We have departed on yet another adventure on our motorcycle! This time we are heading all the way to Maine. After working so hard around our house painting, repairing, dump runs, pulling weeds, building and installing stairs, and much more, we accomplished almost everything in order to make this trip happen.

On Friday, August 25, we left our place at 11:15 A.M. Hugs were given, goodbyes were said, Mom worried a little bit more, Dad said a prayer for us, I gave Scooter two more hugs and we were off!

Our destination for Friday was Boise, ID. We have some friends who live in Boise so RJ texted them to see if we could meet up and say hi.  They invited us to spend the night and feed us supper to which we just couldn’t say no to.

The ride to Boise was fairly uneventful.  We stopped here and there for gas and to eat our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches I made before we left home. We traveled up the eastern side of CA into OR to avoid the interstate/traffic of CA and avoid Nevada entirely.

RJ resting in the middle of nowhere.

Several hours into our journey, we made a stop in Burnes, OR where, while enjoying a sandwich at a gas station in Oregon, a college age looking dude pulled up in his little beat up car. Normally such an event isn’t worth mentioning, but as the guy goes into the store, out of nowhere, a college age looking girl gets out of the car.  The girl starts pulling stuff out of the back seat- a huge picnic basket, blankets, pool floaties, clothes, etc.  The guy shows back up and suddenly another guy appears from the car!  The guys both stand around talking and all the while, the girl is *still* pulling things from the back seat!  They literally fit an entire studio apartment in the backseat of this guys tiny honda! We finished our pb&j’s, gear up and pull out of the gas station as the guys start doing yoga in the parking lot while the girl is still piling things on the ground. We never did find out what the girl was looking for or if the guys completed their yoga session.

The air was hazy from the time we left home to Boise due to fires burning in Idaho and Montana. But that didn’t ruin the beauty that was all around us.

We pulled into the Hatfield’s around 10PM. Paul grilled some chicken while Angela made us an amazing supper.  We played a game of Phase 10 Twist with Angela and the girls before heading to bed after midnight. We were tired after a long day of riding (575 miles) and our butts were a bit sore since we were unconditioned for the long days of riding.

The next morning, we woke up to probably the best breakfast burritos ever and some fruit. We talked with the Hatfields about the plans for the trip, and they gave us awesome suggestions on how to find killer deals at Mickey D’s and Subway *and* gave us the insiders tip on which roads to take to Montana.

Thank you, Hatfield’s for the great food, games, and letting us crash at your place!

After packing up and saying our goodbyes we headed over to the capitol.  It was a beautiful, cool morning; the farmer’s market was bustling next to the capitol and a group was doing their morning workout on the capitol steps.

We walked inside to a sea of white marble. To be honest, it’s partly faux marble, called scagliola. Scagliola is used in many state houses as it is cheaper. It’s a laborious 15-step process.

Our first stop was downstairs to the gift shop for our mug and stamp.  But, alas, someone had up and died so the gift shop was closed for the next three days. Disappointed, we continued our tour as RJ tried to convince me that our lives weren’t ruined because we couldn’t get the stamp, but I couldn’t quite see the point he was making.

The building was grand, with a star painted dome.  We checked out the deserted Senate and House of Reps chambers before we left in search of an Idaho coffee mug.

We found a local store down town but they were much too expensive. RJ has a rule that I can get any mug as long as price before tax is less than or equal $15. $15.01 is too much… So we ended up finding a decent mug at the grocery store instead.

FAST FACTS about Idaho:

• Although Idaho is known for potatoes, its nickname is the Gem State. Over 72 different gemstones have been found there.
• The statehouse in Boise is geothermally heated from underground hot springs.
• Hell’s Canyon is the deepest river gorge in North America at 7,993 feet. In comparison, the Grand Canyon is around 6,000 feet deep.
• The state has over 3,100 miles of rivers and creeks, more than any other state.

After topping off the gas tank, we rode north-east through the Saw Tooth Mountains. We fell in love with Idaho.  The drive through the state to Montana was gorgeous.  We rode next to the Boise River and Salmon River the entire drive. The roads were probably some of the best roads in regards to riding. It felt very much like some of the great rides we have at home, but this lasted literally from when we left Boise till the state of Montana.

While taking a little break to get fuel, we were eating a pb&j when the guy in front of us at the gas pump pulled out of the gas station with the gas pump still in his truck.  He doesn’t get too far when the pump handle rips out of his truck and thuds to the ground.  He stops, gets out, picks up the gas handle, inspects it like– huh, guess I forgot to put the gas handle away– walks over, put it in its slot and drives away like nothing ever happened.

We made a few extra stops than we normally would since we had pushed it so hard the first day.  Stretching and walking around helped our tired and aching bodies.

We reached Deer Lodge, Montana about 6:30 that evening. We checked into our KOA, set up camp and went to find something to eat.

The place we yelped was closed down so instead we drove down the street to try out a little ice cream shack we saw on the way into town, The Prison Cow.  There was a prison right inside the town that had been turned into a museum that they were all very proud of it apparently, because everything was named after the prison.

The guy working in the little shack looked like he was loving his job. He was just sitting there on his phone and listening to Taylor Swift through the little radio. He was a lanky dude wearing a cap with the Prison Cow logo on it. The place was a little more run down on the inside than it looked from the outside and the food didn’t look as promising as we thought it was going to be.

We ended up with some stank nachos and mediocre ice cream.  I guess that’s what happens when you go to a place with a name like Prison Cow.

If I had bothered to look behind the counter before we ordered the nachos, I would have said no way! 😐

FYI: nachos and ice-cream do not go well together.

We thought we better eat more than just ice cream and nachos for supps so we asked the ice cream guy if there were any good restaurants around.  He recommended a good burger place down the road.  He must not leave town much because the food was “ok” at best.

With somewhat satisfied bellies, we drove back to our campsite to get some sleep for another long day ahead of us.

Cheers!

     em and rj