Day 7 – Idaho Falls ID to Provo UT – 452 miles

Pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/brandonjhuff/CanadaSeptember11

By the numbers:
1/2 – of a propeller arm that was as long as a semi
2 – Mormon churches on every block
84 – construction zones

The annoying hotel alarm came way too early but we were mostly ready to go and got packed quickly. We haul our gear down in the standard luggage cart as I walk past the coffee to our bikes – I’ll get plenty of that in a minute once I load the bike up. I’m greeted by the sound of the Idaho Falls as we load up and I can’t help but walk over and snap a few pics. It’s pretty even if it seems a little man-made since it’s right in the middle of town and the area surrounding it is set up for tourism.

I head back to the lobby to grab some coffee only to see the concierge take the pot away. It’ll be another 10+ minutes and I decide that I can just wait until our first stop in a couple hours. So, we hit the road at 7:15am hoping to make the most of our early start. As we get going over a few rolling passes and vast farm land, we’re stopped or slowed multiple times by road construction.

I want to rename this trip the “North American Road Contruction Tour – 2009.” My radio announcer would say, “Hurry – traffic is being slowed now!” or something like that. We’ve hit construction in every state including Canada. I suppose it has to do with the harsh winters a California boy like me just wouldn’t understand. It just sucks…and adds another element of danger to our daily rides.

We roll into Soda Springs ID for gas and some much needed breakfast. I ask the cute girl at the gas stop where we should go and she suggests the “old hotel” at the end of the road. Sounds creepy. We pull up to a row of old buildings with a few cars out front and walk in to a very cute little café and hotel. We get our coffees (and fancy creamers – I love ‘em) and breakfast and I go check the place out. It’s almost a century old but has been redone over the last few years with brand new wood, floors, and fixtures yet it still retains the old furniture, dead animals on the walls (a moose!), and a quaint feel. It’s pretty cool. We hit up the local drug store down the street for a few necessities and hit the road to Montpellier.
The time flies as we come to, and quickly pass, Montpellier. Didn’t seem like there was much to see there so we head south towards Bear Lake and boy were we in for a treat. The lake is a stunning shade of bright turquoise that I haven’t seen before. It was different that the gorgeous water color in Canada yet reminded me of a couple lakes in Montana. We follow the banks of the lake and make it to the pass that takes us to Logan UT. But not before taking us up to 7800 feet with great views of the lake. Awesome.

We arrive in Logan and gas up and take a needed break since the temperature jumped about 20 degrees once we got to the Salt Lake basin. We grab Gatorades, some jerky, and change out of our cold gear and start the 100 mile trek down towards Provo. It looks so small but it took a lot of time. Especially on a Friday. At the beginning of rush hour traffic. Uggh. No lane splitting here but at least the HOV lane allows motorcycles so we’re not just sitting in 90 degree heat.

Any squiggly line on a map is intriguing. So, we take a detour to Uinta National forest. We told the guard we were just passing through so he didn’t charge us. Cool. The road is twisty and great but the 25mpg seems significantly stifling but we play along until the road goes up. And up. And up. As we pick the speed up the bit the road gets very twisty. So twisty that we can barely do 25 mph. And that’s pushing it with each car running right down the middle of the narrow road. We avoid any catastrophe and make it to the summit over 8300 feet. The temperature if about 20 degrees cooler and I love it. As we come down the backside the scenery changes and it’s like we’re on another continent – really cool.

The road into Spanish Fork is fast and fun and we stop for gar to call Dan’s step-brother and head over to his house. It’s a new place with a huge detached garage in the back and we roll up to see 3 covered cars. Of course, we ask about them and he takes the covers off to reveal three awesome Dodge Chargers that have been completely restored and made to stock. One is purple and the other (his wifes) is pink. Both were factory colors and they really stand out. The cars are in great shape.

Dan’s step brothers come over to say “Hi” and we talk shop, have a few beers (limited to 5.5% alcohol – boo!), and relax a bit. Our hunger pangs and watches tell us it’s time to go so we head to Dan’s uncles for the night to crash and get some much needed sleep. We decide to take the tomorrow off and get some bike maintenance done before another 3000 miles home. My ass needs a rest anyway ;-)

Day 8 – rest day in Provo UT
We finally get a little sleep and wake up on time. Or so I thought. I forgot about the time difference in the central time zone and got us up an hour later than anticipated. Ooops. We head out the door to the BMW dealer for an oil change (just $40 + oil) and a new rear tire for Dan. We hang out at the shop checking out the new bikes, updating our routes, and flirting with the blonde who shouldn’t be working there. Everything was a bother for her and she didn’t know her ass from a BMW. I guess being blonde works for her.

The service manager was great and knew all about my clutch problem. Described what to do to fix it if it happens again and what to tell the mechanics if they don’t know what to do (note for Brandon – PUMA). He gets our services started and asks if we want our bikes washed. I laugh, thinking he’s being a smart ass and ask him if he is, indeed, a smart ass. He laughs and says, “No – we’ll actually wash your bikes”. I decline, proud of my Canada, Glacier, and Yellowstone grime. But my sense of cleanliness overcomes me and I accept. It takes over 2 hours for the dealer gopher boy to come back from running errands to wash our bikes and we use the time to determine our next few days routes with the parts manager who knows the area well. Cool. We get a few recommendations, map it, and lock it down.

Dan takes off to hang out with his family and I head to a movie. I show up about 30 min before District 9 (great movie BTW) and wander the mall looking for a new hat to cover my impressive helmet hair. I happen to wander past a haircut joint and smile at the cute girl inside. She smiles back so I wander in and ask if she can clean up my neck line. Score one for the metrosexual.

I catch the movie and call Dan after and head back to his step-brothers house for a few beers to wait for his parents to show up. When they do, we head to Chilis for a quick dinner and head back to his uncles to crash and get ready for our ride the next day. Unfortunately, we can’t seem to figure out how to get back there! He had entered the address in my GPS the day before but used written directions to get us there. I offer to get us to the address in the GPS…but it’s completely wrong. The street naming in the Salt Lake region is retarded and hard for any GPS to figure out.

So, we all pull over so Dan can check his directions…and his registration and insurance paperwork fly away in the strong winds up in the hills. Doh! We spend a good 20 minutes searching the hillside without luck and finally follow his Dad to his uncles house. It’s 11:30 and we show up so it’s a little late to do some much needed laundry. That’s not good. So, I hand wash my Under Armor, do some packing, and call it a night. 6am will come WAY too soon…