Easy Rider 2006: Day 5, SLC to Pocatello

203 miles, and only 2 on the Freeway -- and that was by accident! Actually, it was part of that grand conspiracy to force people to take the super slab and avoid the side roads, and this time we fell for it. Heading north out of Bountiful, UT, US 89 takes a jog to the east, but the obvious road continues forward and directly and WITHOUT AN OPTION -- on to the damned Interstate. We'd mapped out and planned a route with NO Interstate, and by golly we were going to stick to it. We took the next exit and went back to US 89 and continued on our way.

We got up early and loaded up after doing laundry at Mom's and resting for a couple of days. We headed north out of SLC on US 89, after swinging by the Chorus' hotel and making the guys and gals envious of our mode of transportation. I love traveling early on Sunday's -- there's no traffic, the temperatures are cool, and the words of Kris Kristoffeerson's "Sunday Mornin' Coming Down" keep running through my head "..I watched a small kid playing with a can that he was kicking, then I walked across the street and caught the Sunday smell of someone's frying chicken...and somewhere far away a lonely bell was ringing, and it echoed through the canyons like the disappearing dreams of yesterday..." We'd hear singing as we passed churches, and see fresh scrubbed Mormon boys in white shirts walking late to Church... Tony was playing count the Ward Houses (Mormon Churches) along the route, but in Davis County he ran out of numbers...

We went up through the suburbs of SLC through Davis and Weber Counties -- I'm awed by how much things have changed, but here and there are little touches of things I remember from growing up in Utah and working in the Bountiful, Farmington, Centerville and Ogden. A few little businesses from my day remain here and there, a familiar neon sign or too -- but much of it has changed beyond recognition. Such is the pace of life after some 24 years.
After Ogden we stuck to the old highway as it clung to the mountains on the east side of the valley, and at Brigham City, we kept going on State roads up the back way to Logan, and then picked up US 91 outside of Logan and rode into Preston, Idaho for lunch. Preston is the setting for the movie "Napoleon Dynamite" -- or so we've been told, as neither of us has seen it, and we've been advised to rent it immediately and repeatedly. We stopped for lunch at a local burger joint, slathered on more sun screen and hit the road once more. It had been a pleasant ride up to that point -- very little traffic on a Sunday morning, and a nice cool temperature.

The Chorus, having sung at a SLC Church that morning, was a few hours behind us, but catching up fast as they were on the super slab of I-15 the whole way. As it was, we followed US 91 up the same way we had come down on Friday, past the small semi-abandoned towns that died when the Interstate came through. Past old drive in theaters and interesting old motels. I'd once toyed with the idea of driving all over the west at night and compiling a coffee table book of old neon signs -- seeing so many broken old ones now makes me wish I had.














This time we took the side roads the ENTIRE way to Pocatello, and got to our hotel by 230 -- well before the afternoon rehearsal and time to rest for a bit. Tony's tux was VERY wrinkled, so he ironed it, and realized that it would wrinkle again if he folded it, forcing him to ride to the show on his bike in his Tux -- he turned a few heads in Pocatello on the way.

The performance tonight was great, and well received by the Pocatello audience. The Hall was beautiful, though only about 1/3 full. The audience very appreciative, and we mingled and chatted for a long time after. Many of the folks in the Chorus joined the tour here in Pocatello, including a number of others on motorcycles, and we are planning several group rides for the next couple of segments. Tomorrow, we are up early to ride over Teton Pass into Jackson, Wyoming.

From the Ameri-Tel Inn (sounds like a phone company doesn't it?) in Pocatello --

Gary and Tony