It was 30 years ago on that trip that I first developed my distaste for lightning. We were climbing Mt. Fremont on a crystal clear day and the a wall of black came in from the west. If you're up high in the mountains and there is lightning, you have to do everything that is counterintuitive. We had to ditch our metal climbing gear and go to the most exposed pinnacle around, so the strikes that hit the mountain (there were many that day) don't head directly toward you, as they might if you "hid" in a cave.
The storms did not stop so we eventually had to rappel down in the storm. It continued into the night. It was striking all around us, and we could feel the current under the pads of our sleeping bags. At one point, Bob yelled out for his mother, which was ironic since they had not spoken in years.
While not as hard hit as the front range in Colorado, this area has been mired for the past week with unusual amounts of rain and storms. I assiduously look at the radar on the weather channel, concerned about riding motorcycles into lightning. The storms out here are strong and you are extremely exposed when crossing the dessert or the flats (like we just did for 65 miles).
We decided to leave our camping equipment at home, which turned out to be a blessing. On the second day of my drive to Jackson in my Jeep, I vetured off road and stopped briefly for a picnic in the middle of Forest Road 600 somewhere near Union Pass. As I sat on the bumper of the jeep, a forest ranger came over to me and asked me if I would be staying long. I asked why. He told me that there was a grizzly bear less than 200 yards who had just had a cow for dinner. It was not clear whether the bear, that the ranger was going to try to trap in a cage, wanted dessert, so he suggested I enjoy the food and scenery inside the jeep.
Headline of the Jackson Hole morning news today. " Grizzly attacks hunter."
Good that we left the gear at home.
We left the motorcycle rental place around ten. George had lost his wallet for the second time in less than 24 hours. The first loss occurred at a restaurant in Jackson Hole last night. Usually, our loss of keys, cameras, phones and wallets are false alarms; the item is invariably located after a frenetic search within ten feet of our location, most often in a pocket. But George really left his wallet under a napkin at the table and we almost did not return to find it, figuring it would "turn up" somewhere.
George has probably already described in detail the unpleasantness at the rental place; this has not been our usual experience in renting motorcycles from this company. It was made clear that if we bring the bikes back one minute after 9 am, there will be surcharges. The bikes are pretty "tired" and each has more than 35k in miles on them. I was very reluctant to take mine; it was to low and my knees were cramped and I was worried about pain. I was not receiving the reassurance I was seeking from George that we might be able to trade off on his clearly superior machine. But the only option was a Harley and that's not what we do.
We headed out of Jackson and over to Idaho falls. Notwithstanding the awkward seating position, I love the bike I had and remembered that I had once actually owned this same model. George did not fare as well on his machine -- too light and poor steering and when we stopped in Idaho Falls, he asked to "try" mine. Idaho Falls was nice, highlighted by a picnic at the local Harley Davidson dealer, where we arrived with our green safety vests, helmets and German motorcycles, attracting unwanted attention. We passed on the free burger, but it was reassuring to know that you can in fact purchase an AK 47 at an HD dealer in Idaho, one of which was on display near a brand new Harley Electra Glice (I think they were offering a bundle on the bike and the gun).
We headed out to the dessert, the refuge of mountains and the next town some 65 miles away. (We could see it). I did not like George's bike, but he loved "mine." I don't intend to stand on the fact that I did in fact rent the preferred machine, as followers of this blog are aware that on other occasions, such as when George somehow lost a glove while sitting on a motorcycle in southern Utah (a one half hour search that still boggles me) there was never an issue about sharing. I simply gave him my gloves. But I am feeling a little more tired these days, so it will have to be some sharing arrangement.
Because the iphones showed thunderstorms ahead, we stopped in Arco (was this the acronym for a defunct chain of gas stations?) at a small motel and walked around town. Very sad. Businesses boarded up and we had a chat with the owner of a gun shop who had closed his business three years ago, because "the Mormons would not do business with Christians." Apart from its apparent history of religious bigotry, Arco holds the distinction (in 1955) of being the first place in America which was "lit up" by nuclear energy. (We passed the old reactor in the desert). As it turned out this "lighting up" involved the illumination of one bulb for about an hour and the nuclear energy was never used again. But the town still holds a three day "atomic" festival in July, no doubt drawing thousands.
The other nice feature of Arco is that there is this sandy mountain right off the main drag with various rock faces. Each graduating class of the high school goes up to the mountain and paints its graduation year on the rock. We counted back to 1923.
Well, we are off tomorrow to Ketchum and Sun Valley (where Ernest Hemingway had breakfast with this wife in 1961 and then went home and blew his brains out). I suspect we won't stay long in Sun Valley; we have never enjoyed the upscale towns and with income inequality in the press again this week (the one percent now reaping in over 20 percent of the income), we would not like to sanction or support the elite's watering hole.
We are off to a good start and I suspect that we may not cover the mileage we have in the past, but who knows? These Odysseys are rarely well planned and the five guide books in our saddlebags have not been touched. Hopefully, my knee will be a little better so that we can do some light hiking.
Location:Arco, Utah
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