that as a serious objective for us. Naturally, it would require a little work to fit that into our available time slot while avoiding any rain or other stumbling blocks that might get in our way. Rain was clearly the biggest anticipated hurdle, though…
I came up with a couple of scenarios while we were in Orofino that would have accomplished all of that plus some other ‘nice-to-have’ tourist stuff; however,… The rain forecast made it impossible to follow the best plans without adding several days to our by now shortening available time window. There was a way, though, to tick-off those primary items on his To-Do list and make the turn for home in plenty of time, if we could only leave off a couple of things and get a little break from the next expected rain episode…
Our second day in Orofino had some early morning light rain called for that was supposed to break later in the morning… It did stop where we were, so we mounted-up and headed out. Only a few miles down the road, unfortunately, we ran into some drizzle. We pressed on. The wet roads and intermittent very light drizzle plagued us all the way across the Snake River into Clarkston, WA, then south on SR 129 for a short way.
We did exit the moisture a few miles south of town, but the cloudy overcast and brisk temperatures stayed with us for the remainder of the day. That couldn’t dampen our spirits, though! Nope the road climbed up a couple of thousand feet in elevation soon after leaving Clarkston, with the switchbacks, less challenging curves, and steep grades providing all the excitement we needed to make this a fabulous ride!
It seemed wise to forego the Spiral Highway mostly due to wet roads, but also because this was to be a rather long day anyway. Josh could meet both his primary objectives while still allowing us to escape the area before the arrival of the next round of rain due soon. That forecast called for several days of off and on rain, so not doing things the way we did could have added up to another week to our schedule… a week he didn’t have. We also didn’t make it by Effie’s Tavern for an Effie Burger…
We did, however, make it into Washington and Oregon and then back to Orofino safely and early enough to celebrate the big day with a decent evening meal. It wasn’t an ideal day for any of the things we did do, but by doing so we left ourselves with many more options and the prospects of better riding conditions for a while… Not to mention we now had more time to leisurely make our way back to Wisconsin.
One goal down, one to go…
Mission completed!
Trade-offs are an inescapable part of the long ride, as we all know, and my youthful friend received a heavy dose of experience on that score. He was already surprisingly familiar with the various aspects of this sort of adventure, though, so truthfully, I suppose this was all actually more of a reminder than a revelation for him. He truly is an awesome trekker!
DDT (12)
