Day 9: Pocatello, ID to Boise, ID
I think I’m developing a formula for good days on the bike. Start early enough that it’s still cool (this depends on elevation, climate, etc but is usually before noon and sometimes before 10 am, a problem for this night owl). Note that on the bike anything under 75 is cool. Part two is: the first hour should be on 2 lane roads with a lower speed limit. This might be a limitation of my bike/my riding stamina, but having the first bit be interstate has never been fun. Part four, and this has been hard for me, a ‘can’t stop won’t stop forgot how to stop’ road tripper: stop and see stuff for any reason at all.
Today was one of those days. Amid all the exhaustion and difficulties I’ve seen, it’s still a joy to get up in the morning and go riding all day. I think yesterday was probably over-indexed on Yellowstone stuff, which should probably be its own trip (a week or two would be nice to see it all), and under-indexed on weird roadside stops. Today there were a couple good ones.
FIrst thing I got up and packed the bike, got breakfast and gas, and backtracked about 30 miles. Luckily I didn’t have to go all the way back to Idaho Falls, there was a shortcut that meant I only really repeated a little bit of road. Then I was onto new ground. Highway 29 to highway 20 across Idaho is really great. It starts out running west though these volcanic calderas, improbable mountains dotting a large plain between ranges. Then you pass through the Idaho Nuclear Lab, where there’s a museum that was closed for the season, but had two (I assume decommissioned) experimental reactors outside. There’s also a bunch of threatening signs should you make a wrong turn (actually soon enough to prevent a wrong turn).
Then, once you’re past that, you come to Arco, which was the first town to be powered by the experimental reactors at INL. Also a good place to gas up and chat with other motorcyclists who’re passing through to somewhere else. Met a guy who was driving a new-to-him Indian; it was replacing an identical one that he’d hit a deer on.
Then, about half an hour down the road is Craters of the Moon National Monument. Definitely a drive-by kind of monument, there’s a couple short hikes and some caves, I did a couple of the hikes (really short, like measured in feet not yards or miles). I spent maybe an hour hiking and driving the loop, well worth the time. At first I was just going to drive on by but then I saw the lava fields, with the crazy black rocks, and I turned around and went back.
Finished up there and rode on; the road curved through some foothills and then leveled out into a long mostly straight 80 mile stretch across central Idaho. Big beautiful mountains to the north and off in the distance to the south. Huge fields planted with what I assume were potatoes. I also discovered, because I ran out of foam earplugs, that at least some of my aversion to speed is a noise sensitivity issue. I put in the custom ones, which are a lot better at blocking noise, and sure enough, going 65 or 70 was no big deal.
The long stretch of flat land (valley? plateau? idk) came to an end and then the road twisted through some foothills again. Not super twisty by my (bay area) standards, but big, sweeping curves. I was low on fuel, so I stopped at Mountain Home and forced myself to sit there and drink a coke, to take a break.
Then there was 40 minutes of freeway to get to downtown Boise. The speed limit out here is 80, which is kind of a lot on the bike; the whole thing vibrates, and the rear view mirrors become illegible. So usually I’m in the slow lane doing between 70 and 75, but also trying to avoid being overtaken by semis. The gusty winds today didn’t help. But even with all that, there were nice moments; the sun went behind the clouds and then there were crazy sunbeams off to the south. Really pretty, impossible to get a photo of. I thought about buying a 360 camera, but the thought of one more thing to deal with was really just one too many things.
Got to my hotel, got checked in, went and had a steak dinner that was probably one of the best meals of the trip so far (bonus: baked potato in potatoland). Now I’m waiting on laundry to dry, and then I’ll go back to the room and edit the photos. Tomorrow I’m going to try for Burns, OR maybe. have to see if I can get a room (update: room got). This edition is a little heavier on the photos, I saw a lot and shot more today.
