2002 — Destination Idaho

This was a year of ever-shrinking numbers of riders. We started out on Saturday morning with five OFMC stud bikers and one hanger-on. The five were John, Ken, Bill, Friggs, and Johnathon. In addition, Bill's buddy Norbert joined us for the first day out.

That first day took us to Saratoga, WY. First, John led us up a different route along city streets and small highways up through Denver's northern suburbs and on to Loveland. Then Ken took over, showing the route that goes west out of Loveland on US 34 and then turns north to Masonville. That road goes up the Buckhorn Canyon a ways and then the Stove Prairie road goes over and down into the Poudre Canyon. Up the Poudre, over Cameron Pass, down into North Park and Walden, and then north to Saratoga. Of course we hit the hot springs while there.

This first picture is from a rest stop on the way to Saratoga.

Norbert headed home the next morning while the rest of us made our way northwest across Wyoming to Dubois. You know, that place named for Michael Jackson's penchant: do boys.

From there we headed up to the south entrance to Yellowstone, on past, and down in front of the face of the Teton Range to Jackson. Then we crossed Teton Pass and headed on down to Victor, ID. From Victor the road went north to Ashton, our destination. Stayed in some nice cabins there.

Here we are gracing the view of the Tetons with our presence.

The following morning we jumped on the bikes and scooted out to a golf course where we had plans to spank whitey a bit. This was a course hewn out of a forest so the fairways were narrow and unforgiving. The rough ate an enormous number of our balls; there was no hope of finding anything that went that way. We actually found a lot of other peoples' lost balls, however, and probably ended up with as many as we started with.

Then it was time for Friggs to straddle that Virago and blast off for home. He had a job interview set for two days later, which meant he rode long and hard for two days just to get home for an interview for a job that was not offered. The rest of us stayed a second day in Ashton.

Leaving Ashton, we headed southwest, passed through Arco without ringing any bells, and then turned north to hit the Sawtooth National Recreation Area. Along the way we stopped at a shade spot and relaxed on the grass—until the crash of Johnathon's Virago told us the sandy ground was too soft to support a motorcycle on a side stand. Oh well, it was soft ground, so no harm done.

Spent the night at Stanley. This area is high, alpine terrain and gorgeous. There is a lot of wildlife around here, too, as we saw taking off the next morning. Ken was in the lead and came up on a few deer looking like they wanted to cross the road. Ken slowed down but one of them starting running alongside the road, keeping pace. With his eyes glued on the buck, Ken was ready when it turned a hard right and bolted across the road right in front of him. Black smoke coming from his tires told everyone behind that he had hit his brakes pretty hard.

The lunch stop that day was in Ketchum, down the valley from Sun Valley, and we rode on down through Twin Falls and reached Jackpot. Of course we had to spend a couple days in Jackpot, too, playing more golf.

Jackpot had nightlife, too. Bowser, from Sha Na Na, was on stage and we figured it would cost us less to pay to get in to the show than to continue throwing our money into the machines. Bowser showed how old rock and rollers don't die, they just go to smaller and smaller venues. Probably no one in his band was even born when Sha Na Na had its heyday.

But the show was fun and then the audience participation part came. Johnathon and Ken were both roped into getting up on stage as contestants in a hula-hoop contest. There were three groups from whom one person each advanced to the finals: guys, gals, and kids. Johnathon was surprised to get spanked by Ken, who won the guys heat, but the overall winner was a young girl who made us all look like fools.

Time came to leave Jackpot, and for our purposes the only route was south to Wells and then east on I-80 to Salt Lake City. We might have stopped in to visit Wesley but there was discomfort about seeing Christopher's brother, so we put up for the night in an old, cheap motel close by.

Next day it was on to Vernal, UT. We headed east out of Salt Lake on I-80 and then turned south through Park City. U.S. 40 was the road all the way to Vernal from there. A street festival was going on and several stud bikers got free neck massages. We also discovered these wrap-around things that you soak in water and put around your neck to stay cool.

The following morning we shed one more stud biker: Bill headed on home. The rest of us (John, Ken, and Johnathon at this point) went as far as Steamboat Springs and stopped there for the night. A carnival was going on here, too, so we wandered around and people-watched. Johnathon had been lobbying for some serious night-clubbing the entire trip and this was his opportunity to do it. The next day we headed home and the 2002 trip was one more for the history books.

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