Idaho – The ExhaustNotes Blog

Craters of the Moon

Baja John, our navigator and lodging consultant on the Western America Adventure Ride.

We had left the Craters of the Moon (a National Monument in the middle of nowhere in Idaho) earlier that morning and ridden another 50 miles or so (with literally nothing in between except open plains, rolling hills, and beautiful scenery) when we entered Carey. You have to understand that Carey is basically a wide spot in the road with maybe 40 or 50 buildings along the way. I was focused on getting there, filling the bikes, and getting back on the road.

Pioneer Day and a Parade

When we pulled into Carey, it was like my home town in the early afternoon on the 4th of July. You know, everybody was sitting on lawn chairs, lining the street, waving American flags, and waiting for the parade. That’s literally what we encountered. The good citizens of Carey were waiting for the parade, except it wasn’t the 4th of July.

Gresh and I were leading the pack at about 15 miles an hour when we rode into town, and everybody starting cheering and waving when they saw us. We didn’t know what was going on. I had been blogging every night and Gresh had been kidding me about that. Gresh lifted his face shield and looked at me while we were still rolling. “Boy, a lot of people are following the blog,” he said.

Okay, so we rolled into town on our RX3s. All of us, on RX3 motorcycles, with the town cheering. You can guess where this is going…the good people of Carey thought we were the start of the parade. The Carey people waved and welcomed us. What the Chinese and the Colombian guys were thinking I can only guess.

The Pioneer Day Parade followed us into town.

We pulled into a Shell station (the only one in town). I wanted to get gas and get going. I went into the station and asked what was going on. The girl behind the counter looked at me like I was crazy. I didn’t know it, but it was Pioneer Day in Idaho. It’s a holiday they take very seriously. I imagine everybody in town was out there on both sides of the street.

A Pioneer Day parade pickup.

A lady driving a horse-drawn cart asked Hugo where he was from, and when he said China she told him, “Well, hop on up here with us, honey!”

Like I said, I wanted to get gas and get out of town before the parade hit. The Chinese guys and the Colombians wanted to stay and watch the parade.
You can guess which way it went.

The Wild West, on the Western America Adventure Ride.

We had a pretty good time in Carey. Our Chinese and Colombian visitors were seeing a good old fashioned American parade, and the good folks in Carey met folks from the other side of the world. I can only imagine the stories our visitors took home. I sure landed a good story to share with you!

Want to read more about our Epic Rides? Just click here!

The third day of the 2005 Three Flags Classic motorcycle rally would take us from Grand Junction, Colorado (where we stayed the second night of the tour) to Driggs, Idaho. Wowee, we were covering some miles! You can catch up on the ride by reading our prior blog posts here:

The 2005 Three Flags Classic Rally: the Intro!

The Three Flags Classic: Day 1

The Three Flags Classic: Day 2

And with that, let’s get to Day 3!

Day 3 of the 2005 Three Flags Rally. Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho…it was magnificent.

As you’ll recall, it had rained big time during parts of Day 2, and it had continued to rain that evening. The next morning, though, was a bright, crisp, Colorado day, and after a great breakfast, we pointed the bikes north and crossed over into Utah.

The Gold Wing (shown here in Utah) was the most popular bike on this trip. They sure looked comfortable compared to my Daytona!

Utah was amazing. I continue to believe it is the most scenic of our 50 states. Although I had been to Zion and Bryce on previous trips, the Three Flags Classic was taking us to places I had never seen. We had a checkpoint in Vernal, a most interesting place in the heart of Utah’s dinosaur country.

Check out the way this guy has his Harley packed at the Vernal checkpoint. Think he might be dragging a bit in the corners? Harleys and Gold Wings were the most popular bikes in the 2005 Three Flags Classic.

We rode north, up to and around Flaming Gorge Reservoir. These were all magnificent destinations. The folks who planned the tour route did an amazing job.

Looking down into Flaming Gorge Reservoir in Utah. The colors, the brightness, it was all amazing. All of these photos were on film, captured with a Nikon N70 camera.

Marty and his Beemer, with Utah as a backdrop. Marty is the guy who invited me on this ride. He’s another serious long-distance rider, having put nearly 100,000 miles on this BMW. The machine looks as if it is brand new. Today in 2019, it’s still parked in his garage.

Marty and the motorcycles, with Flaming Gorge Reservoir in the background. The photo ops on this ride were amazing.

After leaving Utah, we entered Wyoming for a brief period, and then we were into Idaho. Idaho is a beautiful state. We saw quite a few dead animals on the road, and in particular, a lot of dead skunks. We also saw a few larger roadkill carcasses that I didn’t immediately recognize. I later learned they were wolves!

My friend Dave on his BMW in Driggs. This is a beautiful R1150GS. Check out the custom lighting (just below the turn signals) and the custom wheels. Dave’s bike was always spotless. He cleaned it every night.

We would our night in Driggs, Idaho, at the end of Day 3. It was an interesting night, with forest fires raging around us. We had a great dinner, more great conversation, and I was getting to know the guys better. Marty, as always, was an easy guy to travel with. I got to know good buddy Dave, shown in the above photo, a lot better on this trip, too. Dave was an absolute fanatic about keeping his bike clean, which was a hell of a challenge considering all of the rain we had ridden through the prior day. We had a bit of rain that night after dinner, too, and I remember talking to Dave as he was wiping down his GS, in the rain, cleaning it as the rain fell on the bike. I told him he was going to have a hard time, washing a bike in the rain, and we had a good laugh about that.

Looking due west after dinner in Driggs, Idaho. Smoke filled the skies from fires raging all around us.

And that, my friends, wraps up Day 3 of the 2005 Three Flags Classic. The following day would take us way up north to Whitefish, Montana, just south of the Canadian border. It had been an amazing three days so far, and we still had a long way to go. But that’s coming in future blogs.

Stay tuned!