Spring Shoot Em Up - I'm in The Ho!

Believe it or not, I was actually out the door by 7:05 am.  I say this because it's a rare day lately that I'm even out of bed by 7 am!  But, I was excited to get on the road and head to Idaho for the 2016 Spring Shoot Em Up Ride to Eat (RTE).  I had packed up my stuff and loaded the bike the night before so all I had to do was grab my wallet and phone, gear up and head out!  I'll be riding solo on this trip (sad face here) because Eric has to work (ick!!!).  It's been quite a while since I've done any long rides solo but I felt confident and my bike is in good order.  Okay then, off I go!

The weather was perfect, sunny, not a cloud in the sky and no wind along with sparse traffic.  I was very happy to have my heated jacket on as the temps dropped to 44 on the ride up to Cedar City, UT.  I was just slogging today on Interstate 15.  My first stop, here at the Loves Travel Plaza in Cedar City was to fill up both my main and aux fuel tanks.

 All was good.  I got back on the freeway and was just buzzing along at 80 or so.  Somewhere after Filmore, I felt a weirdness.  You know?  You know how your bike feels and something wasn't quite right.  It kind of felt like maybe my tire was low?  The bike just kind of wandered about the road surface so I slowed down. Ahh, that was better but still not quite right.  Then I felt more weirdness just like when my wheel bearings went out.  Like dangerous!!!!  So I slowed way down and put on my flashers looking for a good place to pull over and check out the bike.  Well, yeah, I should have taken that ranch exit with no services and nothing for miles and miles and miles and probably no cell service either.  There was a cop at the bottom of the ramp though.  Yeah, I should have taken that exit but I didn't.  Things weren't getting any better - nope - they were getting worse and I was getting all nervous and wondering if my ride was over and how long it would take to get a tow truck out in the middle of nowhere.  Dang.....finally, I found a decent place to pull over so I did.  I got off the bike and took a good look at everything.  Both tires were full of air and the axles were snugged up tight - no wheel wobble.  Hmmmmm.....WTF?

Okay, a deep breath and a smoke later, I took another walk around the bike and what did I find?  Yup, I found the problem.  So will you.  This is how my dry bag looked when I left the house.

This is how it look when I stopped.  Re-enactment for your benefit.  I forgot to take pics where I pulled over.

Obviously, I hadn't secured the bag appropriately and at some point it had come loose.  Good thing I always loop through the top so I didn't lose it entirely!

So, that bag was flopping around, hitting my tire and throwing me all over the road.  Jeez Louise!  I was scared just riding with that going on.  I was so relieved to see the issue and could continue my trip.  However, just to add insult to injury, that bag is holding the precious Cletha's Cookie Creations Lemon/Lemon Pistol Cookies.   Hahahahahaha.  I didn't even look.  Either the folks at the RTE will get some awesome cookies or they'll get a bag full of crumbs!!!

I almost didn't share this story because I felt so stupid!  I always check my latches, tie downs, etc. but somehow this one got away from me.  Fortunately it wasn't catastrophic (well, maybe the cookies are crumbs) and I was able to motor on!

I stopped around 11 am at the Nephi, UT Denny's for brekkie/lunch.  Not bad for a Denny's.  I had a nice meal, washed up and right back on the I-15 headed north.  Destination - Idaho Falls, ID.

I made another quick stop to top off both fuel tanks before hitting the heavier traffic that lasted from Payson to North Ogden, UT.  I rode the express lane the entire way through Provo, Salt Lake City and into Ogden.  Nice!

My final stop in Utah was at a rest stop.  The weather continued to be perfect but was getting a bit windy.  I have to laugh at this picture because almost every single selfie I take, I have my nose all wrinkled up.  What's up with that?

 A lovely place to take a bit of a break.  Honestly, my knees and butt were getting a bit weary.  I'm such a candy a** anymore.  Obviously I need to get more miles and seat time and get my Iron Butt back :-)

 Okay, enough of the beautiful Utah scenery!  Just a slog up the interstate.  Fortunately, the speed limit was 80 mph for most of the way.  And, I traveled along just slightly above that.  I crossed the state border from Utah into Idaho.  Yippee, I'm in the Ho now!  I stopped at this rest stop about 20 miles south of Idaho Falls.  I needed to switch out my GPS because the one I was using wouldn't recognize Idaho!  As I was taking care of changing the GPS and plugging in my Sena because the battery was gone, a man walked up to me.

He asked the usual questions, where you going? where you from?  Are you riding by yourself?  Aren't you afraid?  Really?  I answered Bonner's Ferry, St. George, UT, Yes, No.  After he left with his family I thought of the witty retort I SHOULD have used.  Like, what's there to be afraid of?  You?  But of course, I didn't think of this until 10 minutes later :-)

Regardless, this is an interesting rest stop.  We've stopped here before and you can take a bit of a hike on nice paved paths to view the lava fields.

 Another 20 miles and I was in Idaho Falls and quickly found my abode for the night, the Motel West.  Not the Best Western but better than Motel 6.  Actually, it looks like they are making improvements and my room is just fine.  I was happy to get here after my scare earlier today :-)

 Uh, I don't know.....at least my nose isn't wrinkled!

 The view out my window.  Not bad.  It's getting VERY windy here.  I hope it calms down by morning.  I had a bit of an issue trying to check in.  My honey, Eric, made the reservation and when I went to check in the gal wasn't going to let me use Eric's reservation because my last name is different!  Really?  Yeah, really.  Okay, so how do we make you happy?  We can call Eric.  No, I don't know his credit card number (why would I?).  She finally decided I wasn't trying to scam a room and let me check in.  Lesson learned....

 I have a lovely poster in my room, "Welcome to Idaho" so I'm officially "in the Ho".  Headed to Bonner's Ferry tomorrow and looking forward to meeting up with everyone and hope I have more to contribute than cookie crumbs!

As always, thanks for following along with me!  I probably won't have time to blog until the Spring Shoot Em Up is over but you'll want to watch for the next post.  It's sure to have a ton of fun pictures and even more adventure!

Till then,

Cheers,

Cletha