Day 9

Well after much deliberation the night before it was determined that I probably was not going to reach West Yellowstone in one day. Because of this I slept a bit longer than originally intended finally starting out a little after 7am. when I was heading across the parking lot some people noticed that I had a low rear tire.
I pulled into a parking space, put the bike on its center stand, and proceded to find a very long roofing staple in my tire. It couldn't have happened in a better place because there was ample help and advice. I got out my tire repair kit and was taught the proper way to plug a tire. After the tire was inlfated and determined it wasn't leaking I finally hit the road about 8am.

I headed north out of John Day on hwy395. This was the same road I rode the day before but this time I was going all the way into Washington to Walla Walla. From there I hooked up with US 12. Took 12 to Lewiston Idaho. I got my pictures of the state signs I missed earlier in the trip.




At Lewiston Idaho I was greeted with this proof that God loves Motorcylists.....


This is the begining of Lolo Pass where US12 follows a winding river up a mountain. It was hot and I was trying to make some time so this road was actually pretty tireing. I stopped a few times to dip my shirt in the river to cool off. Here are some more pics of the road.





I stopped at the visitors center at the top of the pass. I ran into a couple who were on Harley with Minnesota plates. They had an RV and had trailered their bike and were using for day trips. Leaving the visitor center I rode behind 3 dual sport bikes. Their seats must have been very uncomfortable as they rode standing up on the pegs most of the way to Lolo MT. I talked to them when we all stopped for gas. They had tried to go do some forest road riding but had to turn around because of snow. This is just weird to me because its the first week in July and its been in the 90's for me most of the week.

The night before we determined I would spend the night in Missoula but I have found that when I am traveling these distances it all becomes relative. From Missoula to West Yellowstone its "only" 280 miles. At the rate I was riding on the interstate I figured I could knock upwards of an hour off the 4.5 hour estimate of the GPS. To me I wasn't that far from my original destination so I hit I90 towards Yellowstone. Unfortunatly it was turning dusk when I left the freeway and hit the road to Yellowstone. For the next couple hours I had to slow way down due to the many deer and elk that were along the road. I saw more wildlife that evening than I have in all my other nights driving combined. Well I made it to West Yellowstone and pulled into my campsite right at 10pm which was 11pm local time.

Thankfully my campsite was next to the main office/bath house. I pitched my tent in the dark trying not to make too much noise as everyone else were sleeping. I took the longest shower I can remember and finally got to bed around 1am. I had driven the longest day of my adventure which totalled 769 miles this day.