Good nights sleep. Got up early to push out the blog stuff. Had my camp chair still put together from the previous evening. Got a cup of coffee from the lobby and parked myself outside the room in my sweats and hoodie. Probably in the high 40s, low 50s but beautiful morning.. Not a cloud in the sky.
Got the blog pushed out. Packed up, showered and we wall went to breakfast at the on site restaurant. Really good and it hit the spot.
We fueled up on the edge of town and headed for Idaho. Found the Teton pass. 10% grades on both sides. That is steep. You do not want to stop the bikes on those grades. Lots of the usual hairpin turns. Summit at just under 10,000′. Idaho state line right around the summit somewhere.
Headed for some town I can’t remember the name and tooled around a bit in Idaho’s Teton valley. Saw enough and did the pass again. A common theme. Pushing the bikes and reveling in the turns, climbs, grades etc. I cannot think of how many passes we have done. Some just to go up and down, and then turn around and do it the other way.
Passed through Jackson again. Idaho is as far west as we will go on this trip. Hoping to be home no later than Labor Day. One week from today. Still a couple of thousand miles from home.
Traffic in Jackson was heavy. Stop and go through town. One highway out of town and heavy traffic until the turn off for Yellowstone. Most went that way. We headed for Lander, WY.
Again, scenery that just takes your breath away. Mile after mile. We again had the road to ourselves most of the day. Crossed the continental divide again a couple of times. Sometimes we forget the altitude we have been motoring the last week or so. Hit another pass for some mountain range I do not know. Summit was 9,700 feet or so. Mike and I stopped to take pics.
The boys were enjoying the challenge of the road. There is a lot of testosterone in those two. Me, I like to enjoy the scenery.
On the eastern slope, as has been throughout the trip the topography changes dramatically. From green lush valleys to stark landscape. Beautiful mountain and rock formations. No trees. Very few houses, let alone towns. Hot. Windy.
Passed through the Windy River Indian reservation and in it, Ft Wasahakie. Sacagawea is buried there.
A hundred miles or so got to Dubois, WY. Fueled. Stopped at the ‘Rustic Pine Tavern’. Labeling itself as the world’s most unique bar. Gotta stop right? It was nice. had a few beers to rehydrate. Looked at all the dead animals they had.
Saddled up and kept going. More of the same topography. Hot. Very Hot. Windy. Very Windy. I was riding sweep (in the back) Apparently a law enforcement officer passed us from the other way, turned and followed us for 20-30 miles. I was totally oblivious. The boys are still laughing. I am trying to remember the point in time when children lost the total confidence in their parental units.
Got to Lander. Stopped at the Lander Bar. You guessed it. We had a couple of beers. Mike had a friend who met us there and we visited for a while. He gave us a great tip for a campsite in a canyon just out of town. This place is great. Best yet. A roaring mountain stream. We kept. Toilets (one of my must haves – even outhouses are OK). Firewood (we must have a big fire all night)
Our campsite is surrounded by aspen trees. Spruce on the canyon walls. We grabbed two campsites next to each other. Other people are here but these are spaced at least a hundred feet apart and we can’t see them.
Mike tried some trout fishing but no luck. He saw some but it was cocktail time.
We picked up a mess of wood. Gotta have big campfires. Boys went into town for ice and adult beverages.
Great day. Great motorcycling. Great conversations. Great experiences. Full day. I am again exhausted from everything that happened.
Life is good.