Sunday

Sunrise in Lewiston was obscured by the smoke just as the the sunset was. There were bits of ash on our motorcycle covers and seats.

We searched the internet to see if US-12 was closed and couldn’t find any indication that it was, so we headed that way. This 200-mile stretch of the highway curves gently as it follows the Snake and Clearwater rivers to the Lolo Pass. This is the route Lewis & Clark took to get to the Snake River and then to the Columbia.

We stopped to make coffee and have lunch at a wide turnout. We opened up the camper to make a kitchen prep table.

The Visitors’ Center at the pass was closed to travelers as it was being used as a fire command center. The make-shift Visitors’ Center looks like this.

The yellow sign in the background carried a warning to motorcyclists:

We stopped for groceries on the way to our campground. We had a tent site at a KOA. We took advantage of the swimming pool and the adults-only spa. We also treated ourselves to a push-up dairy treat.

The campground wi-fi was terrible. Do you remember dial-up modems and that a 56K modem as really fast? The KOA wi-fi was limited to 56K and after a few minutes it throttled back to 0. Our Verizon phones wouldn’t work as hotspots either, so I delayed writing this account.

Monday

Our next destination today was Bozeman, MT, where we’ll have breakfast tomorrow with a classmate of mine. Our Bunk a Biker host suggested we visit Philipsburg on the way, so we did.

The town is a tourist destination. The main attraction is hunting for gem stones. A few places are set up to let customers sort through river stones looking for gems. If that doesn’t interest you, there are several shops that sell gem stones. There are also art stores and gift shops.

We opted for coffee at Jackalope Joe’s.

And we had lunch at the Bakery. (We had the Monday special – a pulled pork & mac and cheese sandwich. It was delicious.

We ended the day at our hosts, Marnie and James in Belgrade, MT. They set us up in their camper and served a buffet of barbecue chicken, hot dogs, chili, beans, tater tots, and French fries. Thank you very much, Marnie and James.