Day 17. Brownlee Campground to
Idaho Falls, Idaho
   Miles today = 370
Total miles = 4190		  
     
   
   
     
     
 
Well, on the plus side my motorbike and helmet are much cleaner than they were earlier today with the insect impact zones. On the minus side my boots are completely soaked and my hands have a semi permanent curl to them. Obviously that rain I thought I was ahead of I actually rode straight into. And of course where there is rain there is road construction, this time in Craters of the Moon Park in Idaho. Craters of the Moon looks like miles upon miles of dumped blacktop after road construction. I was hoping more for craters and moon men and maybe just maybe Marvin the Martian.
I do have to say that I thought Boise was kind to me. I got decent directions from the gas station to the local coffee/internet cafe that was kiddy corner to the Starbucks I was initially looking for and never did see until I was leaving. But, given the opportunity I would be a lifetime customer of the one I found. Of course I can't remember the name but the hair on the new employee trainee sure caught my eye and overall everyone was nice. Plus, free Internet and electricity goes a long way in my book after the Starbucks in Bend. Now don’t get the idea that I make a habit of Starbucks. For the trip it is an easy place to find and just about guarantees access to Internet.
I also seem to have started a trend of doing things I told myself I wouldn't. I actually got on the interstate into Boise then on it to Mountain Home. Then I might as well have spilled my guts all over the off ramp because I then went into the biggest Wal-Mart I could ever have imagined, hell I know, I don't ever go to Wal-Mart but like I said...and lo and behold I got stuck in the express lane behind a guy who had to ring up his purchases as two and the last he had to write a check. Who uses a check in a store now days? But this Wal-Mart was so huge and it was in the middle of the afternoon. I would have thought I was at the Mall of America with the amount of people in there. Oh, and the hunting section was probably half the size of the grocery section and that itself was huge. So of course it took me forever to find batteries, which for some reason they don't put in the electronics section and in Kmart tradition they had about 4 checkout lanes available even though the store looked to employ about half the population of Mountain Home. Kinda makes Wal-Mart a self-sufficient retailer. Pays its employees to buy their stuff, which means that have to keep coming to work.
I was then off the interstate and into the hills and soon to be into the rain as well. It got to a point pretty quickly that I knew I was beyond stopping anywhere but a motel in Idaho Falls. Which essentially meant that I was going to be riding two hours in rain that varied from showers to out and out downpour and as I got closer a cross wind too. Which also got me thinking about another thing I wasn't going to do, and that was about using a U-haul to get me home. Thinking that if I had to stay at motels all the way 		 

home to dry out each night and relax my seeming permanent clenched jaw, I might as well see what my options were.
Here in Idaho Falls I broke another rule by eating fast food on the trip. Granted it wasn’t like I had made a plan to eat anything other than what I made myself but I didn’t want to fall back on burgers and fries. It’s only half bad because I went to Jack in the Box, which I had never ate at before and really only know of by the e coli thing, I don't know how many years ago. Just goes to show what a finger in somebody’s chili can do for business. But, lo and behold, it wasn’t any different than any other fast food place, though the cashier was up for a spot of humorous banter even though I was a bit slow on the uptake and even slower trying to get my wallet out of my coat and open my wallet with my frozen hands.
At this point a U-haul is over $500—not quite cheap enough for me to jump to at this point. I’ve got some exploring to do so we shall see in the morning. I have to see how far it is to Cheyenne and what the weather is like over there. It now looks like I'll be hitting rain all the way back to Minnesota but if I can keep my boots dry and my hands warm I may be okay. Which would probably mean getting some garbage bags and the handyman’s secret weapon, duct tape, and rolling everything and myself up in them so I stay dry. Some hand warmers for inside my gloves would be pretty nice too.
The highway itself wasn't as bad as I expected and once I relaxed with the wet surface things were fine as long as I didn't ride in the troughs formed by water collecting in the depressions formed by the heavy trucks on the roadway. Plus, the worst of it will be tomorrow going up into Jackson Hole. Past that and it looks like it should be somewhat warmer.
But what the hell huh? I was looking for adventure and I certainly found it. I’ve got my tunes, though of course I dropped my minidisc player again way back in Oregon so it’s back to its old tricks. My body is warm enough with my rain suit on adding to the insulation. I've had a hot hot shower and with my super huge Jack in the Box cup I made myself a mega whiskey and coke. So now my achy breaky body is ready for some sleep, which shouldn’t be hard to do at this point given that my room is about 90 degrees trying to get everything to dry out. It really isn't that bad really. The BMW hard bags seem to still be water tight even though they seem to be bulging at the seams and my large duffle bag really doesn't have anything important in it now that I'm not camping out. I've got the ground turkey I bought in Mountain Home outside on my motorbike keeping cool in the rainy night air. Should I write about the ground beef in Oregon?
But it’s time to sign off and do some more logistics on the route and my transportation.

Route: Highway 71, south to I-84, to Highway 20, east to Idaho Falls.
 
 
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