Day Four

This morning I woke up at about 6 am Michigan time (4 am local) and decided to go back to sleep for a little bit. Four hours later, I was on the road. I planned on taking it easy today only going 400 miles. I achieved my goal by riding 398.4 miles.

The first half of the day was uneventful. Long interstate roads across Western Montana. I did battle another strong cross wind necessitating a hard left lean for about 200 miles. That did wonders for my front tire.

As I approached the point I planned to turn off onto US 12, I decided to stop and get fuel, even though I didn’t need it. I learned my lesson on Day 2 not to let the tank get too low. Gas stations were few and far between in South Dakota. I figured that in the Montana/Idaho mountains, the same would be true. (And it was, but because I was prepared, I had no issues!) Anyway, as I’m getting gas in Missoula, MT, I remembered the weather forecast so I checked my Zumo weather. As predicted, it was raining and cool in the Idaho mountains.

Now, I can be wet...or I can be cold. But I hate being cold AND wet at the same time. So I took that opportunity to ad layers for warmth, and put my raingear on. Now mind you, it’s about 68 degrees and partly sunny while I’m doing this. At the pump next to me is a guy on another bike. Now, I don’t know this guy from Adam...but he was the stereotypical RUB (that’s Rich Urban Biker for those of you who didn’t know what I was talking about) on a Harley Ultra Classic. He’s got a long sleeve shirt on, no helmet, and jeans with sneakers. He starts giving me crap about the gear I was wearing and adding to. For the record, I had on my leather gloves, armored riding pants, armored jacket, High Vis Yellow vest, full face helmet, and rain gear. I took it all in stride and told him to have a safe ride.

As I approached the highest point on the pass over the mountains, I stopped to take a picture of the “Welcome to Idaho” sign. It was 46 degrees and raining. I was nice and warm and dry. The RUB rides past me as I start to pull out of the turn-off. He was riding about 35 MPH and I wanted to get by him. I waited for a clear place to pass and went around him. I waved to him as I passed on the left and he responded by FLIPPING ME OFF! I’m still laughing about it!

As I started down the other side of the mountain, the weather got warmer and nicer as the altitude decreased. By the time I got to 1000 feet, it was 75 and sunny. So I stopped at a pull off next to the river and dressed down. As I was getting out of my rain gear, 2 guys on BMW RT’s stopped to do the same. We got to talking and they started out in Stockton, CA and rode up to Vancouver Island and are, “Taking the long way home.” Steve and Bill, if you’re reading this, it was a pleasure to chat with you two and I hope you had a safe ride home. And Steve, it’s a Kontour seat!

I continued on to the Idaho/Washington state border and decided to stop for the night. I gained another hour as I crossed into Pacific time zone, but like I said before, my body is still on Michigan time. It is supposed to be sunny and cool with 20-30 mph winds tomorrow, so I’ll leave whenever I get up and moving. I want to make it to Jackpot, Nevada tomorrow. That will be another fairly easy day at about 450 miles.

Mileage for the day: 398
Mileage for the trip: 2,420