8/30/10 – Traversing the Land of Famous Potatoes

I awoke to cold and rain, but after breakfast it was mostly sunny and perfect for a ride. As I set out from Boise, I was struck by the number of churches and religious billboards, mostly Protestant and Mormon. One billboard was like a huge Jumbotron flashing endless passages from the bible. It was like a gigantic version of the dude who sits in the end zone at 49ers games holding a John 3:17 banner. It was kinda creepy if you ask me; and dangerous too, because people were staring at it as they drove by.

I logged over 400 miles today, but only covered about 300 miles as the crow flies. Today I learned to watch road signs closely. My plan was to follow Hwy 20 all the way to Idaho Falls and then take Hwy 26 to Jackson Hole, WY. As I learned the hard way, Hwy 20, 26 and 93 all share the same roadway in certain areas and it’s very confusing. Accordingly, I got to see Twin Falls, Idaho which added about 100 miles to my journey, but rewarded me with a spectacular view of the Snake River Canyon nearby where Evil Knevel tried unsuccessfully to ride his rocket bike across the gorge back in the 70’s.

Overall, today’s ride was spectacular as I experienced long stretches of desert, steep buttes, volcanic rock and lots of agriculture, mostly potato and corn fields. I’ve noticed the clouds are better out here than back home. There are big puffy ones, light wispy ones, thunderheads, ones that are sheered-off as if cut by a hot knife, and you can even see the rain coming down from dark clouds off in the distance. I avoided rain for the most part, but I experienced areas of gusty winds that were intense. I’ve decided that high cross-winds are worse than rain. At one point today I was leaning sideways into the wind just to keep the bike moving straight. Another thing I’ve learned on this trip is that approximately 2 seconds after passing an oncoming truck on a two lane highway, you get hit with an intense vortex of wind caused by the truck that buffets the bike violently. I also noticed that the trucks with a big sloping canopy over the cab reduce this effect considerably. The effect is worse in the rain because you get hit with both wind and a blast of water spray, but my new windshield provides complete protection from the wet.

I stopped at Craters of the Moon National Monument this afternoon and met Rex Covington from Houston, TX and his grown daughter who are traveling all around the western states on his beautiful Victory motorcycle. This bike is made by Polaris, the Canadian maker of snowmobiles and jet-skies. It’s a very big and unique ride, unlike the wannabe Harley’s offered by the Japanese bike companies. Rex is planning to take a year off to just ride. You can check him out at www.lonestarrider.com . Rex’s motto is “I love traveling and seeing new places and making new friends. And the best way to do it is hopping on my motorcycle and hitting the open road. I love that feeling and excitement of riding a motorcycle.
See ya on the road ...... Rex”. I concur 100%!

I cruised around the Craters that were produced in a massive volcanic explosion 2,000 years ago and it still looks pretty baron. As I left the Craters, it was cold and windy. I headed east through Arco, which was the first town ever to be powered by nuclear energy in 1955. Then I passed Atomic City, which is still operating as Idaho National Laboratory [Read: Nuclear Bomb Factory]. As the sun was setting, the cool turned to cold and I hit the throttle for Idaho Falls. I checked-in at the first motel I saw at around 8:00.

Tonight I gave Ole Bessy a whore bath with Windex and towels. I think she liked having her chrome and paint shining after 2,600 miles of bugs and grime. I know that I like being able to see through her previously bug-covered windscreen. Tomorrow I’ll head east about 80 mi. to Jackson Hole, WY and then north up through the Grand Tetons and into Yellowstone.