Riding in the footsteps of Lewis and Clark.

Thursday 6 August - Day 10
Lolo, MT to Walla Walla, WA: 310 miles

We wanted to get an early start today but woke up to heavy rain in Lolo. We decided to wait a while and finally got on the road around 9:00am. We left in a light drizzle and the rain stopped about 15 miles into our trip. The rest of the day was sunny and warm. Just before we crossed into Idaho a large bull moose ran out in front us. We did stop on time but was unable to snap a photo.

Our journey today took us on Rte 12 through Idaho and Washington. Rte 12 is built on top of the trail that Lewis and Clark took on their expedition west. It is also the Nez Perce trail and it took us through the Nez Perce reservation.

Here is a typical sign found along rte 12:



We hit the Idaho border about 30 miles west of Lolo, MT:




The first 100 miles of rte 12 in eastern Idaho followed the Clearwater River. We rode through pristine nature. Here is what we had to endure:

While riding along the river, we saw two bald eagles swoop down and snag fish right out of the water. It was ridiculous! We did hit a lot of construction along the way today. Shawn snapped this picture while we were waiting to continue on:

Rte 12 is a very famous motorcycle road, many riders get a picture of this sign...and yeah, it did wind for 99 miles.

We crossed the Snake River in LEWIStown, ID and crossed over into CLARKston, WA. Quite clever on the city naming!

In Clarkston, we made a pit stop at Mac's Cycle. Mac's is a BMW and Kawasaki dealer. They allowed us to change our oil in their parking lot. They were super nice to us, let us borrow catch pans and rags. They also let us use their shop's bathroom to wash up afterward.

Once we left Clarkston this is what the extreme part of eastern Washington looks like:

After a couple of miles we hit about 60 miles of wheat fields. It was really neat. There were miles of ripe wheat. Many farmers were combining as we went through, sending tons of wheat dust into the swirling winds. We might have inhaled a little bit...

Last night while Pokie was enjoying his Pabst Blue Ribbon, Gumby got in on the action as well. As a result, both of them nursed hangovers all day long and refrained from the camera lens...you know blood-shot eyes, dishevled hair etc.

Tomorrow we leave Walla Walla and head west. Our route will take us past Mt. Rainier and Mt. St. Helens. We will then cut south to Astoria, OR. Astoria is where the Columbia River meets the Pacific. That's right...tomorrow we reach the ocean!