Miles of Mirth

First, may I say thank you for waiting patiently for this post, arrival in Seattle has not lent itself to spending time writing as there has been so much fun stuff to do. 

Day 3 of my motorcycle trip, today I smiled a lot. I began my day in Missoula Montana, having spent the night in a cheap motel. I gave my motorcycle a quick wash at a local car wash, as it had accumulated quite the dose of mud and road grime from the previous day's adventures. So with a shining motorcycle I scooted out of town. I remarked to myself how, the larger the town is, the less enjoyable it is to ride within the city limits, in the context of this trip, I just long for open road. So off I went and began a the climb up US12 towards the Idaho border, not realizing that I was embarking on what became my favorite leg of the trip so far. US12 was amazing, the road was great, the scenery was stunningly beautiful and the speed limit was 70 which allowed me to feel like I was flying through this section of awesome twisting road. The speed limit promptly dropped when I crossed the border into Idaho, but the route became even more beautiful and twisting.

US12 into Idaho follows right along the Lochsa river, and because of that is some of the most consistently twisty roads that I have been on. It made for an absolutely joyous ride. There was hardly any cars on the road. I had about 100 miles without being passed by anyone or coming up behind anyone going my same direction, it was amazing. There were 150 ft pines, lining the road on both sides and the river was ever present, growning in size as I descended into Idaho. The width of the river grew and grew, from probably about 20 ft across to close on 200 ft across as it began to level out and flow slower as I got closer to the Washington border. The miles flew by in Idaho, because I was so focused on the beauty of the route. I stopped in a little town along the river at one point and chatted with a couple of old guys from Calgary on BMW motorcycles. "Which way are you headed?" one of them asked me. "Seattle" I replied. "Which way are you headed" he says again. "US12 across Idaho, I can't remember my exact route through Washington." I received a scowl back. "Are you familiar with the roads here?" one asked. "No, not really but I have my maps." I reply, as I show them my stack of mutilated road atlases. "Well there is a great road that snakes down into Oregon." one says as he points on the map, "Then you can take this forest road back up into Washington." "Well I'm not sure I will have time for that, I'm trying to make it to Seattle by today." I say (at Noon in the middle of Idaho). "Ohhhh...." one moans, "You're going to have a sore ass." one says. "Haha, I should be fine, I'm no stranger to long days in the saddle." I reply. "Well... you won't have time to ride through Oregon. Have a good trip." One says while the other remain silent. "Thank you, you too." I say. I guess my riding style, with high miles and less stops, isn't for everyone, I got the sense that these guys thought I was nuts to aspire to a 600 mile day. So off I went.

As I crossed Idaho the road became more populated. The road straightened out, and had many more cars on it. As I neared the Washington border, I was in need of fuel for myself and my motorcycle, so I planned on stopping in Lewiston ID, sister city of Clarkston WA, across the river and border. That plan promptly changed as I entered Lewiston. The entire town smelled like a dumpster. I wanted to get out as soon as possible. I'm not sure whether they had their dump too close to town, or if the smell was the product of some industry there (there was a big factory as I entered the town) but it was pretty awful. So Clarkston and Washington it was. The smell went away as soon as I had crossed into Clarkston so I stopped for gas then a burger at a greaseball drive in that skeeved me out a bit. The burger was amazingly mediocre, but put some food in my stomach so I left Clarkston. I reflected that maybe Lewis was the stinky one on the trail, Clark was a poor cook, and the towns were just trying to live up to the reputation of the explorers. I should have tried to find Sacajaweaton. So after an underwhelming jaunt through history, I set off across Washington. The country was pretty in a very different way than the pass into Idaho. There were rolling hills everywhere. I passed a big wind farm with tons of huge windmills. Here once again, the miles began to fly by as I was focused now, on making good time.

I really like US12 it has a lot of really good legs. As I crossed through Yakima Washington, I once again found my route took me on US12 and over some mountain passes. I was aiming to go through Rainier National Park and was once again on some fun winding roads. The weather near Rainier is crazy. There is snow up on top of passes that are only at 4200 ft above sea level. By all rights there shouldnt be snow there from February through November, but there was LOADS of snow. Rainier is a 14,400 foot mountain surrounded by 3000 and 4000 ft elevations. Because of this the mountain creates its own weather patterns and there is some pretty weird stuff because of that. But seeing the mountain, looming over the rest of the dwarfed peaks, is an awesome sight. It's pretty indescribable to see such a tall peak, when none around it are even anywhere close to its size. We may have a lot of 14ers in Colorado, but we don't have any this powerfully immense.

So down into the park itself and my first taste of the smell of an olympic rainforest. It was incredible. I went to a summer camp in Washington all throughout middle and high school and the smell of cedar pines, and dense underbrush and the sweet smell of wet humus on the forest floor. It is an incredibly sentimental smell for me and I absolutely loved going through the park. I came out of the park and into the outlying suburbs of Seattle and the sun was setting. So now just on to my aunt and uncle's house. For the first time on the trip I used the navigation function on my phone, just so I could sort of check out and follow directions through the big city to their house. The navigation took me on a really stupid route, so I'm glad that most of the time I don't rely on those stupid things. I arrived safely at about 10 at night and was so greatful to have a comfortable and familiar place to stay for the weekend.

So there is a lot to do in Seattle and not anywhere near enough time to do it but I will be making the most of my stay here, that much can be certain. Once again, sorry for taking the extra couple days to update this, I will get back on schedule tonight.

Mileage Day 3 - 611

Cumulative Mileage - 1540

Song I sang most in my helmet - The Elephant March from the Jungle book. "In the military style!"

Continental Divide counter - 8