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IDBDR July/Aug 2015


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Day 7: Wallace to Clark Fork

 

Don't you hate it when you type a whole post and then you accidentally hit a button and it all disappears and you have to type it again?  Yeah, that just happened!

 

Oh well...

 

Day 7 for us started a bit behind, as we decided to cut day 6 short and stay at that campground just north of Avery.  It was nice though and a good decision.

 

A few dead soldiers from the night before.  Mats was kind enough to go into town and fill his panniers with ice and beer.

 

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Our bikes

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Tent set up

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Jason, a local we met the day before between Pierce and Avery

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Nate's first ever tire plug from the day before!

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We got to Wallace pretty quick that day, gassed up and kept on to Clark Fork.  Mostly uneventful.
 
We go to Clark Fork, ate a late lunch/early dinner at the cafe and then said our goodbyes to Mats.  He wanted to get back by a certain date and had a special reason to go back through Darby, but I'll let hm tell that story :)
 
We met two more riders from Calgary, Terry and Robin.  They don't know our other Calgary friends John Colyer or Thierry Schandelmeyer either but that's cool.  I got horrible pics of both of them so I'll spare Robin her bad pic and just show you Terry's bad pic I took:

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This campground was at Johnson Creek and was not very good.  Too many mosquitos.  I'd probably recommend the one at Lightning Creek or just camp wild up higher in elevation.

 

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Day 8: Clark Fork to ... (Sandpoint)

 

Mats had left the evening before so it was just Nate and I.  Nate rose early and got some sunrise shots while I packed up and went into town early to grab breakfast and get my Internet fix.  I was eaten alive by mosquitos so I didn't want to hang around there any longer.  I brought deet spray but that didn't work too well.

 

We hit our last dirt segment, about 30 miles of trail up to Trestle Creek and then it was just about 10 miles or so north on pavement to Sandpoint.  I had a tire and tube shipped to Kurt Forget of Black Dog Cycle Works and we stopped in to get that.  I had planned earlier to come back down through WA and OR doing those BDR's but I didn't have anyone to do it with and didn't want to ride solo.  At this point I figured why put a brand new knobby on the back just to burn it up on the highway back?  So I just strapped it on the back and we rode east to Glacier National Park.

 

We did get to meet Bill Dragoo finally at Kurt and Martha's house.  He's a very interesting guy and great rider.

 

Heading east we stopped in Yaak at a roadside restaurant/bar and our food took F O R E V E R.  90 minutes for a burger and they weren't even that busy.  I think they were short-handed though.

 

We rolled into Columbia Falls and found an RV park (Columbia Falls RV Park) to camp at.  What we were most interested in were the shower and the laundry  :lol:   There was a nice couple who managed to place and they were very polite, but we started to notice all kinds of rules, signs and restrictions after checked in.  They are quite a bit more anal than most places like that I've stayed before.  One example was their laundry room closed at 8 pm, locking us out before we could get our stuff which meant a later departure the next day.  The laundry room at the Wine Ridge RV park in Pahrump, NV is open all night!  We also noticed after dark that our tents were helpfully lit by a large flood light!

 

 

We also met this really cool Brit named Mark Weecher who is riding his bicycle across the US!  He makes our "adventure" ride look quaint.  Really cool guy.  He also rides adventure bikes and wants to do what we are doing.

 

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Update from when we got to Kurt Forget's place in Sandpointe, ID.  I had shipped myself (lol) a tire that I ended up not using but wanted to pick it up anyways.
 
The next day we rode out to Glacier National Park, paid $12 to enter "our park" and then rode up the famous "Going to the Sun" road.  That was COOL!  After that, we rode out, said our goodbyes, I cleaned/oiled my chain and then headed south while Nate went north.
 

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My plan was to head south to my cousin's place in Daniel, WY but I also wanted to stop by KLiM in Rigby, ID to get my breast pocket zipper on my Overland suit fixed, get a new bladder for my hydration pack and maybe get a tour.  I had met Mark Kincart twice before at IMS in Long Beach and at Overland Expo, but I know Brad Barker knows them even better, so I reached out to him for advice on camping, etc... in Rigby.  He was kind enough to call ahead to Mark and Mark agreed to get me a tour and spend an hour or so with me.  Brad said "that place is like Disneyland, huh?"  Most definitely.

 

I found I couldn't get there that day though.  It was getting cold and too late in the day and I still had about 90 minutes of riding to get to Rigby, so I pulled off the highway at Lima, MT and camped at this motel/RV/camping spot.  As I was setting up my tent, this guy calls out to me, "hey, aren't you Eric Hall?"  I was like "that's me!"  Turns out it was Kevin White.  Kevin and I haven't met before but we're Facebook friends and both ride.  He said he recognized the project bike.  He was there w/his cousin doing the CDR and they were staying in a motel room.  We talked for a while and then had a great breakfast the next morning (they paid too!).  Funny how you run into people like that on the road.  It was the same way with seeing Maria and JD on the IDBDR.

 

I let it warm up a bit and left around 9 am and got to Rigby in plenty of time.

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Mark was kind enough to give me a tour where I got to see "How It's Made"-style everything they do.  I was impressed by the returns/exchanges desk, the repair ladies (they fixed my zipper) and then their massive warehouse.  Mark knows I'm the "Beyond Starbucks" guy so he said he wanted me to be the first to see and publish something no one has ever seen...
 

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That's right, KLiM Adventure Blend coffee!  He told me he got it from a really good boutique roaster but I won't say who that is or what they charge/lb but I've since heard that KLiM will probably be selling this coffee on their website.  I thought it was just going to be some kind of promotional giveaway or something but they sound like they're going to sell it.  My Facebook post of it had a reach of 9500, 41 shares and 715 post clicks!  I had some the next day when I got to my cousin's house and it was quite good!
 
He also gave me a dvd of the IDBDR, which was nice, along with a new bladder for my hydration pack.  The bite valve was kind of gone and I think I had a pinhole leak in the bottom since the bottom was usually a bit wet.
 
We went to lunch and talked a lot more about XLADV, adventure riding, future events, etc...  I hope we get to see more exciting stuff from them for us to feature here.  I can't say specifically what they're up to, but they have big plans for new markets and I'm sure they'll do great.
 
They did this "626" ride that was something like $600 budget limit, 2 wheels and 600 miles they had to get it.  Here's one of those bikes:

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After lunch I hit the road and got to Daniel, WY by about 4:00. 

 

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Daniel, WY is around 7300 feet in elevation amidst a lot of sage scrub.  My cousin and his wife live there and raise a special hunting hound called the Grand Bleu de Gascogne.  They have 8 of them (right now) and are well-known globally for their fine work.  They also have two donkeys and a horse.

 

I was so beat from two weeks on the bike I just wanted to chill for a day or two, get a few hot showers, do some laundry and sleep in a real bed.

 

Friday I farted around, did some cleaning and then went into town to get a haircut.  I had to wait a few hours so I camped out at the Wind River Brewing Co, which has a fantastic Wyoming Pale Ale (their version of an IPA).  I spent that time uploading a lot of my photos and video, writing a few of these posts, etc...

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Saturday we did a run to the dump, got some great craft beer, went on a coyote hunt (shot nothing) and then spent the rest of the day plinking cans with assorted firearms.  I know; I'm supposed to be wearing eye protection and ear plugs.

 

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I took off Sunday and headed south.  I made it as far as St. George, UT and Jesse Kimball was kind enough to let me crash on his floor.

 

I lucked out as it was not too hot.  I brought the cooling vest but didn't end up using it.

 

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I left really early Monday, like 4:30 am and got home at around 11:00 am.
 
Long but fun trip, huh?
 

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Hey Eric, Met you on the Lolo Motorway. Ridin the Ktm1190 and my buddy was on the Varadero. Good to meet you and the website is awesome. Great ride report as well. After we got chased out by the fire we headed back to Missoula and returned to Alberta the next day. Plan on running more of tha Idbdr in September and yes I put on some Tkc80's. Actually the Tkc70's worked quite well but might be troublesome in the wet.

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Hey Eric, Met you on the Lolo Motorway. Ridin the Ktm1190 and my buddy was on the Varadero. Good to meet you and the website is awesome. Great ride report as well. After we got chased out by the fire we headed back to Missoula and returned to Alberta the next day. Plan on running more of tha Idbdr in September and yes I put on some Tkc80's. Actually the Tkc70's worked quite well but might be troublesome in the wet.

Thanks for finding us!  It was great to meet you.  I was quite impressed with your riding, that bike and that cool KTM/Klim suit.

 

Glad to hear you got some knobbies.  That's only the second standard 1190 I've seen tearing it up off road!

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  • 8 months later...

We were one week behind you on the IDBDR in August. We lingered in Yellow Pine for several days and explored the Cinnabar Mine and other trails above the town. Friend hit a deer along Salmon River making a coffee/beer run into Riggins from Spring Bar campgrounds. Completely trashed a GS1200 with no serious injuries. His son came and retrieved damaged bike and dad and returned to Moscow, ID. Ended up being pushed off the route at Pierce with the fires. Other retired rider detoured around fires and continued north on IDBDR and I returned home to the labor camps....

 

It was fun!! :)

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  • 9 months later...

I think it's just the crazy length of the IDBDR that makes me want to check this one off so badly.  I can't really think of what else it is that makes me want to do this one so badly.  I've only checked off the WA BDR and the CO BDR so far.  More will likely happen this fall though. 

I keep trying to come up with a plan to be able to check off the IDBDR, UTBDR, and AZBDR all back to back to back.  BDR country crossing! 

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  • 1 month later...
  • 4 weeks later...

It's been decided.  This report plus many others have helped me decide.  I'm checking off the Trans America Trail in July/August.  I've got a six week block off then.  Since it's not going to kill the full six weeks (I sure as hell hope not) I'm planning on going over to Idaho and checking off this BDR as well before working my way to Phoenix to leave the bike there and fly back to Alaska.  TAT + IDBDR = a lot of off road time and one happy guy!

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