Dirt Roads over Mountain Passes, Don't mind if I do.

My buddy Mike texted me about the rain that was hitting Ketchum.  Thanks to my non-stop plodding on, I was already a few hours down the road, and that incoming storm was far behind me. Nonetheless, the weather today was steadily cold.  Cold in the valleys and really cold on the tops of those mountains.  The route that was cut out for me on the map, took me on 30 miles of rugged rocky road cut through this mountain pass between Sun Valley and the 93 scenic Idaho byway.  It was slow going and I got a few small spits of rain, but nothing actually really fell to consider it raining.  It was more like rain mist from a cloud that was trying to catch me.  I was staying just in front of that incoming storm.

The sky was a kaleidoscope of grey clouds, and there was the tiniest patch of blue sky trying to peek through the monotony, steadily about 50 miles in front of me, which I just kept riding towards, but never actually caught.  At one point on the ride through that pass, I had to do my business, and I remembered the locals talking about how the bears were out this time of year, gearing up for the winter, and I thought this might be my opportunity to spot a bear, lingering about one of those high mountain streams, or popping out from a bundle of bushes, preferably while I was not indisposed. Unfortunately, the only wildlife I saw on that crossing, was a cow that I played chicken with in the middle of the road.  And a bouquet of pheasants meandering a little further down.  You never saw pheasants scatter faster.

By the time I got to civilization, I hadn't had a thing to eat all morning, and I was jonsing for some breakfast.  So, I stopped at a small wooden cafe in the first town I came to called Challis.  I warmed up with a few cups of piping hot coffee, and my go-to on a day like this: a bowl of chili.  On the road, and over those passes, I kept warming up my hands on the cylinders.  That's pretty much protocol when the finger tips start aching and feeling like pins and needles in the wind chill.  Sometimes you don't have enough time for them to fully feel warm enough before grabbing the throttle again, so getting to just grip that hot cup of coffee for as long as I wanted felt soooo nice.   I chilled there for a nice while until my core and extremities were feeling normal again, and then it was back to the road.

So there I am riding on the 93 that winds up along the Salmon river.  Gorgeous doesn't even begin to describe it.  It's really something to behold.  It's part of the Lewis and Clark trail, and there are little homages to moments in the valleys history along the route.  Both deteriorating and remarkably well preserved cabins tell the tale of settlers who at one point sought refuge and homesteaded along the river.  It's remarkable.   I spied 3 big horned sheep, nestling in the corner grasses on a bank, where a herd of cattle were splattered about, grazing.

Finally, the day wears to a point when you know that the longer you ride, the darker and colder it gets, and that you're gonna pay the same amount for cheap accommodations here, or however many miles further down the road you try to push on.  So why not get in a little early, and enjoy the first cozy town that you can land a sweet warm settlement.  And in my case, sleeping in doors was my only option in this weather.  Well, as soon as I rolled into Darby, Montana, I knew that this was the town.  I have a few hundred miles to put in till tomorrow nights destination, so I wasn't really trying to add that to today.  Right now, I was gonna get my moneys worth out of some local lodging.  Turns out I was lucky with a cozy cabin, this time with heat, and a kitchen.  I offloaded the bike, and took a spin back into town, where I found a badass restaurant that specialized in Pizza; just what I had been craving.  I grabbed some water, and a soda on the way back to my cabin.  And I took a nice long soak under that hot shower.  Now, I'm chilling to Tom Petty on the YouTube, while some cheezy television is on in the background, and I'm jotting down my thoughts for the day while sipping a Jack and Coke.  I'm stoked.

See you on the Road.