Glacier Park 2010

Friends Marty and Kathy Wilcox invited us to ride with them and their friend Gary to Glacier Park and Lolo Pass. (Ride dates - Wed 8/4/10 - Sun 8/8/10)

A week before the ride, the back brakes on my Gold Wing started scraping. I called the shop and they couldn't promise the replacement job would be completed in time for our trip. So darn it, we had to rent a 2001 Gold Wing... ;)

After work on Wednesday we drove out to Issaquah, rented the bike and next stop was Moses Lake. The '01 Gold Wing is much more comfortable than the '84 allowing us to travel longer distances before the need for a break. Oh, and it had a 6-CD changer in the bottom of the trunk - so we blasted praise music all the way to Moses Lake!

We arrived in Spokane just before 11:00 where we spent the night. I was hungry, so went out in search of some grub. Seems all the fast food places close their dining rooms at 11:00 due to a recent increase in crime. :( Could've used the drive through they said - but instead I went to Dick's! Yummy and cheap!

281 miles for the day.

We left Spokane at 7:30 AM on Thursday and headed for Spangle to meet up with Marty, Kathy and Gary. We went to the Harvester Restaurant in Spangle - a place where it seemed the waitress knew everyone by name. And their business as well... LOL According to Gary people will come from Spokane just to have breakfast here! It was great food.

After breakfast we headed east to Waverly, where shortly afterwards we intersected with Hwy 27. From there we headed north to Rockford, then east on Hwy 278 (WA)/58(ID). At the junction with US 95 we headed north for Coeur D’Alene and Sandpoint.

It was a very, very slow ride across the Lake Pend Oreille bridge and in to Sandpoint!

Just beyond Sandpoint we headed east-southeast on Hwy 200, through Ponderay and along Lake Pend Oreille for miles – very pretty. Just after Cabinet, ID we crossed in to Montana.


We stopped in Trout Creek for lunch at the Naughty Pine Saloon. Trout Creek is a beautiful little creek-side town. And I am pretty sure I popped a small wheelie here! :) We pulled off to the side of the road to discuss where to eat and decided to go to a place a few hundred feet down and across the road. As I followed Marty and Kathy out on to the hi-way, I realized this LARGE motor home was approaching rather quickly. So I goosed the throttle and all six cylinders responded at the same time! LOL I am pretty sure the front wheel came off the ground for a second. Woohoo!!

Just after Plains we headed north on Hwy 28 past Hot Springs and on to Elmo. In Elmo we hit US 93 where we rode along Flathead Lake for miles – a huge, beautiful lake!


We arrived in Kalispell sometime around 6:00. The ladies showered and us men rinsed our faces and called it good! We headed for the Moose’s Saloon for beer and pizza - entering through swinging saloon-style doors. They have 24 beers on tap, sawdust on the floor, peanuts to munch on (and toss the shells on the floor) and good pizza. We (well at least I was) were in bed by 10:00! Shouldn’t have stayed up so late Wednesday night…

321 miles for the day.

On Friday we left at about 9:00 AM for St. Mary via Logan Pass and the Going to the Sun road.


We traveled through Columbia Falls and Hungry Horse (where we fueled up – at only 5 +/- gallons per tank on a motorcycle we always need to be aware of fuel consumption!). We then followed US 2 along Lake McDonald for a long ways.

Then it got curvy!



We traveled along St. Mary Lake to St. Mary where we had lunch at St. Mary Lodge and Resort.

The road was crowded with cars and there were long delays due to construction. However, the scenery was beautiful!



We were literally riding along the edge of the mountain with a LONG fall should we stumble over the side.

We saw more waterfalls here then on Kauai! (Now in defense of Kauai, we were there during the "dry season". Pictures prove there are indeed waterfalls on Kauai!)




The engineering involved for this road is incredible - look at these arches built on top of mountain-side rock piles/columns!

Loved going through the tunnels and gunning my throttle to hear the deep, guttural sound of my engine. Oh wait. That was Gary's Harley! But I had the loudest horn! haha

We were able to get sprayed a little from the water at the Weeping Wall. Even thought about crossing over the little drainage ditch to get closer, but...

Wild life? I hear it's there... We did see two mountain goats near Logan Pass - looked like a momma and her baby. Otherwise...

I brazenly approached the rough, rocky side of the mountain where-upon I was slapped by Cheryl! haha Here is a picture of us driving under an out-cropping of rock!

On our way back we found Jagz – a wonderful Italian eatery with great food and service!

176 miles for the day.

Then cards at the hotel where Cheryl and I learned to play Pass the Ace. I think we lost money… But at $1 a game… Great game for laughter! :)

We decided to leave early on Saturday – think we made it by 10:00 or so! LOL We headed south along US 93, again traveling along Flathead Lake. We took a break in Polson at the South end of the lake. We met a couple there that was headed to the Testicle Festival. No kidding - it's a real event! BUT, 'nuf said about that.

We then continued south to I-90 where we were on I-90 eastbound for just a short bit before heading south on US 93 again. We stopped in Lolo for lunch at Applebees. (I had Won Ton Tacos - yummm!)

Just after Lolo we hit US 12 and headed west over Lolo Pass – 99 miles of curves.

A sad note though - a motorcycle rider was killed earlier in the day – missed a turn going too fast… Insert "dangerous" to that "99 mile of curves"!

But, I DO like "attacking" the curves, so... We pulled ahead of the pack and pushed the bike for awhile, taking curves at 15 to 20 mph hour faster than the posted "recommended" speed. Exhilarating! But honestly, I was safe and to Cheryl's amazement we never scraped on any of the curves - mostly due to the suspension on the '01 versus the '84. The only scraping we did was the right-hand highway peg - it sort of chattered along the roadway... :)

The scenery was beautiful! We traveled along the Lolo River going up the pass and along the Lochsa River coming down. We crossed back in to Idaho at the pass.

We came out at Kooskia ID on the Nez Perce Indian Reservation and headed to Kamiah where we were told of a resort that had rooms. We found the Lewis-Clark Resort and Motel and the Sacajawea Café where we had dinner. The special for the night was a flat-iron steak and shrimp – a HUGE steak. Everyone had it but me – I had the Western BBQ Burger!

After dinner we headed to the pool where we played some more Pass the Ace, before fleeing the mosquitoes and darkness… In the room we gave the others a quick tutorial on Oh Hell!, a card game I was raised on. We played two games before heading bed at 11:00.

Cheryl set her alarm for 6:00 AM… For some reason her phone was still on Mountain Time. We didn't need to get up until 7:00! LOL

Anyway, we headed out around 7:30 AM, saying good-bye to our friends who would head for Spangle later in the morning.

We stopped at the Clearwater River Casino for breakfast just before leaving the Nez Perce Reservation. I tried a slot machine while Cheryl was in the bathroom – and promptly lost $5 in 1 22 seconds. If I’d kept at it I’d of lost over $160 in an hour. So we went for breakfast! Haha We had a wonderful buffet breakfast, some java juice and moved on!

We stayed on Hwy 12 all the way to Lewiston, and then took US 195 north to Colfax. We stopped for gas and Cheryl checked her phone to find a FB post from her sister Rhonda. Seems Rhonda and Warren were going to be in Moses Lake and they wanted to hook up for lunch. So rather than go all the way to Vantage on Hwy 26, we headed north from Othello.

Check out these pictures of a field burn between Othello and Moses Lake!




After lunch with Rhonda and Warren (thanks for lunch guys) we jumped on I-90 and headed for home. We were able to get to Issaquah, turn the bike in and get home just after 6:00. It was nice to be home and get a few things done before the work week started!

We had a wonderful trip with incredibly beautiful scenery, an awesome time on the bike and a great time with friends. And Gary is now our friend too.