Ride Report - the first four days

The first leg of my trip had me travelling from Vancouver, BC to Rigby, ID where a few treats awaited me. I'll recap the routes with pics and keep the writing brief.... enjoy!

Day 1 - June 29 - Vancouver to White Rock

The 'shake down' ride - pics are in blog post #2 "The" Day - a short 50 km day which was a good way to get accustomed to the loaded bike. Super happy to have Jay along for the ride and enjoy the hospitality of the Amy/Ringrose home before hitting the road for real.

Day 2 - June 30 - White Rock, BC to Spokane, WA

All the of the energy and fortitude to pack my life up before leaving carried onto the road. I meant to camp at Grand Coulee which would have been a very respectable 450 km first day. Alas I 'pushed on' to Spokane making it a long 650 km day. Not that it wasn't spectacular as I did ride the beautiful, twisty North Cascade Highway 20 and some equally lovely winding back roads between Grand Coulee and Spokane (17 / 174 / 2). Arriving near Spokane and the disappointment of not being able to find camping was eased by a comfy bed and a decent nights sleep. It would have been a 'great' night's sleep if I had unloaded all the gear from my bike. Seeing as I had splurged on secure soft sided luggage (Walter Colebatch Adventure-Spec Magadan Panniers), I thought I may as well get used to trusting them right off the bat! So the bike remained loaded in the parking lot over night and much to my delight was exactly as I left it the next the morning.

Rest stop along Hwy 20...

Day 3 - July 1 - Spokane, WA to Salmon, ID

OH CANADA!!

Leaving Spokane on the I90 in the cool early morning heading east was glorious. Once across the Idaho border the interstate sped through the Idaho Panhandle National Forest. Wanting a slower look at things, I was pleased to see an exit marked 'scenic route'. Meandering along rivers, through farmland and over a high mountain pass at the ID/MT border, the drive to Missoula was a motorcyclists dream. From Missoula, Hwy 93 took me south through the majestic Bitterroot Mountain range with a wide open ranch land valley and dramatic wildfire-scored mountain ranges to the east and west.

The hot, hot weather continued and with a little local knowledge gleaned at the Quiznos in Missoula, I learned that one could access the river for a cold water dunk at the 'fishing access' signs along the highway. This was a relief as it meant I could stop and soak my t-shirt to create a 'swamp cooler' in my jacket which made the +100F temperatures much more bearable.

At the end of another longish day, I found a lovely campsite in the charming small town of Salmon, ID where I had my first opportunity to use all the cooking and camping gear I've schlepped along.

A little Canadian pride marking the day...

Cool totem somewhere along the scenic route...

The summit of the scenic route and the border of the Idaho Panhandle and Lolo (MT) National forests..

Sunset camp and dinner in Salmon...

Day 4 - July 2 - Salmon, ID to Rigby, ID

Today was a short, early day that had me thrice rewarded. First was a beautiful morning ride through more ranch lands of south Idaho, second was a date at the Klim head office to pickup my new jacket and the third was to meet up with fellow adventure rider, Craig. He had ridden up from New Mexico via the Colorado Backcountry Discovery Route on his KTM 950 and we planned to ride Yellowstone and Glacier together over the next several days.

Early morning, empty highway...

 

herd of prong horned antelope...

actual cattle drive down the highway (there were hundreds of cattle including a massive bull that crossed a bike length ahead of me... I was too excited to operate the camera ;)

and then at the Klim office where I replace the old jacket that I've had for 4 years and ~35,000 km...

with a shiny new Gortex, vented, fully armoured Klim jacket!

we even got a tour of the office and chatted with one of the designers, Heber..

so sad... out with the old.. (after Heber saw that face they offered to ship my old jacket home for me :)

and in with the new!

and my new travel mate who is equally enamoured with Klim gear...

(I'm pretty sure he said this sticker was going on his truck ;)

 

Posted with Blogsy