Day 5 - So Long Idaho - Hello Utah

First an update from yesterday. Although I THOUGHT my broken wire was going to be fixed with the $4.99 soldering iron...I was wrong. As soon as I plugged it in, the cheap iron sparked and died. Oh well, a reminder that every now and again I get the quality I've paid for! So, enroute today I found a Radio Shack and "invested" another $8 for a new iron. I'm pleased to report that the helmet speaker is now fixed (total cost $14 for the two irons!) -- and I put the iron to double duty by having it remelt some plastic connections on the cable lock I use to secure my helmet to the bike.

Also, I must also admit that I learned today that my love affair with "Idaho roads" cooled considerably as I traveled away from the Sawtooth Mountains. As I dropped south though the state of Idaho, I was on plenty of straight/flat roads. Thankfully I found an excellent backroad just south of Pocatello that was very fun and entertaining. When I rounded one corner, I was met by a herd of sheep crossing the road. I stopped long enough to get this photo

and then proceeded very slowly allowing them time to move without panic. I didn't see a sheep herder but I did witness a supervising sheepdog.

A little farther south I proceeded on the "Pioneer Historic Byway" that took me into Utah and another wonderful 40 miles of beauty and fun on the Logan Canyon Scenic Byway that led directly to my accomodations near Bear Lake, a 20 mile long lake formed some 8,000 years ago when earthquakes isolated it and created an unusual water chemistry that causes its beautiful blue-green color and nutures four unique fish species.

In my posting in a prior trip blog, I mused about the good and bad of motorcycling (click here to see the posting) -- and one of the "bad" is that it is challenging to set and keep to a schedule. For this reason, I have not contacted some people along the way that I might TRY to visit. Today I struck out on two such visits when I confirmed (at the last minute) that I would be routing myself in the vicinity of each. In the first case I missed meeting a cousin in Pocatello (though I did meet his wife) when I stopped there without prior contact -- and I missed a visit with a former boss in Utah because I couldn't reach him by phone shortly before I had to make a decision as to whether to take a 60 mile detour to this house. It's my own fault for not making the contacts and commitments ahead of time -- but I've learned on prior trips that trying to get together with friends and families is better suited to car travel than motorcycling -- so I don't make the advance plans and I accept the results of one of the downsides of motorcycle travel.

Nonetheless, it was another beautiful day of motorcycling (clear skys -- perfect weather -- lots of wonderful smells and few bugs!!) I have now completed 1081 miles of my journey and head into Colorado tomorrow.