20200619 Old Mission and Harrison Creamery

Once upon a time (last year), my boss and I were going to ride a loop up north, but due to extenuating circumstances it didn't happen. A couple weeks ago, I asked him if he wanted to try the route this year, and he was all for it, and suggested that we play hooky from work and go on Friday. So, that is what we did...

Now, normally I would get an early start on my long day rides. However, since it isn't going to be a real long ride and Brad wanted to attend a meeting or two before taking off, that last being at 10:00, I didn't need to leave my house until about 9:00 ish. So, when I woke up, I didn't get going right away. First, I logged into work and took care of a few things.

When 8:30 rolled around, I started my final prep to get moving and in short order I was ready to ride. I took my traditional "Ready to go" picture and then headed out a few minutes after 9:00.

This first trip was a bit boring, so much so that I wasn't paying attention and missed the turn off for the short cut to Brads. And I didn't realize it until the road merged back into a two lane road and I said to myself, "Oh, I missed the shortcut." I continued into Moscow, taking Palouse River Dr over to Lenville Rd and back down to Anderson Ranch. As I arrived, I was happily greeted by the family dog and invited in by Shelley.

I visited with Shelley and their soon to be son-in-law in the kitchen, while Brad was doing a little of this and that as well as dialing into the 10:00 meeting. I tried my hardest to miss it, but I finally wandered into the office just as the meeting got moving. The items of discussion were covered and it soon came to and end.

Brad took care of the last couple things to get ready and got a picture of the bikes before mounted up and headed out. However, we didn't make it very far before we made our first stop at his parents home, just down the road and around the corner. He noticed something in the yard and he wanted to ask them about it. After a short conversation, we were back on the road.

We rode to Deary, were we stopped to top off the tanks, and I filled my gas can. Even though we shouldn't have any trouble getting between stations, I find it always best to be prepared, just in case. And with that, we were on our way again.

I believe it was somewhere around Clarkia that the right speaker mounting bolt (hollow) sheared off at the base of the speaker, letting it fall towards me. The speaker wire kept it from falling too far. I slowed down, and I was able to place it up in the windshield. I turned on my hazards and adjusted the speaker a couple times, testing how it reacted to air flow at different angles. Once I was sure it would stay put, I turned off my hazards and sped up, catching up with Brad as we came up on Fernwood.

We continued our way through Santa and turned north highway 3. Riding on until St. Maries, we pulled into the Elks Lodge. Brad, being a member of the Elks, wasn't sure if they were offering lunch, so he was going to check. Before he went in, I asked if he noticed that I slowed down, he said yes. I asked if he had noticed my hazards, he said no. I then pointed out the speaker. I explained a plan to use zip ties to create a kind of net to hold it steady for the rest of the ride. I pulled out my tool bag and as I began the process he went in to check about lunch.

As Brad came back out, he took a picture of me working on my fix. While we worked, he mentioned that they did not have lunch, but recommended Cabin City Q. Before long, we had tension pulling in all the correct directions to hold the speaker in one place. We mounted up and headed for lunch.

When we pulled up, there were three bikes and a pickup out front, we circled the building and pulled up behind the pickup to park. As we walked in, we said hello to the other bikers and then picked a place to sit. We ordered lunch, then I went in bathroom to try to wash off some of the leather stain on my hands. As we ate, we chatted about several different topics. As the other bikers were getting ready to leave, Brad noticed that one of them was very muscular and said that he (Brad) needed to get back to the gym.

We finished eating and prepped to leave. Brad got a picture of the bikes out front, before I came out. I got a picture with Brad and the bikes before we road away.

From here, we got back on Highway 3 and headed north. Crossing over I90, we followed a side street over to the next exit, where we crossed back to the south side to the Old Mission State Park. Somewhere along the way, I somehow got a drop of what appeared to be tar stuck to the end of my pinky finger. I didn't even notice it until I moved my hand and saw it hanging there. I flicked it off best I could, as we went down the road.

Anyhow, We pulled in and stopped at the entrance to the park. I pulled up next to Brad as he was talking to the lady in the entrance shack. We got our entrance passes and then out of no where, Brad decided to run into my fender. Well, ok, he just lifted his bike off the kickstand and his saddle bag pushed against my fender. Apparently, I pulled up a little too close. He leaned his back towards the kickstand and I let mine roll back out of the way. We then pulled up to the parking spots. At this point, Brad mentions that he forgot to take his allergy meds this morning, and they were starting to get to him.

As we had a look around, we, or atleast I, learned that the Mission of the "Old Mission" was called the Cataldo Mission. Just inside on either side of the door, were two small organs.

For only the reason that they were the size they were, it reminded me of the organ that Grandma Della had. I told Brad about how, when we were very little, we would go up to her house and play on the organ and then she would have us pull taffy.

The ceiling has quite the detailed work, both painting and raised designs.

And inside the one room, the wall still showed the mud and straw that they used. Before we left, Brad took a picture of me inside. And to thank him, I made a wise crack about his age, when he pointed out that it was designated a historic land mark the year he was born.

We walked down to the visitors center. Brad rinsed off his face, and I tried to wash the tar off my finger best I could. I also rinsed my face, but more to cool off than to help with allergies.

As I made my way, slowly back up towards the parking lot, Brad went to look at and take a picture of a lower parking area as a possible stopping/turn around place for some visitors coming in for his daughters wedding.

As we got back to the bikes, Brad got a picture with them and the mission in the background. While getting ready to leave Brad got out his "little purse" that Shelley, Taylor and I made fun of him for buying back in 2017 (May 27^th). According to my story, we called it his "fanny pack" back then.

Once everything was packed away and we were on board, we headed back to I90. This time, we turned onto it and headed back towards Cour D'alene, taking the highway 97 exit to follow down the east side of the lake. Not too far from the freeway, coming from the other direction we passed a very expensive car. I am thinking it was a Lamborghini Diablo, Murciélago or Gallardo. Brad was thinking it was a Ferrari 308GT.

Not too much later, at Arrow Point, we pulled over to strip a layer or two, as the next few miles were going to be slow, winding and warm. All of which we enjoyed to the best of our abilities.

At one of the inlets, I noticed a bald eagle circle and dive down and skim the water, but came up without any fish.

We pulled over in Harrison at the creamery ("Harrison Creamery and Fudge Factory") for an ice cream cone. I have to say, Brad is either very talented or inhuman, because he had that thing gone in no time. (I'm thinking of a few people that I can hear say, in unison, "inhuman, he's inhuman.") While I attempted eat mine, Brad made conversation with a couple and their little girl from Texas. Once they got their order we wished each other a good trip, and they went on their way.

Once I did get done eating my cone, I had quite the mess on my hands... and face. I got out my water pack, and proceeded to wash off my hands and rinse out my beard.

Getting ready to leave, I realized that I forgot to take my pill at lunch. No wonder my stump had been bugging me. Since it was about 16:20, I took two, and then we were once again on our way.

We made our way back to highway 3 and back into St. Maries, where we stopped to fill up. We put jackets back on and started the last arm, well Brad's last arm of the trip anyway. Which was uneventful, meaning the deer Brad was worried about never jumped out in front of us. On the way back down, we followed highway 6, and if any asks about my education... Hey, I've been to Harvard. But we didn't go through Princeton this trip.

We slowed down at Brad's parents house, but he saw what he needed to see, so we didn't stop this time. And we arrived back at the Anderson Ranch a little before 18:30.

We went inside for a bit and then we all, Shelley, Taylor, Brad and I, sat out on the front long under the trees and chatted about our days. Shelley had prepared supper and it was decided that we would eat out side.

At about 20:45 I said my thank you's and good-byes and headed towards home. As I got to the top of Lewiston hill, I turned the camera on, to see if I could get some video with the lights. They didn't turn out that great because of the light adjustment that the camera made, so I didn't post any.

I took the back way home so there would be fewer stop lights, arriving at about 21:30.

My trip was about 325 miles. (Brads was a bit shorter, obviously.) It took me 12.5 hours from start to finish, but as you now know, there were a couple "activities" that added quite a bit of time that weren't really part of the ride.

And that brings us, once again, to the close of a longest day ride. Even if it wasn't on the actual longest day.

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AJ's Crazy Biker Adventures