On Day 16 we left Saint Mary fairly early, at least for us on the trip, seems like we both liked sleeping in, especially at the Saint Mary Lodge where our room backed up to the babbling river.\u00a0 We slept with the door somewhat open so we could hear the water… cool mount air and environmental sounds it doesn’t get much better for sleeping!<\/p>\n
We made our way through all of the free range horses and cows down 89 to I15 which we picked up in Helena MT then down to Pocatello ID which was a nice 520 mile run on good roads.\u00a0 We got a real surprise when we crossed into Idaho, low and behold the speed limit went from 70 up to 80! Which of course I pushed to 90! When we got to Pocatello we took a room at the Comfort Inn and went to dinner at the Sand Piper Restaurant for\u00a0a last Date Night on our trip at a great restaurant, really nice place full of young folks – Pocatello is a college town about like Flagstaff.\u00a0 A\u00a0really nice evening.<\/p>\n
On Day 17\u00a0the plan was to drive down to Monticello UT for our last night on the road. It started our well. Again another pleasant surprise when we hit\u00a0Utah, the speed limit on I15 was also 80 MPH!\u00a0Almost felt like being back in Germany… until we hit Orem UT on I15.\u00a0 Major accident involving a large truck and a much smaller jelly bean car.\u00a0 It was so balled up that I\u00a0could not tell too much about what it was, I am thinking it might have been a new small\u00a0Chevy,\u00a0since the\u00a0freeway\u00a0was still open, I don’t think anyone passed away, which would have been a miracle.<\/p>\n
When we hit US6 south of Provo and began our journey across the mountains, all hell broke loose.\u00a0 Torrential rains, bumper to bumper traffic headed back into Salt Lake, narrow mountain roads and to top it\u00a0off the dew point was such that we had a\u00a0cloud form inside Bettie that her marginal Vintage Air defroster couldn’t handle.\u00a0 Down went\u00a0the front windows to cool off the inside of the\u00a0wagon – finally with a lot of wiping I was able to somewhat see where we were going. Pretty much\u00a0a white\u00a0knuckle drive to 191 where we headed south to Monticello.<\/p>\n
We found a great little motel in town for less than $70 for the night.\u00a0\u00a0Shortly after we\u00a0got our stuff into the room four Harleys showed up being ridden by two couples for Denmark.\u00a0 We had a long conversation with them and showed\u00a0them Bettie.\u00a0\u00a0I am guessing that they were in their late 50’s early 60’s and\u00a0as I gather they\u00a0try to take their yearly holiday\u00a0on Harleys that they rent in some of the warmer spots of the USA.\u00a0\u00a0Both Michelle and I really enjoyed meeting them and talking about travel, Europe, cars and motorcycles.<\/p>\n
On Day 18 we made the 300+ mile trek from Monticello to Show Low, its a trip that we have made numerous times over the years, and I have to say driving through this part of the southwest is truly one of life’s pleasures.\u00a0\u00a0 We got home a little after 1:00 PM and had the wagon unloaded and Michelle got a start on 18 days of laundry.<\/p>\n
When I pulled\u00a0Bettie into the shop for the night, I noticed quite a lot of brake dust and metal shavings on the left rear wheel… more to come … later!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Day 16 though 18 – The Trip Home On Day 16 we left Saint Mary fairly early, at least for us on the trip, seems like we both liked sleeping in, especially at the Saint Mary Lodge where our room … Continue reading