Short day across Idaho and Oregon

 

June 11^th, 2026

Woke up and 7:00 am and got ready.

Was a bit groggy, but think I slept okay at least.

Started to take all the gear and stuff out and load up the bike in the brisk morning air.

Once it was loaded, grabbed my riding gear and checked out of the room.

Pulled across the street to Love’s truck stop to fuel up the bike and then hit the road about 7:50.

Only made it 500 feet before I pulled over again to record the morning video I had failed to do that morning!  Processes are still in development.

We hit US93 north and crossed into Idaho just outside of town.

Road wound through some rolling hills of nothing, just grass and rocks.  Winds were not too bad, but it was still a bit cold, even though I had put on the extra layer under the jacket.  Was 51 degrees when I left the fuel station.

After about 30 minutes we came to the south end of Twin Falls.  Here I took a back highway that would wind around the city and avoid the traffic in town during the morning rush hour. (Every town has one).

At one point I pulled over to an overlook that had a great view of the Snake River in a small canyon among all the properties built down around it.

Shortly after I reached I-84, and pulled over to another Love’s hoping to get breakfast at the McDonalds.  However, once I got inside and went to order, the menu was for lunch.  I had forgotten that ID is still using Mountain time, versus Pacific time I was on in Nevada.  So instead of being 9:30 am, it was 10:30 am.

As I will only eat breakfast at McDonalds, I decided to just grab a few Tornadoes rolls again from the truck stop grill.

Ate them out by the bike, then got on the road and soon was on the interstate heading in a westerly direction.

The winds were mild, and temps were up enough to not be cold anymore, but still had to keep speed down to preserve fuel.  Bike tends to suck fuel if you run it much over 5000rpm, and that puts you right around 65 mph. 

I rode till I got to Boise, then went through the city and pulled off in Nampa to have lunch.  Just hit Jack in the Box again, was right on the ramp and next to a fuel stop so I could top up the tank again.

Pulled back onto the freeway and was mostly uneventful ride, few construction zones that slowed things a bit, but made decent time to the Oregon border.

Stopped just across the border at rest area to get off bike for a bit and use facilities.  Back on the road things were just the same, quick easy flow of traffic.

Later I pulled off for another rest area stop and spent some time reading stuff on phone to rest my legs, getting cramped up after an hour or so today.  Usually takes me a week to get used to riding long rides each day.

Shortly after that we started down a huge hill, coming from 3400 feet down to around 1500 feet in a few miles.  There was a pull out that went to a nice overlook, so stopped for a few photos and also needed to change the battery in the GoPro anyway, had forgotten at the rest area.

Once down off the hill, we soon came to the exit I needed to use to head north.  I stopped again for fuel, even though I was probably okay, but easier to get it when you can.

Road north across an Indian reservation for a short distance to reach the highway that would take me north.

Winds were picking up a bit, and temps had climbed into the 80s now that we were down in altitude for once.

Was looking forward to getting to hotel I had booked, was tired, but 5 miles out from there we came upon some farm machinery driving down the highway at 20 mph.  For some reason people would not pass it even when they had time to do so.  1 car and a truck with trailer finally passed, but next two cars just wasted two chance to pass.

The next gap in oncoming traffic was huge, and they again refused to pass, so I quickly zoomed past both cars and the tractor!  Advantages of a bike.

Pulled into town, which was bigger than I thought it would be.  Drove through most of the town, and had one idiot pull out right in front of me, thankfully was going slow.

Found the hotel, small little place on side of highway, only has 10 rooms.

Went to the office door and it was closed, sign said to call some numbers for help as they had stepped away.  First number just went to static.  Second number answered, guy said he would be right there.

About 5 minutes later he arrived, guess he had been taking daughter to some kind of practice?

He got me checked in and then left again. 

I got bike unloaded and then took a shower as I was hot.

The hotel owner had recommended a restaurant called Kelly’s a mile down the road, so once I had sorted things and dressed, I took the bike down to have dinner.

Service was a bit slow, but food was very good and I spent the time moving footage from the phone and camera and writing the main part of this blog entry.

While waiting I also booked my room for tomorrow night and should only have a 5 hour ride tomorrow, so another early day, but will be near the Canada border and would prefer to start with that early in the morning as should be less busy.  It is a smaller crossing, so hopefully will not take too long.

I will then work on getting some other documents ready.  Need to get a financial tracker built to track my expenses so I can try to keep things in the daily budget (averaged out across all days).  This trip will likely break that budget, but at least can get the process worked out.

I also need to do laundry.

Travelling on a bike leaves you with at most 4 pairs of anything, so doing sink laundry at least once a week and eventually will need to find laundry place or stay and nicer hotel that has laundry service.  I will be taking days off at least once a week, so those will be the days for doing those types of tasks.

Going to publish this now and assume that I do the things I said I was going to do above :)

Catch ya down the road!