Ride Report - Mirror Lake Scenic Byway, Utah/Wyoming 07-29-06
TR: Cove, UT to Victor, ID
Date: Saturday/Sunday, August 5-6, 2006
Riders: Buzzworthy, 5 flies, 1 bee, and 95+ unknown splats on the windshield
Miles Ridden: 398.4
Route: Idaho 34, 89, 26, 31
Destination: Frozenwater's Place
Wife and child are out of town so I decided to take advantage and go see a good friend of mine and his family for the weekend. Since the weather has been so nice around these parts, the ride was taken via the 1100.
Friday night, packed, ready to go, yet planned poorly and should have left right after work. Thus this sat till Saturday AM and off I go.
http://tetongravity.com/usergallerie...6_x_972%29.jpg
It was sunny and barely a cloud in the sky. I decided the leather jacket was not going to be needed off the bat, so I bungied it. 10 miles in, jacket on. It was cool enough to be very comfortable and the bugs were already out. Nothing is better than wiping bug guts of yellow, red, green and other assorted colors off your arms. Much easier to wipe, that cowhide.
I wanted to get a nice pic of the bike with a view behind, Idaho:
http://tetongravity.com/usergallerie...6_x_972%29.jpg
This is what southern Idaho looks like, for a loooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggg time:
http://tetongravity.com/usergallerie...972%29%7E0.jpg
BUT, this caught my eye around 10am on Saturday, August 5, 2006
SNOW!
http://tetongravity.com/usergallerie...6_x_972%29.jpg
After some long hills where I did actually wish I had more power as I had the throttle maxed and lots more collages of green, red, yellow and any other color you can think of lambasting my windshield and my leathers, it was time to take a break. Just as I pull off on a sportmans road to some lake, a nut had vibrated loose from the windshield mount, bounced off my tank in what seemed like slow motion, hit the road you see in the next picture and went bouncing into the weeds. I stopped to take a futile look for this little fucker, but to no avail. If I had found it, it was straight to the Idaho Lotto for a $208 million dollar ticket. :biggrin:
http://tetongravity.com/usergallerie...6_x_972%29.jpg
A bit later I pop into Star Valley to this view and more nice riding to the north:
http://tetongravity.com/usergallerie...6_x_972%29.jpg
Looking back on what I had come through so far:
http://tetongravity.com/usergallerie...6_x_972%29.jpg
So far it has been hammer down and 80 mph for a few hours but boy was it nice to head around the Palisades Lake, a good 30 minute ride around the lake that was so breathtaking I have only a few pics, I wanted to RIDE. At this point I was also ready to get to Frozen's for a cold one or 4.
http://tetongravity.com/usergallerie...6_x_972%29.jpg
http://tetongravity.com/usergallerie...6_x_972%29.jpg
So I arrive at Fred's place and what a place it is! The weather kicked ass, the ride was great and it was nice to see my buddy and his beautiful kids and wife.
We took a bit of time to bullshit and then headed out for more beer and some good mexican chow. This was to be a prelude to the evening as much tequila decided to disappear later.
So after lunch, it was time to ride some fourwheelers. :the_finge :the_finge
Pissing the neighbors off good was the first highlight, then on to bigger and better things, like to the top of some freaking huge peak. Buzz"dumbass"worthy forgot to bring the camera on this outing, along with no water or backpack (um, que Fred forgetting that) but luckily thought about the camera on my phone, as AWESOME as it is. :rolleyes:
The Tetons (camera phones suck):
http://tetongravity.com/usergallerie...05-06_1534.jpg
http://tetongravity.com/usergallerie...05-06_1533.jpg
We were on the boundary of the Jedediah Smith Targhee National Forest Wilderness and found this marker planted in 1998 at the top of what we thought was a really cool chute to ski off in the winter, sled accessible, at least till the boundary and then some really nice areas to skin to quick and make some laps.
http://tetongravity.com/usergallerie...05-06_1812.jpg
We then hauled some serious ass home and during the ride, we encountered a lot of cows and a bull or two. One had largish horns that would not feel good in any part of you. "Don't fucking get killed by the bull" is all I heard and then a large dust cloud called Fred took off. We zoomed by, and I watched that facker go after Fred for a split second. Nuts.
After clean up and a few beers, it was dinnertime and steak was on the menu, with some great corn on the cob. We downed an $80 bottle of wine, proceeded into redbull vodkas, margs, and who knows what.
The last picture I can really put up here many hours into a 4-5 am night, what a gracious host :yourock: :
http://tetongravity.com/usergallerie...6_x_972%29.jpg
Mine or yours! What a host, could not have asked for a better weekend!
The ride home:
Date: August 6, 2006, I think
Riders: Buzzworthy, Hangover and more freaking bugs
Miles riden: Same, round trip
Route: Same, reversed
Destination: Bed
No pics. Stopped once. Got home. Parked bike, no unpacking, hit couch, end of TR.
