2018(2) - Day 4

After a great night of sleep in one of the tiniest rooms I've ever stayed in, we all got cracking fairly quickly this morning. We had a good breakfast and then pointed our wheels south. We stayed on 93, on the west side of Flathead Lake, as we made our way to Missoula. Just south of Polson a rain shower had just passed through, leaving quite a bit of water on the road. The air was so fresh this morning and temperatures were very comfortable.

We stopped for lunch and an ice cream in Missoula, and then battled traffic for half an hour getting out of the city. There must be a lot of tourists in the area right now, I've never seen Missoula this busy before. It was nice to make the turn west on highway 12 to get away from most of the traffic. This is the third time I've traveled highway 12, and by far the fastest I've ever ridden it. I've never pushed any bike I owned as hard as I pushed the Goldwing today. The power and performance really show on a road like this as the bike feels glued to the road. There wasn't too much traffic on the road, so I took a lot of the 45mph corners at 70-80mph. I got up over 100mph a few times on the straight stretches and the bike never flinched. I probably shouldn't even post that stuff, but I lived to tell the story so I better tell the story.

After our last stop on the road we stuck together as a group and made our way west to Orofino, where we decided we had gone far enough for the day. It was hot outside today, getting up to 35, and it felt later than 7:30 when we stopped. We did gain an hour as we entered the Pacific time zone when we crossed into Idaho. I was tired and hungry, and one of those needs has been met. Now it's time for a shower and some sleep.

We're still not sure what the plan is for tomorrow, though there is a good chance we'll end up somewhere in southern BC. It should be another great day of riding regardless of what we end up doing, which is the whole point of the trip. It's been awesome so far, and should continue to be!