My dead bike on the side of Rte. 70 west of Grand Junction.
To Glacier National Park
Logan Pass day hike
To Grand Tetons
Grand Tetons day hike
To Colorado
The way home
We realized that unless we retrace much of the path we took to CO, that we'd end up having to ride some interstate highways. So we bit the bullet and headed west on Rte. 70 from Grand Junction. Steady cruising at 75 to 80. About 60 miles west of Grand Junction my bike just quit running. No advanced notice, just died. And this in a seriously lonely, God forsaken, desolate wasteland. Tried starting it, but no love there. So I called a Harley Dealer in Grand Junction. They said they wouldn't touch it, it being a Buell. So I called a towing company and arranged for them to come get me, and take me to the U-Haul dealer in Grand Junction where I would haul my bike home in a truck. Austin was pretty concerned about riding home alone in the God forsaken desolate wastelands understandably. We said goodbye and he headed west while I waited on the side of the road. I realized I hadn't checked my fuses, and it turns out the 10 amp fuse for the fuel pump was blown. There was an extra unused 10 amp fuse in the fusebox. So I swapped them and my bike started right up. I canceled the tow truck and texted Austin. He said he'd be waiting for me on the side of the road. I bought more fuses, we rendezvous'd and spent the night in a nice campground in the town of Green River, UT, on the Green River. Had a nice swim/bath there. The next day headed up to Salt Lake City, then north on 15 (yuck) to Pocatello, ID. West on 26 through Atomic City to spend the night in Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve.
My dead bike on the side of Rte. 70 west of Grand Junction.
Craters of the moon at evening.
Our campsite at Craters of the Moon.
We walked a bit on some of the trails in the park. It's OK, but I've seen a lot of basalt before.
Praying Mantis on gas pump nozzle in the town of Carey.
A guy at the gas station said we should look in the trunk of his car. With some hesitation we did. There was a stuffed cougar. Looked alive to me.
From there we went north on 75 through the Sawtooth National Forest to Stanley. I've been on 21 from Boise through Lowman to Stanley, but I'd always wanted to do 75. Good road. Some excellent twisty passes and great scenery.
Sawtooth forest.
Trail riders in Stanley.
From Stanley we headed down 21 to Lowman, then over to Banks on Rte 55. Beautiful ride north on 55 to McCall along the Payette River. Serious rapids on that river! Then things started getting smokey.
Smoke in the air. We crossed Hell's Canyon and spent the night in a clearing off of Rte 39 near Halfway, OR. Great campsite. Got to bathe in the river. No one around. Free. Beautiful.
I took Austin through some of my favorite roads in easter Oregon including Rte 395 south of Ukiah and the Middle Fork Rd. on the John Day river. Unfortunately the smoke cast an uneasy pall over the day. Just wasn't pleasant. Then the cyclonic winds kicked in. It was actually hard to ride with the 30+ mph winds and the blowing smoke. Visibility got dangerously low. Really tough riding.
Smoke in the air on the way to Wasco.
In the Columbia Gorge. You could barely see the OR side from the WA side.
When I say the winds were cyclonic, I mean it. We camped at Paradise Creek campground on Wind River Rd north of Carson, WA. The wind was raging in the morning and you could hear big trees falling. Austin wanted to get the hell out of the trees. I didn't want to tell him that the next 60 miles was in the forest on the way to Randle. We encountered 2 downed trees, but were able to ride underneath them fortunately. You can barely see my red taillight in this picture as I ride under the tree. Good to get home after that.
A great trip overall. Will definitely get back to Colorado!
To Glacier National Park
Logan Pass day hike
To Grand Tetons
Grand Tetons day hike
To Colorado
The way home