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Published: August 11th 2009
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Leaving
Three intrepid bikers Well here we are again in North Bend. It is a very long story in how we got to this point.
Needless to say a cunning plan was hatched to ride with two buddies from Washington state to the Sturgis bike rally.
A bike was hired, a Harley road king classic, which is, in my humble opinion, horrid. More on my opinion of it after the ride there later.
The basic idea was to ride from North Bend to Three Forks in Montana, 630 miles, on day one then the remander on day two, 520 miles.
Now to me a Harley makes absolutely no sense, this is certainly true in the UK, but in the USA it makes perfect sense.
Now I have never riden 630 miles on a bike in my life before so it was with a little trepidation that we set off to fanfare from the neighbours, which we were not expecting.
So we leave North Bend on the I90. Straight over the Snoqualmie pass.
We had gone about 90 miles only to be pulled over by a very nice state trooper for speeding. ooops!! He asked if we were going to Sturgis and wanted to see our
Columbia River
The only escape from the heat licence and registration. I showed him my international driving licence, which I assume from the comment that he had never seen one before. He just asked if I had motorcycle entitlement, which of course I have, but didn't even look at it to check!! We slowed down after that.
The only escape from the heat that we had was going over the Columbia river.
We had, very sensibly, dressed in full leathers. The previous week had been in the high 30's °c. So going across the border from Washington to Idaho it was 43 °C according to scots watch which was on the handlebars behind the fairing. We all felt like boil in the bag chicken.
The helmet laws in all the states that we visited, except Washington, are that you don't have to wear one if you don't want to. So as soon as we got to the first rest area in Idaho Wolf pulled over and removed his.
The landscape in the second half of Idaho is very similar to that around North Bend. It is mountainous and covered in spruce like trees.
At this point, just after Coeur D'Alene, the road becomes a lot more twisty
Wolf
A righteous dude without a helmet in Idaho as it goes up in to the mountains.
This is where the Harley struggled a bit due to all the over banding and cracks in the road. It started to weave a bit. Needless to say Wolf and I, the more experienced riders, disappeared in to the distance enjoying the bends. There was also loads of roadworks from here and through most of the rest of Montana. The twisty mountain roads continue for the first twenty or so miles in to Montana.
Up to this point we had seen signs for deers crossing but not seen any. When you get in to the second half of Idaho you start to see strange markings on the roads with streaks and stuff. It is not until you see the first splatted deer on the side of the road that the streaks and stuff make sense as to what they are. The other thing that sort of gives it away is the smell of death before you see the enormous mess that is left after a vehicle has hit a deer. I dread to think of the mess it would make of me if I hit one of them on a bike!!!
The
Next Leg through Montana was awsome. Not the "that burger was awsome" but truely in awe of gods creation awsome.
It is two lanes then 30 odd feet of grass then another two lanes and then nothing for as far as the eye can see. You pass the largest combine harvesters with absolutely huge trucks following catching the grain and they are absolutely dwarved by the rest of the landscape, it gives the impression of boys playing with tonka toys.
I have twice in my entire life seen little twisters that swirl up the dust and look like little tornado's. Well I saw three in the space of a mile.
As dusk approached the bugs came out in force and 10 minutes after having cleaned the screen I couldn't see through it. When we stopped in Butte for fuel, Wolf was picking bugs out of his teeth and beard and........... I wasn't quick enough to take a photo but believe me he looked like he had put honey on his face then stuck it in a bucket of insects.
By the end of the first day we arrived in Three Forks at nearly midnight and found a hotel to stay in. Unfortunately it had only got two beds. I agreed to sleep on the floor if the other two paid for the room.
Right then now my opinion of Harley's had changed beyond belief. At the start of the day, as I said earlier, I don't like Harleys. I had ridden 630 miles and hadn't got a sore bum or sore anything for that matter. I bought some ear plugs at our first gas stop so that I didn't have to listen to the cacophany of mechanical carnage going on underneath me. The idea of cruise control on a bike seemed a bit odd when I first picked up the bike, but after a day on the road it seemed like the best thing since sliced bread.
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claire
non-member comment
wow!!
Sounds like a blast! xx