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OK, this is going to be a long day. I called Alaska Marine Line yesterday and got some disturbing news. I should explain that Alaska Marine Line (AML) is my bikes ride back home to Alaska. I am flying home from Seattle, WA but my bike is taking the slow boat (barge) ride back. AML says they are not open on the weekend! What kind of business doesn't open on at least Saturday? This is a serious predicament! I thought I would get into Seattle on Saturday or Sunday if I opted to play tourist one more day. Now, I have to be there by Friday or wait in Seattle till Monday to get my bike on the barge. Don't get me wrong, Seattle is OK but I am not one for big cities and would rather get home. AML says that had I paid for the shipping, I might be able to drop off the bike with the security guard on the weekend but I'm not sure who would secure my bike for the voyage so this is not an option. I didn't arrange the return trip because I wasn't sure when I would actually get back. I mean, that was the point of this whole trip, a little free spirited kind of adventure after all!
Well, the road beckons and I answer. Out of Wellington and forward we go. Finally some farm animals. I went by this pasture area with some horses lounging around. Now they look more like pets then workers to me. Not a care in the world!
Price, UT turns out to be something out of Pleasantville (anybody but me getting tired of all the movie references?). I haven't seen an old fashion movie theater, at least a working one, since I was a kid. This town has two and they actually have movies playing. I was pretty tempted to stop and ask if I could just walk in and take a quick look but I know my time on the road will be pressed today. This town looks pretty old and from a bygone era.
I get back on the bike and continue the journey. Through this cool looking canyon with a railroad down some smaller canyon. I can see in front of me what at first strikes me as strange clouds but I quickly figure out they aren't clouds, at least not real clouds. They are steam coming from somewhere that appears to be hidden from the road. This must be a big operation because this is a lot of steam! I end up finding a sign indicating that this is a coal fired power plant. This explains the steam but at least they did a good job of hiding it. I had to pull over to get a picture of the walls of this canyon. So, this is Helper, UT? Not much to look at though. The rock walls of this canyon are a little scary because they are made of loose rock. As a matter of fact, you can see where plenty of rock has broken loose and made it to the side of the road. I guess I'll just have to be extra careful riding through here.
Orem, UT and it's still pretty early! I make it to the In and Out Burger. I have been waiting on this for a while! Well, they locked me out! It turns out; they don't open till 10:30am. Looks like I have just enough time to find the local Krispy Kreme and get an appetizer. I figure it's brunch time anyway so what's one doughnut going to hurt. That's the kind of stuff you eat at brunch, isn't it? You walk in the place and the smell of fresh donuts hits you! It's like getting slapped in the mouth with a mop, a tasty mop if one exists. Let the water works begin! So here's the problem with bigger cities, too many people. There's a line and I have to wait, damn it! I'm in line behind this nice looking couple and their kid. Obviously my leathers are failing me because I do not look intimidating at all! The lady starts talking to me about her dad as we wait for our donuts. She asked about my bike and told me her dad rides as well. He, however, can afford a Gold wing. She was telling me that he is retired now and rides a lot and is always smiling as a result. He may have bugs in his teeth, but he's all smiles now! The husband is pretty quiet so maybe my leathers are working after all! LOL. We are still waiting in line when this cute young girl walks up to us with a tray of fresh donuts and offers us one. I think the tray of donuts made her look extra cute! Not being known for passing up a free doughnut, I took it. After all, that's what I'm here for! This doughnut is so fresh, it is still warm and man is it amazing. I said I would have one doughnut but since the first one was free, it doesn't count! I get a chocolate doughnut as "MY" doughnut. It's good but it doesn't hold a candle to the fresh doughnut. I've had Krispy Kreme donuts before but never a fresh one. What a difference! I'm glad I stopped for a doughnut and especially at this place. Other than the free doughnut, they keep you entertained while you wait in line. The cooking area is walled off by glass so you can see everything going on. The whole process is automated except for the sorter. The line just goes through cooking the donuts, glazing them and getting them to the boxing area. The only worker, the sorter sits there and stares at the donuts. He is reaching in and pulling out the imperfect donuts and chucking them. He seems a bit too picky to me because he is pulling out a bunch! I can't believe he is tossing donuts just because they are less than perfect looking! Jerk! Oh well, enjoyed my donuts and In and Out must be open by now.
Back to In and Out and the donuts have made me hungrier. There are funny folks working here and pretty chatty. As a matter of fact, the people throughout this ride have been really nice to talk to. This is not at all what I expected. When I do a road trip by car, I hardly speak to anybody but on the bike, everybody talks to you. So, I seriously consider getting my favorite, the double double, but I think it best to stay awake while riding because that burger would put me in a coma! I opt for a single and enjoy every bit of it. I even decide to replace my old In and Out shirt from California with one from Utah. I get to talking to one of the workers who says that he still rides but at his age he finds that he is riding from restroom to restroom more than anything else. We talk about the miles I have covered and he dubs me Sir Iron Butt! I sat for a while and let the old burger sink into the recesses of my gut before heading out again.
I make it into Snowville, UT again by the skin of my teeth, on fumes. About this point, I'm thinking further proof that I did the right thing by bringing emergency gas. This town is perfectly situated because this is the exact place I barely made it to on my way down. The line for gas is still long but I wait and take my turn. I can't help but wonder why the gas station next to the one I am in is shut down. There's enough business at this one that you would be able to run both!
The miles are flying because I have made it to Idaho already. I get near Malta, ID when I just have to stop and laugh. I have already passed several bunches of these road marker cones when I start thinking of them as small herds because they are all bunched in little groups like you would imagine animals do during the cold night. Now, I would normally say, there is a lot of construction to have these many road cones out but I can't find anybody working anywhere!
You have got to love Idaho and their spuds. Finally, some green terrain to see. With all the dried out vegetation, I was feeling home sick for some green plants. Since I live in a rain forest, everything gets to be green. Green because it is growing or because of the moss but green nonetheless. So, I see the sign for Bliss, ID and I start thinking "I bet this is a pretty town, what with a name like Bliss and all". Yet again, I am proven wrong! Not a whole lot to see in Bliss, a couple old building and a gas station, that's about it.
I make it to the Oregon border and I start trying to brace myself for the dead countryside I saw on my way south. I try to remind myself that this is a different route then I took on the way down, so be optimistic. Well, we are off to a decent start because at least the rest stop I pulled into is green and pretty. Since I have left Idaho, I am sure my friend Pat in Boise can breathe free knowing I won't be knocking on his door and asking if I can pitch my tent in his back yard! The rest stop here is interesting and I opt to walk around a bit and enjoy the greenery. I find this patch of mushroom in one spot and only one spot. They are so bunched together that they are growing on top of each other. For some reason, the picture of them didn't turn out. I also find that behind the rest stop is a field with cows. They seem pretty curious and get pretty close to the fence. As I walk around, they are checking me out. As soon as I pull out my camera to take their picture, they scatter. This happens more than once so it's obvious to me, they are camera shy and don't want their picture taken, so I leave.
I've been riding for quite a while now and decide I am not riding in the dark. From the looks of my map, I should make Seattle tomorrow so I can afford to stop for the rest of the night. Besides, I don't like riding at night. It introduces a new element of danger. I make it into Pendleton, OR and this, at first, looks like a hopping town because of all the lights. Awful quiet for a hopping town though. So, I guess its confession time again! I am tired and when you are tired, you don't think far enough ahead. I figure I better pull into a parking lot and see what hotels are available in town. Here comes the not thinking ahead part. Never ever, and I mean never, stop on loose gravel on a hill and especially not sideways. I did and it did not end up pretty. My foot starts slipping and this 800-pound machine starts shifting to the right. The more it shifts, the more my foot slips. At this point, I must look like a guy trying to swim with only one foot. I reach the tilt of no return when injury gets added to insult and the bike flicks me off like a booger. I abandon ship and go flying down the little hill in the gravel. Thank God for leathers because as embarrassing as this was, I didn't even get a scratch. Luckily, a guy walking by sees me and comes running over. He helps me get the bike back up and I can't wait to get to flat ground and away from anybody who just saw that! A small dent on the tank is my punishment for not thinking ahead this time. I have never felt so happy not to know people somewhere because these people who saw me getting bucked off a falling bike can never put a name to the flopping guy I was!
My hotel app points me to the Travelers' Inn with free Wi-Fi. Their sign declaring "Let 'Er Buck" brings to mind a joke but I’m going to keep it clean since I want this to be something to save for my kids to reread some day! The lady at the counter signs me in and tells me she is experienced in renting rooms to bikers. About now, the hair on the back of my neck goes up in anticipation of hearing what scum bags we bike riders are. Surprisingly, her rules were not bad. She said she has learned that rooms rented to bikers must always be in a well-lit area, the biker must be able to park their bike directly outside their door, and the bike must always be visible to the biker and to people running the hotel. Her trainer was an old biker, she says. It got dark on me really quick, almost like someone turning the lights off because I am riding and suddenly wham its dark. The room is nice and clean, nothing fancy. I got to talking to the lady at the counter before I got to my room and she says I did the right thing stopping when I did. There's lots of deer in the area and they get hit by cars on a regular basis. She hit one herself and totaled her car while moving here. Deer and motorcycles make for a bad combination with no winner in sight so I am glad I stopped. When it got to the point where I had to ride with my tinted visor open to see, I knew it was time to stop! I was tired and in no mood to go hunt down some dinner so I do the next best thing and walk over to the store nearby. This has got to be the worst idea of dinner ever! Chips, Gatorade, and bottled water! Oh well, I'm hungry and just need a quick bite. My end of day miles for today is a new record of 725.9 miles!
Following is some detail on the pictures:
Pic 1 - Adios Wellington, UT: Adios Wellington, UT! A bit of beautiful scenery to get the morning off to a good start!
Pic 2 - Movie Time: Just had to get a shot of the Price, UT theater. I haven't seen a working theater of this age in a long time.
Pic 3 - More Movie Time: Holy crap! A second old theater in working order; a block from the first one. Price, UT, you surprise me!
Pic 4 - Onward: Ride on! The canyon lies ahead. Helper, UT is in sight.
Pic 5 -Steam: WOW! This morning is off to a good start! This seems to be some power plant outside of Helper, UT.
Pic 6 - Just a hole: The terrain around here is pretty barren.
Pic 7 - Falling Rocks: Really gotta watch for falling rocks in this area. For a place called Helper, this is not!
Pic 8 - Coal Fired: I guess this explains all the steam from the power plant back there. Helper, UT is powered by coal!
Pic 9 - In and Out: I finally arrive at the promised land and they don't open till 10:30? What's the matter with this world? Well, quick run to Krispy Kreme should fix that! The promised land in this case being in Orem, UT.
Pic 10 - Krispy Kreme: Oh, what's one donut gonna hurt? It is brunch time!
Pic 11 - Free Doughnut: Hey they gave me one! Eat your heart out folks! The plain donut was right off the line and still warm. The choc donut was mediocre but the fresh plain one was awesome!
Pic 12 - Nice Folks: Nice folks I met at Krispy Kreme. The woman was quick to start up a conversation curious of what I rode. She said her dad rides a Goldwing and he is all smiles now. Bugs in teeth and all!
Pic 13 - Making Donuts: The end of the production line where they hand you a sample just for being in line.
Pic 14 - Glazing Donuts: The glazier awaits!
Pic 15 - You'll Flip: This is the fryer where the thing in the middle flips them over.
Pic 16 - The Replacement Shirt: Back to the promised land of In And Out. I even got a t-shirt to replace my California one! Talked to a couple of bikers on way out. They dubbed me Sir Iron Butt for traveling so far on a bike. The older guy says he rides from restroom to restroom!
Pic 17 - Lunch: Yum yum. Just because it says Double-Double doesn't mean it is. I got a cheeseburger (single) just to satisfy the urge. Anymore and it becomes nap time.
Pic 18 - Gas Up: Not at all what you want to see as you run out of gas! Just kidding, the new gas station is next door. This is the same place I barely made it to on my way down! Location, location, location. in Snowville, UT, there ain't much of a location!
Pic 19 - Hola Idaho: Howdy Idaho! Here's to crossing most of Idaho in one day on this route.
Pic 20 - A Herd of Cones: Just like penguins, this Idaho species gathers in groups to stay warm at night! Saw several of these bunches along the road. They must do a lot of road work around Malta, ID.
Pic 21 - Potatoes: The potato farms of Eden, Idaho.
Pic 22 - Bliss: The potato farms of Eden, Idaho.
Pic 23 - Hola Oregon: Hello Ontario, Oregon and goodbye Idaho! You lucked out Pat, I didn't call and ask if I could camp in your backyard! Headed for a record travel day!
Pic 24 - Photo Op: Ok I felt obligated to get at least one pic of eastern Oregon. So here it is. At least they keep really nice rest areas! The background will give you an idea of what the rest of the ride looked like. Had to go all the way to Haines, OR to find a photo op!
Pic 25 - Night Rider: Downtown Pendleton, OR. It's a hopping place but awful quiet.
Pic 26 - The Tumble: OK time to get to the shameful part. I pulled into a parking lot to check for hotels. It was dark and my foot couldn't get traction on the loose dirt and over I went! Damage is minor and easily fixed. Lucky a guy walking by helped me right the bike.
Pic 27 - Time for Well Deserved Rest: So this is home for the night. Friendly lady who was funny about rules for renting to bikers. Always in a lit area, bike must be outside the door, and bike must be visible. She was trained by a biker.
Pic 28 - Bedtime: Not much to look at but it's clean. It got dark on me quick. Lady here said good thing I got off the road because deer hit all the time at night. She hit one herself and totaled her van. Had to ride with visor open last few miles because visor is tinted.
Pic 29 - Dinner: Hey, I know this doesn't qualify as dinner but when you are hungry and there ain't much around....
Pic 30 - End of Day Miles: Ta-da! A record travel day. This means I should make the barge easy tomorrow which brings the ride to an end. I will have to do a wrap up when my bike and stuff arrives in Ketchikan.
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