Motorcycles
Montana Road Trip 2007
Day 6 - Conclusion
You are a cruel and hurtful person. You also happen to be paying attention. I did in fact reach Boise around 10:30am on Friday. I refueled and rode east to Mountain Home. From there I headed out into the desert, due south towards Nevada and Highway 50.
I stopped about halfway to Elko to take a couple photos, this being one of them:
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Yes, that's the tire's inner cords showing through. No problem. I'm sure there's a motorcycle shop around here. Let's have a look around:
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Ok, decision time. Go forward towards Elko and hope to find a motorcycle dealer with new tires in stock or turn around and try to find help in Mountain Home or Boise? I had no cell phone reception here and no one to ask. I decided to play it safe and go back. I wanted to sleep in my own bed tonight but going forward was too much of a gamble. I knew I'd find a tire in Boise for certain. Anywhere else was a total unknown.
And so began another slow ride through the middle of nowhere. What was this, the third one of the trip? It could have been worse I reasoned. The tire could have blown out at speed, maybe even whilst in a corner. That would have been a lot worse than just inconvenient. Not that I had been riding at triple-digit speeds in the empty desert.
Somewhere outside Mountain Home I got cell coverage again. I used the voice-activated Bluetooth headset built into my helmet to call my best friend Rich back in SF. I trundled along trying to sense any change in the back tire as I related my (latest) tale of woe. Rich called ahead to Mountain Home and then Boise looking for a dealer who had a tire in stock for my bike and one who could install it today. He called back a short time later and let me know that the nearest place was Meridian, just west of Boise. (Thanks, Rich!) It was quite a ways away and I honestly didn't think the tire would make it. I decided to try anyways. If the tire went, I would just have to have it flat-bedded to the shop. I kept my speed down as much as possible, just in case.
How was the ride to Meridian? Try riding slow on the Interstate AND keeping 18-wheelers from driving directly behind you. If the tire went I didn't particularly want to be run over. The weather got hotter the closer to Boise I got. Traffic worsened until it came to a halt a few miles from my exit. Which I missed. Ugh. When it rains, it pours.
Two long, hot hours later I pulled up in front of the Cycle Gear in Meridian. The guys there could not have been more helpful. They had the tire I needed in stock and helped me get it mounted. They took pity on me and let me store some of my gear behind the counter during all this and then gave me directions for both a place to stay for the night and the best way out of town for in the morning. I can't thank them enough for their help.
Although there were several hours of daylight left, I was too spent to soldier on. Besides, there was nowhere worth staying within a few hours ride from Boise as far as I could tell. Meridian for the night it was. I then spent 90 minutes in the lobby of a nearby motel waiting to get the last room they had available. What I'm trying to say is, day 6 kinda sucked. Little did I know day 7 would prove an interesting conclusion to the whole ride...
Total miles for the day: 569 miles
From: Hamilton, Montana
To: Meridian, Idaho
Parks passed through:
20. Bitterroot National Forest
21.Beaverhead National Forest
22. Salmon National Forest
23. Challis National Forest
24. Sawtooth National Recreation Area
25. Boise National Forest
Friday's route:
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