The OGRES MC 2020 "Lolo Pass" Summer Run began by members and guests meeting up at the appointed place and time. OMC members present: Bomber, Grim, G-Man, Gundy, Rip City, Rowdy (prospect) and Smooth. Guests present: Joy and Leann. Members absent: Krome and Slick.
Everyone, but Rip City and Leann, were on scene when G-Man, Rowdy and Bomber rolled in at 7:45 a.m. sharp. They parked and finished readying their rides and such. Rip City rolled in a few minutes later and drove right by the group and the spot where the Club had met so many time before. Rip City proceeded over to the gas pump area of the Stinker Station. He disappeared from sight. It was assumed he still needed to gas up. Shortly thereafter, Smooth's phone rang with Rip City on the other end of the line. Rip City was inquiring where everyone was. Just then a huge pickup truck backed away from the Stinker Station allowing us to see Rip City, on the phone, sitting on his bike. Mystery solved.
It was smooth sailing all the way to Garden Valley with minimal traffic and cool temperatures. We stopped at the Chevron Station, in Garden Valley, for a short break. As we were readying to leave, two majestic elk wandered by crossing the road to the other side. A very cool sight to start the ride.
The pack took off to head up to Lowman and Stanley. The temperatures remained cool and the traffic was light. Motorists were very cooperative and pulled over for us when needed. It was a very pleasant ride over Banner Summit and then into Stanley with the wonderful Sawtooth mountains as a backdrop. We fueled up in Stanley and then proceeded to the Bridge Street Grill in Lower Stanley for lunch.
We finally parked out of the way of delivery trucks and found seats on the deck next to the river. It is always a delight having a meal there for both the scenery and the great food. We had a great no-nonsense server and also met the cook who Rip City tried to "catch" in the sliding glass door. After a great meal, we headed on our way. Smooth, in the chase vehicle, did a great job blocking traffic so we could all get out of a difficult driveway unscathed.
We rode up through Clayton and on to Challis. Again, the traffic was light and courteous. It was a very nice leg up to Challis.
In Challis, we stopped at the City Park and enjoyed some ice cream sandwiches. It was hot but we found some shade and a picnic table. Rip City showed off his form fitting camouflage leggings while many conversations went on concurrently.
As per usual, the Vice President parked his motorcycle away from the rest of the Club as though ashamed to be seen with us. Or his bike is shy. Or maybe because he has a tender backside and needed his bike to be in the shade for buttocks protection. Who knows?
Duke met up with us, at this point, after finishing his Boy Scout meeting in Stanley. After spending too much time in Challis, we headed on up the road to Salmon. It was a lovely road with almost no traffic at all. The canyons and curves were a delight and it was a very zen leg of the Run. We arrived at the Stagecoach Inn and checked into our rooms. A short sub meeting was held in the foyer by three or four members before all were unloading in their rooms for the night.
Unfortunately, The Shady Nook was closed so reservations had been made at "The Ranch" 3.8 miles north from the motel. We all headed up there to make our 7 p.m. reservations. Bomber and G-Man joined us there after doing some family homestead reconnoitering. We found a nice table and had a pleasant, attractive and funny server. Luckily, Joy did not start any food fights and we all ordered our meals. The special was finger steaks and many members ordered that dish with mixed results. Grim's ribeye steak was thin but flavorful. We finished up and headed back to the motel after gassing up. All went smoothly except for one lost wallet and one tipped motorcycle but all was reconciled safely.
After a night's refueling and resting, the OGRES met the next morning for a sack breakfast and readying of rides for the day. The time creeped closer to time for the safety briefing. Though one member was jaw-jacking with other bikers while his belongings were still in his room, the briefing and departure was only a little late. Grim made sure the way was clear for all before he pulled out onto the roadway. He was befuddled when all did not leave smoothly and a semi truck, with an empty flat top trailer, ended up in the middle of the pack. Unbeknowst to Grim, Bomber had decided a jacket was needed out of his saddlebag and held up part of the riders. A long straightway soon presented itself and the impatient trucker thundered by the forward bikers about ninety miles an hour. Grim must be getting soft as it was somewhat scary as it was a bold move by the trucker.
The remainder of the ride into Darby was very nice with both curves and scenic straightaways. This stretch of road is always a delight.
Darby was the usual fun of checking out the cool shops and locale. Grim had his customary chocolate "haystack" and also made Rip City also partake, as per custom.
Grim announced the unanimous vote installing Rowdy as an official prospect member in the OGRES Motorcycle Club. There was a photo of the occasion but Grim will be darned if he can find it. Congratulation and condolences were shared with Mike welcoming him into the Club.
We probably spent too much time in Darby but it is hard to resist. We were on our way after "herding all the cats" back to their bikes. Smooth again made great use of the chase vehicle to get us all back on the road in busy traffic.
We headed up the road hitting the five lane highway where we cruised along at the posted 70 miles an hour speed limit. It was a cool overcast day with a slight smell of rain. The weather made for a pleasant ride that usually is quite hot. No feelings were hurt by the colder weather.
We proceeded through Hamilton and Lola and headed up Highway 12 towards Lolo Pass. We stopped shortly at the Casino gas station for gas and a quick snack break. As we pulled into the station, multiple emergency vehicles roared up the highway with lights and sirens. We assumed a wreck on up the road had occurred.
Our bikes roared on up the highway and soon passed some of the emergency vehicles parked in a turnout but there was no sign or evidence of an emergency. Interesting.
We proceeded up the road until came upon the scene of a different accident that had just occurred. There was one vehicle with a smashed front end with a couple and toddler holding each other standing next to it. Two vehicles had stopped to help them. We proceeded past as it was unsafe for such a large group of motorcycles to stop on a narrow and winding road. Several OMC members did stop while the rest of the riders finally found a turnout to wait for the stopping members. Eventually they arrived and we headed on to our next destination.
A training will be held at the next OGRES MC meeting discussing the guidelines and factors that should be considered when stopping for a crash or other exigency.
We eventually rolled into Lochsa Lodge after a short stop at the top of Lolo Pass as Grim had mistakenly thought Lochsa Lodge was in Montana and was alarmed by the "Welcome to Idaho" signage.
We found a couple of tables and the group split up five and five due to the Covid -19 rules. There was the adult table and the children's table. Grim was at the children's table.
It was the usual great meal and pleasant surroundings. Grim was able to get a short tour of the cabins in case the Club spends the night there on a future trip. He was quickly castigated for it.
We, again, stayed too long but were finally back on the road after G-Man was able to find his CUT. Grim has found that one's CUT never gets misplaced when it is worn on the shoulders of a member, where it belongs, instead of draped over a chair or on the floor.
We headed down the mountains with Orofino in our sights. It was a smooth and cool ride except for a close encounter with an idiot on a "bug bike" who tried to pass in a very bad place. Grim was not aware of the BMW's rapid passing of the group until the last minute. Ahead of Grim was a tunnel with a large flat-nosed trucking emerging. The BMW barely squeezed between the front of Grim's bike and the emerging truck. Grim does not know how the BMW magically, or luckily, escaped without colliding with one or the other. Phew!
The rest of the ride was pleasant and uneventful although longer than necessary without a break stop. Grim was planning on stopping at the Cougar Mountain store but found it was closed and there was no shade. He should have stopped for a break at the Three Mile Island Resort and will do so in the future.
We proceeded past Kooskia and Kamiah and were zeroing in on Orofino when we encountered rough roads. Grim hit a huge pothole that could not be seen in the shadows. His bike went skyward and sideways and it was a miracle he did not not go down. Luckily, Mike was the only other rider who encountered the pot hole. His bike caught air but he also stayed upright.
We pulled into beautiful Orofino enjoying the view of the little town surrounded by the forest and bordered by the river. We gassed up and then parked at the great hotel. We checked in and unloaded our bikes. The Vice President took care of the reservations at the great restaurant next door.
Part of the OGRES members, and guest, found the pool as soon as possible. It was as refreshing and restorative as usual. G-Man was again wearing his usual sexy, black number to the pool. He even showed it off a little. Rip City displayed this diving skills blatantly breaking the pool rules. G-Man displayed his patented face plant dive. Ouch.
Later, we met up at the great restaurant next door. We had a wonderful table on the outside veranda where we could sit together. We had a lovely, attentive server and the food was just as grand as usual. Grim had the best Tiramisu ever.
Bomber announced he was leaving early in the morning to attend an unexpected championship baseball game his grandson was playing in. We took our traditional stairway photo and headed to bed after conversing in the lobby. Bomber took off at 5:30 a.m. the next morning while most OGRES members were still dreaming.
The hotel always has a great breakfast and we all took advantage of it, except for G-Man who slept in and barely was packed in time for our slated departure. As usual, the hotel left two bottles of water next to each bike. We added them to the cooler of icy water that Smooth had provided for the trip.
After a short safety briefing, we headed off down the road to Grangeville. We took a different route out of Kamiah that turned out to be a very nifty and fun leg of the ride. At one point, two deer poked their heads above the wheat to spy us but they ran the other direction.
We rolled into Grangeville and made a short pitstop at the truck stop on the edge of town. Ding dongs and Diet Cokes were available per tradition. After trying to figure out whether jackets were still needed, we headed out of town and down White Bird hill. Going down the grade is always a treat.
Up ahead, on highway 95, we knew a large rock slide was going to have us using a detour that several reports had differing magnitudes of difficulty. We cruised into the "banana belt" of Riggins and eventually came upon the detour.
We only had to wait about 20 minutes and half the pack was not ready when the flag women waved us through. The errant riders caught up and we rolled through side road that was in pretty good condition. The expected gravel was not there. When we rode by the rock slide, we found it too be quite astounding. Large parts of the mountain had crashed down on several construction trailers and had made a real mess. That road will be closed for quite some time.
We proceeded down the side road, through some small spots of community, and eventually emerged back on the highway. It was actually kind of a nice little interlude.
The pack picked up speed and we cruised towards New Meadows and McCall. Again the traffic wasn't too bad as most of it was heading in the opposite direction. There were other bikers headed in both directions.
We rolled into McCall and gassed up at the traditional Chevron station. It was very busy in town but we were able to fuel much faster and easier than I thought.
The Pancake House was beckoning us for lunch and we all met up on the porch after getting our bikes parked. Smooth had gotten us in line and had the beeper for when we could be seated. Soon we had our masks on and were escorted to our table. We had a great server and had our meals in a reasonable time. Next time Grim is sitting in the middle of the table so he can hear all the conversations.
After getting out of the parking lot and back together, we headed on down the road towards Boise. Grim thought that the 105 mile ride was short enough to make it without a stop. Wrong. Wrong. A stop should have been made at Cougar Mountain Lodge as that is the halfway mark to Boise. Grim did not take into account the heat and slow traffic. Next year will be better.
Upon returning to Boise, we rolled back into the same place we started. We said our goodbyes and took our photographs. It was overall a great ride that will be even better next year. Thanks to all for the great companionship and experiences.
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| Rowdy (prospect), G-Man, Smooth, Grim, Gundy, Rip City, Duke |
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| Leann, Joy |
It would have been fun to have had all the photographs taken by members for both the blog and the gallery. Maybe next ride.
Thanks to Rip City for his marvelous Relive productions. You can find the links in the next blog post.
'Nuff said...
