Now to break some more new ground. Leaving Panguitch we followed US89 north, turning onto UT62 just past Circleville. Farm country, some forest and lots of wide open spaces. Sweeping vistas might be more accurate. By the time we got to a fly speck on the map called Koosharem, it was coffee time. We headed into the diner with the pick up trucks parked out the front. As we opened the door, all heads inside swivelled expectantly to see who was coming in, and all conversation stopped. That was freaky. Gradually the conversations resumed, albeit now in hushed tones, with the odd furtive glance in our direction. We both felt like we had just landed from another planet. In some respects, I suppose we had. Shades of that scene in Easy Rider.
The old guy behind the counter was wearing Levis held up by suspenders, and had a straw cowboy hat on his head. We ordered two coffees, the decided to take up the offer of today's special, cherry pie. Not bad either. But there was no further dialogue from anybody else to us. There were several guns of various types mounted on the wall, and in the adjoining room the walls were lined with the heads of various animals. Some looked decidedly like they didn't come from these here parts at all. Closer inspection revealed that they were in fact antelopes, and had indeed been bagged by some local guy on a big game hunt in South Africa in the 70s. Oh well, everybody has a bucket list. Well, we reluctantly tore ourselves away from all this congeniality, and continues north through Salina, a busy agricultural town, and back onto 89 through Manti and Ephraim.
A couple of spectacular Mormon temples later, we joined I-15 at Spanish Fork, heading into Salt Lake City. This was Kaz's first taste of riding on an Interstate, and it was pretty full on. We never had plans to stop in Salt Lake, we thought we'd just check it out as we went through. Well, the traffic was pretty diabolical, and the place seemed to go on forever, so we just kept going. The bits of the lake visible from the Interstate looked pretty ordinary, and we rode past one of the biggest petrochemical plants I've ever seen. I don't care much for them either, as vital as they are. We pushed on past Ogden, and finally things calmed down a bit, so we decided to turn off the freeway and hit Brigham City, not sure what to expect. I half expected to see religious nut jobs preaching on every street corner, to be honest. It wasn't quite so "in your face", but I suspect there is a strong undercurrent in this State.
We decided to go upmarket a bit, and checked into a Hampton Inn, which was long overdue. By this stage my knees were killing me, and limiting my ability to walk much further than a few hundred yards. It was late, but we managed to find a good Mexican restaurant nearby, which was just about to shut, but stayed open long enough to feed us. Another long but interesting day, seeing new country. Next morning we got away late, and headed back onto US89 and up towards Idaho, a highly scenic route. The view of Bear Lake from the summit of the adjoining range was absolutely stunning. The Lake was a striking turquoise colour, the like of which I recall seeing only once before (at Peyto Lake in Canada). Even Kaz's camera failed to do justice to the remarkable scene before us. This was a highlight for sure.
By the time we reached the northern extremity of the lake, we were in Idaho, and the wind was blustery, and I though we were in for a hard time. A quick stop at Montpelier for lunch, and Kaz spotted a real cowboy wearing spurs! True story. Not sure if you need them to drive a Dodge Ram, but he had em anyway.
The stretch from Montpelier to the Wyoming state line was a cracker of a road. Not much traffic, and beautiful sweeping curves that didn't tighten up on you, which inspired confidence, so we let rip. I intend to plead the Douglas Bader defence again, Your Honour. After crossing into Wyoming, the traffic density increased considerably, and it became a bit of a pain. And there were a lot more cops, so we behaved. It took forever to reach Jackson, but I was looking forward to having another go at the Teton Pass, then getting back on the back roads on the Idaho side of the Tetons and heading up to West Yellowstone. A great ride in 2012. Sadly, this time there was so much traffic around this very steep and exciting Pass was a real pain in the arse. Then as we made our way north, the wind picked up to serious levels, and we really got hammered. Kaz was getting a bit anxious, and with good reason. It was a tough ride. To just finish off the day properly, the dark clouds were gathering as we neared Montana, and we narrowly avoided a real downpour. However, we made it to our exorbitantly priced little log cabin (operative word is little) on the corner of Electric St North and Alley B. Not the most desirable part of the town of West Yellowstone, Montana, but much better than the Bolivar Cascades. We settled in for the next four days. Every convenience was within walking distance, but the problem was I couldn't walk. Not without pharmaceutical assistance anyway.
The old guy behind the counter was wearing Levis held up by suspenders, and had a straw cowboy hat on his head. We ordered two coffees, the decided to take up the offer of today's special, cherry pie. Not bad either. But there was no further dialogue from anybody else to us. There were several guns of various types mounted on the wall, and in the adjoining room the walls were lined with the heads of various animals. Some looked decidedly like they didn't come from these here parts at all. Closer inspection revealed that they were in fact antelopes, and had indeed been bagged by some local guy on a big game hunt in South Africa in the 70s. Oh well, everybody has a bucket list. Well, we reluctantly tore ourselves away from all this congeniality, and continues north through Salina, a busy agricultural town, and back onto 89 through Manti and Ephraim.
A couple of spectacular Mormon temples later, we joined I-15 at Spanish Fork, heading into Salt Lake City. This was Kaz's first taste of riding on an Interstate, and it was pretty full on. We never had plans to stop in Salt Lake, we thought we'd just check it out as we went through. Well, the traffic was pretty diabolical, and the place seemed to go on forever, so we just kept going. The bits of the lake visible from the Interstate looked pretty ordinary, and we rode past one of the biggest petrochemical plants I've ever seen. I don't care much for them either, as vital as they are. We pushed on past Ogden, and finally things calmed down a bit, so we decided to turn off the freeway and hit Brigham City, not sure what to expect. I half expected to see religious nut jobs preaching on every street corner, to be honest. It wasn't quite so "in your face", but I suspect there is a strong undercurrent in this State.
We decided to go upmarket a bit, and checked into a Hampton Inn, which was long overdue. By this stage my knees were killing me, and limiting my ability to walk much further than a few hundred yards. It was late, but we managed to find a good Mexican restaurant nearby, which was just about to shut, but stayed open long enough to feed us. Another long but interesting day, seeing new country. Next morning we got away late, and headed back onto US89 and up towards Idaho, a highly scenic route. The view of Bear Lake from the summit of the adjoining range was absolutely stunning. The Lake was a striking turquoise colour, the like of which I recall seeing only once before (at Peyto Lake in Canada). Even Kaz's camera failed to do justice to the remarkable scene before us. This was a highlight for sure.
By the time we reached the northern extremity of the lake, we were in Idaho, and the wind was blustery, and I though we were in for a hard time. A quick stop at Montpelier for lunch, and Kaz spotted a real cowboy wearing spurs! True story. Not sure if you need them to drive a Dodge Ram, but he had em anyway.
The stretch from Montpelier to the Wyoming state line was a cracker of a road. Not much traffic, and beautiful sweeping curves that didn't tighten up on you, which inspired confidence, so we let rip. I intend to plead the Douglas Bader defence again, Your Honour. After crossing into Wyoming, the traffic density increased considerably, and it became a bit of a pain. And there were a lot more cops, so we behaved. It took forever to reach Jackson, but I was looking forward to having another go at the Teton Pass, then getting back on the back roads on the Idaho side of the Tetons and heading up to West Yellowstone. A great ride in 2012. Sadly, this time there was so much traffic around this very steep and exciting Pass was a real pain in the arse. Then as we made our way north, the wind picked up to serious levels, and we really got hammered. Kaz was getting a bit anxious, and with good reason. It was a tough ride. To just finish off the day properly, the dark clouds were gathering as we neared Montana, and we narrowly avoided a real downpour. However, we made it to our exorbitantly priced little log cabin (operative word is little) on the corner of Electric St North and Alley B. Not the most desirable part of the town of West Yellowstone, Montana, but much better than the Bolivar Cascades. We settled in for the next four days. Every convenience was within walking distance, but the problem was I couldn't walk. Not without pharmaceutical assistance anyway.
And time for some laundry.
Not much royal about this humpy!
We were hampered by the weather to some extent, there were a few thunderstorms and quite some rain, and a burnoff in the Park that got a little out of control. But we were able to do some riding in Yellowstone, checking out all the usual stuff, including a decent sized herd of buffalo, and a herd or two of elk. No moose or bears though. We also saw a car that nosedived off the road quite spectacularly into a ditch, and had its back wheels in the air. Oops. Driving 101- Watch the road, Dopey. The next thing you drive into might be a motorcyclist.
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