4. First days
I am on my way, finally. Very late to do any serious riding today. My head is till spinning trying to figure out what did I forget. It didn’t take long 🙄. 20km south of the town I’ve realized that my shorts are in the car in the container. But I am not going back, I’ll figure something out. It was my favourite pair, though. Darn. Anyway, nice to depart, sunny and warm. I’ve decided to make it a short day and stopped for a visit at my friends just south of the border. Border crossing was a breeze, nobody there. The agent there wanted to chat when I told him my destination is Argentina but I had to cut him short, I was late. Visiting my friends is always a treat and this time it was no exception. Room and board and they even listened to my sobbing stories. And we even figured out how to get my shorts. We had to order a new pair on Amazon and sent to a pick up box in Boise,ID where I planned to be in 2 days. This “box” service is common in EU but none of us knew we can do it in North America. Not we have to hope they are not late.
Hug & kisses in the morning and I am truly on my way. The first day of many. I’ve decided to ride fast through the US as it is on my backyard and I can come here anytime. So, not much sightseeing. That also means I’ll be riding mostly on Interstate Highways. They are very good for covering long distances but mostly very boring. The Day 1 was not so bad as I had to cross some mountain passes and there was lots of forest around. It was getting progressively hot, though. I started to look for a hotel at Yakima, WA. But I didn’t have the safest feeling seeing individuals loitering around hotels there so I kept riding to Sunnyside, WA. Nothing to write home about kinda town. Found a hotel and parked it for the night. 450km was the day’s tally.
I started Day 3 early as I was expecting to be another hot one. And I wasn’t wrong, unfortunately. The whole day was totally uninspiring and progressively hotter. It got up to 37˚C. Pretty warm. I was still trying to figure out if I forgot anything. But more and more I was realizing that I packed way too much stuff. I will need to reevaluate what need vs what I want. The speed limit is getting higher in Oregon and Idaho. In ID it is 80mph but nobody drives the speed limit. I was the slowest vehicle on the road and I was doing 120km/h. Even big trucks were passing me like I was standing still. No police in sight anywhere. It was getting really hot in the afternoon but the problem is that check-in time in all hotels is at 1500 earliest. And I was not about to go camping in that heat! I finally found a place in small town Ontario in Oregon.
Day 4. I got up early as wanted to beat the heat again. I stopped at Boise to pick up my shorts from the delivery box which was located at the gas station. Worked as advertised. Pretty cool. I am set now. Boise is normally a big traffic jam but it was a weekend, so I breezed through the middle of the city without any issues. I didn’t know how far I would ride today. Choices were Wendover, UT which was pretty fast or Idaho Falls, ID which was too close. I’ll decide on the fly. Boring ride, again. But just before Idaho Falls there is a deep gorge called Malad Gorge State Park. I turned off the highway for a visit. Pretty cool! Very deep canyon. And even now with all the droughts we are having there is still a fast moving river. I can imagine how it looks like after some serious rainfall. It was getting seriously hot, but I took few nice pics there. Off I go to Idaho Falls. There is another gorge I’ve been across many times but there are also nice waterfalls called Shoshone Falls, I have never seen before. As it was a weekend, there was a line up of cars with the same idea. They charge me the same entry fee as for the cars. Rip off … It was easy to find a parking for a bike. The falls were impressive but again, it must be spectacular with more water through it. The pictures don’t give the justice to the scale of the falls. They are some kayakers on some of the pics for comparison. And tourists everywhere …
Time to continue. There is only one town in the last 270 km where I can stay. Off I go. It was still too early to stay in the next town so I continued. This time it was only 2 lane highway. But OMG, it was busy with trucks. Very windy and very hot. Up to 38˚C and got up to altitude of 2,100m. I did everything possible to cool down. I filled my camel back at Idaho Falls with ice and 2 liters of water. I ended up drink it all in just over 2 hours. I was boiling. But, I made it to Wendover, Utah. 610 km day. I was DONE. Checked in a motel and went for a dinner. It was still 35˚C at 2200!
I’ve decided to stay put for one day. I have a decent internet and few things to take care about. I went grocery shopping at 8 in the morning and it was already 34˚ … Madness. Wendover is an interesting town. It is actually 2 towns divided right in the middle by the state line. One is West Wendover, NV and the other is Wendover, UT. Nevada side has nice roads, casinos, concert halls and restaurants. On the Utah side, there NOTHING. Few motels and a gas station. That’s it. And an airfield. It used to be a big training US army and air force base during the WW2. Many heavy bomber crew were trained here among them the crew of Enola Gay, the aircraft that dropped the first atom bomb on Hiroshima. There is a museum so I naturally wanted to see it. Rode down to the airfield but the museum was closed! on Sunday! What a shame. Oh well, back to my air conditioned room finished few items on my list. I am starting to compile a list if things I will leave behind. What and where, to be still determined.
It was a good rest day today and I even managed to update my website. I want to get up before sunrise tomorrow to take some pictures of Bonneville Speedway which is few km east of town. The plan is to ride after that via Salt Lake city to a small town of Price, UT.
That’s it for today 🤙