June 4th - Day 4 - wet and windy

What a day. I left Weiser Idaho at 7:30am and headed towards Boise. My goal for the day was to get to Craters of The Moon and spend the day exploring. From the time I left Weiser - it rained. I had rain gear on and I was warm enough but it was a miserable ride.

I stopped several times for fuel. The fuel here has 10% ethanol and not only is the mix not good for my bike but it reduces my mileage about 15% to 20%. I pulled into a gas station in the town of Carey, about 20 miles from Craters of The Moon. Because I have so much on the back of the bike, it makes in impossible to swing my leg over when I get off. Instead, I literally have to use my hand and lift my right leg over the center of the seat. Today, at the Carey gas station, I lost my balance and fell over on my ass as I was lifting my leg. It was a cool move. I looked good laying on my back in the rain in Carey. Good thing no one at the station knew that I was headed for Toronto and beyond. They would have stated a pool, "how far do you think the old guy will make it."

As I got closer to the Creators National Park - the weather finally started to break. The pictures in this post were all taken at that point. I was still about 5 miles from the park intrance. Any of you interested in geology - this place is a must see. The pictures don't do it justice at all. There's 50 miles of lava - and no volcano. This stuff just oozed from the ground - the last time about 2,000 years ago. The wind was crazy but the sun poked out long enough for me to take my rain gear off. I found a great camp site in the park that was somewhat sheltered and headed to the first pull-out on a 7 mile loop. I was so excited. Well - let me tell you - today the gods did not shine on Gary. It clouded over and started to rain so hard that I had a hard time finding my way back to the bike. I was soaked through in just minutes. I could not stay in this weather. The wind almost knocked the bike over, it was dark, I got lost on the turn outs on the loop and was just a little - well maybe a little more than a little, pissed. I finally found the park entrance and took off heading to Idaho Falls, where I am now, in a Marriott hotel. When I checked in I asked the desk clerk how long it had been raining and blowing. She gave me this disgusted look and said, "how about January."

At dinner - I told the waitress where I had been and that the wind had almost blown me off the road. She said that her dad had a Harley Sportster and he and the bike were blown off the road into a ditch at Creaters and he ended up in ICU for a week.

I guess I was lucky.

I'm about 1 hour from Yellowstone and I plan to camp. All I need is dry ground - just long enough to set up the tent. I've got to do this. I've got 12 days of freeze dried packaged food and I've got to use it because I need the space (although the weight is not a problem). I just need to remember to take the silica pack out before I cook it. Of course if I don't use it - it should be good for at least a couple of hundred years. I wonder if bears can smell freeze dried? I think I should eat some fruit.

On to Yellowstone.