Easy Rider 2006: Day Three - Blackfoot to SLC

It is only 149 miles from Blackfoot to Salt Lake City -- if one sticks to the Interstate. But why would one want to do that when we could do it in 224 miles? The Interstate is a long slab of hot concrete with big triple-trailer rigs wearing ruts in the road surface that grab bike tires and drag you all over. It goes straight as an arrow, and you miss things. The Interstate forces you to go fast -- 75 mph or more just to avoid getting run over. No, who would want that unless they had to? Certainly not us. It appears however that this deviates from the norm -- and the powers that be keep conspiring to MAKE us take the Interstate, and constantly try to direct us or redirect us to it. Try being the operative word here....It seems at every exit, every turn, and every junction, there was a sign telling us to go back to the Interstate "THIS WAY", or even misdirecting US Highway signs pointing to the Interstate as well. We refused to fall for that conspiracy.

This short hop to SLC began with the ubiquitous "breakfast buffet", consisting at the Best Western Blackfoot -- of generic "wheat oh's" and bagels, with tepid weak coffee. We loaded up the bikes, gassed up, and tried to find US-91, the north-south route that was the old road between Northern Utah and Idaho. The main road in Blackfoot was signed for "Interstate 15 Loop", which is the bypass route that was set up in vain to try and get the lemmings off the concrete slab. It really doesn't work, but its where you find the local hangs and dives that serve great burgers and shakes and stuff like that. This did indeed turn into US-91, which, when we found it, we settled back into the bikes, put our feet up on the travel pegs and cruised under the cursed freeway and followed the rail line to the next town. Old roads tend to follow old rail lines -- this one was no exception, and we'd wave at the engineers to get them to blow their horns, and enjoyed the empty road, the cool morning temperatures, and the solitude of the byway. US-91 was once THE major road between Ogden, UT, and northern Idaho, through Idaho's Cache Valley and beyond. The Union Pacific line to Butte, Montana paralleled the route, and there were lots of little monuments set up by the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers to mark history potty-break stops or some such thing. There is (was) generally a small town every 15 miles or so, and many of them cling to life of some sort now that it has passed them by on the Interstate a few miles to the north-west. It's where we found a cool abandoned gas station that hadn't pumped gas in some time -- well before it went over $1 a gallon anyway.

If old US-91 is a side road, then we went off of the side road onto an even more side road -- named the "West Side Highway". It's really more of a farm road, that Idaho maintains by spraying tar down and sprinkling rock chips every few years. It also runs down the West side of the Cache Valley -- hence the name -- trough a string of very very small farm towns, one of which is where my Mother was born and raised.

Clifton, Idaho -- population in the low three digits, has a single gas station/store and a post office, a Mormon ward house, and a handful of my relatives. My "aunt" Jane (really my Grandmother's sister), once ran the store and post office and gas station, but is now 86, a widow, and winters in St. George Utah with the rest of the retired Mormons these days. She was however in Clifton when two sweaty, leather clad Harley Riding guys roared to a stop next to her house, which is next to the store. Once she figured out we were harmless, she insisted we come in and then insisted on going next door to the store to get us a fantastic bar-b-que lunch -- which no one else knows about since they are all stuck on that insane Interstate the other side of the valley. We had a nice, but short visit with Jane and then road off down the West Side Highway and crossed into Utah.

It got very warm after lunch and we went around Logan, Utah -- something I was hesitant to do, but the traffic congestion on the one road through town is insane and it was rather hot and the stop/go traffic would have been no fun. We picked up US 91 again at the end of the Cache Valley and rode over Sardine Pass to Brigham City Utah. At this point we had only a short stretch of US-89, which I thought would be cooler than the super-slab since when I was growing up this road was lined with miles and miles of fruit trees and orchards and the shade was very cool, and there were lots of little drive ins and fruit stands to stop and get refreshed at. Alas, they have all been replaced by tract houses as this is now part of the Utah Urban Sprawl. We opted to high-tail it to Salt Lake for a cool shower, so we genuflected and throttled up the on-ramp to I-15.

I don't think either of us had been more miserable this trip than the stretch from Brigham City to Salt Lake. The freeway was under construction, the traffic heavy, the speed limit an insane 75 mph, and we got stuck behind several "almost" empty dump trucks who had just enough sand to spit out little grains every few seconds which felt like a visit to the acupuncturist.

By the time we got to Bountiful, about 10 miles from SLC, Tony signaled he'd had enough and we exited off onto US 89 and right into the lap of an old "Dairy Ann" drive in, where we promptly stopped for an ice cream and a break. After that, we decided to stick to 89 and come into SLC the "old" way behind the Capitol building. We cruised through town, and were tempted to stop by and say hello to my Mother and her husband Ron who are tour guides for the Mormon Church -- we thought our road weary, sweaty biker look would go over big and maybe scare a few old ladies at the same time. However, the cool shower at home was too tempting, so we made it to my Mother's house a little after 3p.

So now we are showered, in clean clothes, and waiting for Mom and Ron to get home so we can go to dinner. We'll rest in SLC for a day or so -- it will be nice to NOT get on the bikes, except for a run to SLC Harley for a tune up for the next leg of the trip -- we'll drop the bikes all day at the dealer tomorrow, and be ready to go Sunday morning after the Chorus sings at a couple of Baptist churches and boards their buses for Pocatello, Idaho, for the first show on Sunday night. We'll also take a break from the blog, so until then...

From a cool, air-conditioned couch in my Mother's house...

Gary and Tony

Easy Rider 2006: Day Two, Lewiston to Blackfoot

The shape of Idaho is somewhat like that of a letter "L". Our route was very much "L" shaped today, and at times it felt like "'ell" too. Our route from Lewiston, up along the Washington/Idaho border, to Blackfoot in far south-east Idaho, took us through some very wonderful scenery, and some absolutely awful weather in a total ride of 546 miles in an "L" shape if you follow on a map.

Curiosity about long-distance motorcycle riders tends to invite questions and start conversations with everyone from desk clerks to people in line at the freebie breakfast buffet that, along with free wireless Internet, is the calling card of today's modern road side lodge. In the old days along Route 66 when American was traveling in the 30s, and 40s, "modern" meant air-cooled and car port. In the 50s, it was a phone, and in the 60s, color TV. Today its free breakfast and high-speed Internet...but I digress.

The point I was making is that everywhere, nearly everyone asked where we were going and how long we'd been on the road, and nearly everyone seemed envious about the bikes or the ride. Guys dressed to ride make for an easy conversation starter, and we learn a lot about what to expect and find along the way.

We left Lewiston a little before 8am and headed south on US 95. It was cool and a tad overcast. We climbed up to the Camas Prairie area of Idaho through the Nez Perce Indian Reservation. It started to sprinkle a little bit, making the air nice and cool, and as we were riding through some lush hay fields that had just been mowed, it smelled wonderful. One of the best things about being on the bikes are the smells. It's why dogs like to hang out the window when you drive -- the smells when riding are intense. Good and bad. The good ones, like rain dampened fresh hay, and sawdust at a sawmill far outweigh the occasional pulp mill or manure spreader.

The clouds appeared to be thickening up so we stopped and put on our rain gear. Riding in the wet isn't fun, and when one's clothes are wet to boot, its even more miserable. We just put on the jackets as it didn't appear that it would rain so much that our leather chaps wouldn't keep our legs dry, and we more or less had off again - on again sprinkles for quite some time. The Camas Prairie area is a stunningly lush and beautiful high prairie, and the ride was fantastic -- for about 160 miles.

Just as we started to climb up into the mountains near McCall we could see a rain squall up ahead, and before we knew it, we were riding in a downpour that soaked us through the leather, and we'd have been fine and dandy had we had snorkels to breathe with. We tended to stop every 30 miles or so at gas stations just to wipe off our glasses and shake off the water as best we could. When the storm suddenly ended just as we started to drop down into Boise, the sun came out, and we started to roast in our water-proof rain coats. When we hit a remote controlled signal (replacing a flagman at a construction site), we had just enough time to take them off and stuff them in the saddle bags before the light changed and we were moving. It was very hot by the time we hit Boise at 230p, and we needed to stop for lunch.

We found a nice diner in Eagle, just outside of Boise and sat down for a good lunch and rest. But as we were eating we could see one of those typical Western afternoon thunder storms, and sure enough, just as we left the diner it started to sprinkle and we could hear the thunder. It appeared however that we could get ahead of the storm, and so we aimed the bikes for the short stretch of I-84 that we had to take to get to Mountain Home. Unfortunately, we were wrong, and we got hit by the second downpour of the day just as we were getting onto the freeway and WITHOUT our rain gear on. The storm lasted all the way through Boise and it ended just as quickly as it started, and because it was hot and dry away from the storm, and we were riding along at 75 mph, we dried out rather quickly. It also washed off all the sun-screen we'd applied before leaving Boise -- not a good thing since our arms look like we dunked them into a vat of brown paint up to our elbows.

About 10 miles out of Boise traffic came to a dead stop -- apparently there was an accident a few miles up. Rather than sit idling on the freeway, we went up the shoulder to the nearest exit and a large Truck Stop. We stopped, put on more sun-screen, and checked the map. We found a back way to Mountain Home and decided to take it, and headed out over the freeway, which was still plugged up like a colicky baby.

This is high desert with lots of sagebrush -- and apparently Antelope too, as a small herd of 6 bounded across our path quite suddenly. As cool as it was, it was very unexpected and somewhat frightening since accidents with motorcycles and deer (and antelope too) are fairly common to those who ride in the country at night. I'm not sure how common in the high-desert in the middle of the day however.

We picked up US 20 east, and headed out. This road leads to the turn-off to Sun Valley, but it travels a very sparsely populated area and we made great time and the temperature cooled off and the riding was almost perfect. There were a few small towns along the route, each with a grain elevator and a gas station or two, and not much else. This road also took us along the northern edge of the Craters of the Moon National Monument. It really felt like we were on the moon -- miles from nowhere, and no plant life growing among the lava flows. The road was posted for some construction work back at the junction with the road to Sun Valley (and we'd been tempted to detour to Sun Valley and stay a night, but decided to keep going). The "construction" consisted of removing the entire road surface and replacing it with...nothing -- for 9 miles. Those were a long nine miles at 30mph and through gravel, sand, and rocks. We both felt like doing what the late Pope John Paul did and getting off the bikes and kissing the asphalt once it resumed.

Our original itinerary had us in Pocatello tonight, but we realized it was not going to be possible, given the construction zone, the accident on the freeway and the slow riding in the rain, so we settled on shooting for Arco, Idaho -- the First Town Powered By Atomic Energy according to the sign at City Hall. It also had only one motel that was a little to reminiscent of the Bates Motel for Tony's comfort, so although it was 9pm, we decided to try for Blackfoot. 66 miles further on, which sits on I-15 and would have, we hoped, a venerable plethora of accommodation to choose from.

The road from Arco south to Blackfoot has to be tied with US 6 in Nevada as the "Loneliest Stretch of Highway in the US". We didn't pass one car for 66 miles. However spooky it was, it was glorious as the sun was sinking over the high desert and the road was straight as an arrow and appeared to be disappearing into the horizon. There were only a few scattered lights of ranch buildings or mysterious "Area 51" kind of buildings for the Idaho National Laboratory, and had we been abducted by aliens it wouldn't have come as a surprise.

We finally got to Blackfoot a little before 10pm, and got a room at the Best Western and just finished a late dinner at the Sonic Drive In across the street. We are both ready for some sleep. In the morning we'll make the 4 hour run into Salt Lake and expect to be there by sometime mid-afternoon. It will be good to rest the bikes (and our butts) for a few days before meeting up with the Chorus and starting that part of the tour.

It's been a very long day -- and we've covered a lot of territory, and I think it's the longest day on the motorcycles we've ever spent, both in time and in miles. Time to hit the hay....

From the Best Western in Blackfoot, Idaho

Gary and Tony

Easy Rider 2006: Day One, Seattle - Lewiston

It took a while -- but we finally got on the road, and we did 379 miles to Lewiston, Idaho. Considering how late we got started, this is a small miracle. To make it this far is about in line with our original itinerary and we figure we are only about a half day behind our original schedule. It took some doing however.

We got up at 6am and promptly called Harley Road Side Assistance -- the AAA type program that gives us a free tow to the nearest Harley dealer in case of a breakdown -- which we purchased especially for this trip. Our goal was to get to the dealer before they opened so as to be first in line. The nice operator at Road Side Assist said the truck would be there in 30-45 minutes, so we got dressed, loaded up and waited. Promptly in 30-45 minutes actually means 2.5 hours, as they finally showed up at 830am. Our flip-flop wearing, flat-bed tow truck driver -- lets call him Apu -- was a bit confused about how to first back down our driveway, and second, how to load Tony's bike. First hooked his tow strap to what he thought was the front fork, but really was Tony's windshield -- which when he started to pull, came right off. We then pushed the bike up to the top of the driveway, and Apu took the truck out into the street, where Tony rode down the street and up the flatbed ramp. The bed, having had spilled oil that Apu had thoughtfully sprayed with water to wash off before hand, was a bit slick and Tony skidded the bike along the bed and tipped it over and almost off onto the street. Fortunately he didn't and we got the bike upright with no damage, and off we went to Downtown Harley Davidson -- which is actually in Tukwila.

I rode ahead to warn them, and to plead that they take it right away. Fortunately they did, and while Tony slept, they worked, and after much testing, probing, and postulating, they diagnosed the short, fixed it, reattached the windshield that Apu had taken off, and sent us on our way at 11am.

We went half a block down the road to the gas station, filled up, and said to each other "Here we go!!" At that moment in time, the headlights on Tony's bike went out. Back up the street to Downtown Harley Davidson (actually in Tukwila) we go where they were quite shocked to see us return. We explained the problem and back up on the rack went the Road King. An hour later we went back in to find it stripped down to the frame and all the wiring essentially taken off. At this point we decide to go to lunch at the former Denny's across the street. By 1230p we wandered back to find the bike put back together with essentially all new wiring. A short test ride later and we were pronounced good to go -- again. Taking no chances, Tony knelt down in solemn prayer to the motorcycle Gods, and whatever he said, it must have worked because we hit the road at 1pm on the nose.

We went southeast and up and over the spectacular Chinook Pass on the east side of Mt. Rainier National Park. The air was crisp, clean and spectacularly fresh, and made us forget the 7 hour delay in starting today. It reminded us why we ride the motorcycles on trips like this.

After cresting the pass, we dropped down into Central Washington and Yakima (the Palm Springs of Washington according to their highway sign). They grow a lot of fruit in this part of the state -- or as they say every few feet along the highway -- FRUIT in all capital letters. Lots and lots of FRUIT. We don't know what kind of FRUIT, but it is for sale all along the highway. Being shouted at in all capital letters FRUIT -- with no explanation -- reminded me of traveling along Interstate 44 and old US 66 in Missouri, outside of St. Louis, where ever exit had a massive billboard that shouted JESUS. Just that -- JESUS. Maybe JESUS needs to go to Yakima and get some FRUIT.

It was HOT in Yakima too -- a tad over 100, which feels lovely straddling a hot motor clad in black leather while frying pan hot asphalt bounces heat back up at you.

We picked up the freeway for a stretch in Yakima and exited off in Zillah, Washington. Since we'd been working with our "higher power" all day -- ever since the parking lot of the dealership, and traveling through God's country up around Mt. Rainier, we decided to exit off in Zillah to try and find the much acclaimed, but never found, Church of God -- Zillah. (Say it out loud with me..Church of God Zillah.) The mythical church was nowhere to be found, so back on Interstate 84 we went. The drive through the lower Yakima Valley was long, noisy and HOT -- and exactly what we didn't want to do. Our original plan had been to get through this stretch early in the morning before the heat built up -- but as it was we had no choice. It was a long 75 miles to Pasco, where we picked up US 12 East.

Neither of us had been in this part of Washington -- and it was very charming. We especially loved riding through the vineyards, especially when the sprinklers were running, making the air deliciously cool. This is a rolling, hilly country, where grapes give way to wheat -- miles and miles of wheat. The highway winds through some small, almost ghost towns, along rusty railroad tracks, and tall grain elevators. We averaged about 50mph, and about 7pm stopped in the small town of Waitsburg for dinner. The only thing open was a charming tavern where we had home-made Calzone and Iced Tea.


It was still light when we left at 8p and we rolled east through more small towns and a spectacular sunset on the prairie. We dropped down to the Snake River and crossed into Idaho and found a nice motel in Lewiston and decided to stop here for the night.

Tony just walked down to the mini-mart for some ice-cream, and I'm looking forward to a cool shower and some needed sleep. It's been a very long day, but we are on the road to Salt Lake, and making good progress. Tomorrow we'll head south on US 95 towards Boise and hope to make Pocatello by nightfall of day two.

In the Quality Inn, overlooking the Snake River in Lewiston, ID --

Tony and Gary

Easy Rider 2006: The Road NOT Travelled

It could be just bad luck, or it could be an omen, or it could be my mother's latent telepathic ability -- we don't really know, but none the less, we are still here in Seattle tonight. We'd loaded up the bikes, locked up the house, and were sitting astride the mounts when Tony's bike failed to start. Digging into the owners manual it appears to be an electrical short of some sort, and try as we might to find anyone with some diagnostic and mechanical skills to get us going, we were unable to get Tony's Road King to come to life.

Our plan now is to have the bike towed to the Harley Dealership about 7am so we are first in line in the morning when they open up. Then we'll beg, plead, bribe or do whatever it takes to see if they can get his bike fixed and running. At that point we'll start heading out -- doing our best to keep to our initial itinerary.

We absolutely must be in Pocatello, Idaho by Sunday afternoon for the first SMC concert -- so we have plenty of time for repairs and changes in plans.

But for now, we are eating Taco Bell tacos, having given all our food to the neighbors, and generally pouting and sulking, and crossing our fingers for a speedy repair tomorrow so we can get on our way.

Living in stage two (after denial, but before bargaining)...and still in Seattle..and very disappointed...

Gary and Tony

Easy Rider 2006: The Red State Tour

They say the highway is just one big road, and leads from here to there (as sung by the Seattle Men's Chorus, taken from the movie "A Mighty Wind").

Here we go, taking the very 'blue state' Seattle Men's Chorus and Seattle Women's Chorus into the very 'red' states of Idaho, Utah, Wyoming and Montana so we've unofficially dubbed it the 'Color Purple Tour'. Having reached my mid 40s and deciding to revert to my childhood and take up motorcycling and heading out on the open road like Peter Fonda did in Easy Rider, (albeit without the flowing locks of hair), Tony and I decided to ride the Harley's for the trip. Originally we decided we'd just rent bikes in Salt Lake and ride the concert portion with the Chorus, flying to and from SLC to give us time with the family, but about three weeks ago Tony decided that he'd like to ride the whole way. I think seeing the movie "Cars" a few weeks ago also stoked our passion for the open road and slowing down a bit. So here we go.

If you saw the movie Cars, you know the central story is about finding the side roads where time has stood still. We'll then be avoiding the Interstates at all costs -- but there will be a few stretches where we unfortunately have no choice since the Interstate was built on the old road. But where possible, we'll be taking the 'Route 66' variant, and as a consequence, it's going to take a lot longer to get there than the 12 hours we used to drive non-stop from Seattle to Salt Lake on the freeway in the Hummer.

If you are so inclined, get out your Rand McNally's and follow along -- here's the projected itinerary. We'll leave Seattle after rush hour traffic today (June 27th) and head towards Yakima taking Washington 410 over Chinook Pass. We'll spend the night in Yakima and get up early on the 28th and head out across Central Washington to avoid the heat, aiming for Walla Walla and Lewiston, Idaho. In all my years in Washington I've never gone to Walla Walla and am looking forward to seeing that corner of the state. Time permitting we'll stop at a State Senate Republican fundraiser and scare them before dropping off some campaign checks. Ideally we'd like to get beyond Lewiston, Idaho ­ heading south on US 95 towards McCall. We'll spend the night somewhere on that stretch of highway.

The morning of the 29th well keep heading south on US 95 to Boise, where unfortunately we have to pick up the Interstate for a short run to Mountain Home. There we'll pick up US 20 and go east through Craters of the Moon and south towards Pocatello, and depending on time, weather, and general butt soreness, we'll keep going towards Salt Lake. I expect we¹ll spend the night somewhere near Pocatello and get to Salt Lake on the morning of the 30th.

We'll rest up in Salt Lake, have the bikes tuned, and then bright and early on the 2nd of July, we head north with the Chorus to Pocatello for the first show. From there it's on to Jackson, Wyoming over Teton Pass, then up through Yellowstone and over Beartooth Pass to Billings for another show. From Billings we'll take a long and loopy route to get to Bozeman for another show, then head south again to Salt Lake City for the final show on July 8th. On the 9th we'll again point the bikes toward Seattle ­ but have yet to determine an exact routing.

All in all, it should be about 3,000 plus miles, and we are due back to work in Seattle on the 12th of July, so the trip home might be a bit more rushed than it was going south. Nonetheless, here we go ­me aboard my 2006 Harley Dyna Street Bob, and Tony on his 2005 Harley Road King. The bikes are loaded and ready to go, and shortly we will be too.

Still in the driveway, waiting for rush hour to die down ---



Gary and Tony

Easy Rider 2006: Countdown to June 27th

Gary and I are getting ready to leave for a two week journey through the Northern Rockies on our Harley's. We are riding the roads while members of Seattle Men's Chorus and Seattle Women's Chorus travel by plane and bus on a 10 day tour.

As we have done with our trip to Scotland and Whistler before that, we will do our best to update our blog with stories and pictures from this trip. At the end of the trip, we will have put more than 3000 miles on the bikes and hopefully we will have as many stories to tell.

Here is the promotional stuff on the tour:

To sing the heart and soul of this majestic nation, we take the Northern Rockies for our inspriation. From Salt Lake City, Helena, to Pocatello, the music rings from Jackson Hole to Monticello. From Billings, Ogden, Bozeman, Butte and Bonner's ferry, the song of freedom sweeps across the rolling prairie as we sing the songs of this great land.

With a true pioneer spirit, the internationally-renowed Seattle Men's Chorus and their sister chorus Seattle Women's Chorus are hitting the road, touring through neighboring states for the first time in history!

Look for more soon!