What a Day!!!!!

Dave and I got a chance to ride one of our re-do rides today. It is rte 12 (the Lewis and Clark Trail) across Idaho from Lewiston to Missoula, Mt. It is a great ride. Follows the river all the way through the canyon with lots of twists and turns.
See how the river bends. The road runs right beside it.
Here is the sign at the entrance to biker heaven. There are some roads that should only be open to biker traffic, and this is one of them.
Why is it that when you are really having a GREAT time, something always seems to happen to change it? The black thing hanging from my bike is the drive belt. When it looks like that, it is a really bad thing!!!! Means it won't go anywhere.
Here is what it looks like when a tow truck is waiting on your bike. Only other time this bike has been on a truck/trailer is when I wrecked it a few years ago. It is NOT a good feeling!!!!!!
Tow truck hauled me and the bike into Missoula to the Harley shop. Luckily, they are open tomorrow and should be able to get it fixed and us back on the road. This was a 157 mile ride in the tow truck. Over the years, I've come to be pretty familiar with my shortcomings. I work on them and have better luck with some than others. After spending 3 hours in the cab of this tow truck with Gomer, I realize that I REALLY need to work on my patience. 157 miles at 35-45 mph seems to take forever. All I could do was watch the scenery and other bikes pass us by. I tried to have a conversation with the driver. It went something like this:

Mike: (after passing several fishermen in the river) The fishing pretty good around here?

Driver: Must be. See lots of fishermen. Don't know myself, don't fish.

After about 30 minutes I tried again:

Mike: You know, it sure is a better trip on this road on my bike than it is in your truck cab.

Driver: Wouldn't know. Never been on a motorbike.

That pretty much covers all the conversation for over 3 hours. I know, keep working on the patience thing..........

There were still people at the Harley shop (even tho they were closed for the night), so we were able to push the bike inside instead of having to leave it out. That was a good thing, since it meant I didn't have to unpack everything off it. All I had to do was take what I needed. Hotel right across the street that gave us a 15% discount since we were broke down. Really nice of them. The Wingate by Wyndham. Bad part is they don't have any beer, which would REALLY taste good right now.

Well, my dinner should be delivered here soon. Going to eat it, watch a little TV and go to sleep until the shop opens in the morning. Hopefully, we'll be on the road a little after noon. Not sure how this will affect our plans. Just have to play it by ear.

Stay tuned for the next episode...............