This year, Brad Anderson is/was off gallivanting in the motor home, so he was not able to join me for the ride this year. It was brought to my attention, though, that Doug had a motorcycle, so I invited him. He said he didn't want to go on a 400+ ride, and being that he is riding a KLR, I totally understand. So, it was decided that this years ride would be to Spirit Lake, ID. And we would meet at my house about 8:00.
During my prep time for this years ride, my neighbor Wayne stopped over to chat. It put me a little behind, so when Doug showed up, I still had a couple things I needed to get together. I did introduce Wayne and Doug and after a short chat Wayne left us to our day. I quickly got my chaps on and the last few items I needed. And, before we headed out, I gave Doug a quick tour of the house, since he hadn't seen it yet.
Despite not really needing to be, I was in a "hurry up" head space, so I spaced on getting a picture before we left. But I did remember to pull up to and turn of the water spigot as we were leaving the yard a little after 8.
We made our way through town and headed up Lewiston Hill on highway 95, turning off onto 195 shortly after reaching the top. We pulled off 195 and rode through Pullman, following 27 through Palouse on north.
Shortly after leaving Palouse, we slowed and turned off 27 onto Ladow Butte Road, which happens to be gravel.
Obviously, this didn't phase Doug's bike, as it was built for this type of road.
I was happy at how well mine traveled on it, and it didn't seem to pick up/throw much gravel.
A little less than 2 miles in we came to the reason we took this road, reaching the Ladow Butte Barn.
We stopped here and took several pictures while we chatted.
We continued another almost 2 miles until reaching the Garfield-Farmington Road, which was once again paved, and headed towards Farmington.
Making our way through the little town, we continued on Tekoa-Farmington Road to Tekoa.
Entering Tekoa from the south east, we soon and once again joined highway 27 which we followed through and out of town.
Making our way north, we passed through Latah, Fairfield, Rockford, Freeman and Mica. We each town we passed the sky's began turning cloudier and darker. Pulling into Spokane Valley, I pulled over at the Temple, figuring it was a good time to check how Doug's hindquarters were doing. Took a couple pictures while we were here.
We made our way through town soon reaching highway 290, where we turned north east. Coming back into Idaho, the highway number changed to 53 and as we passed through Rathdrum at the junction it changed to 41. This one we followed through Sturgeon and passed by Twin Lakes. This is about the time we got a few sprinkles as we made our way into Spirit Lake.
Making our way into town, we soon arrived at Annie's Country Kitchen. The asphalt from the road to the parking lot had a sudden drop. As I pulled off the road, I heard a scrap of the tail pipes. When I finally remembered to check them, you couldn't tell looking from behind.
Once inside, Doug ordered the Fish and Chips, and I ordered the Philly Cheese stake.
They we began reading the signs on the walls, which the place is somewhat known for.
They also have a pond out in the yard with an alligator head and a sign saying "Do not feed the Alligators".
When we finished, we thanked them and went outside. Many of the clouds had passed by and the sky looked much better. That said, it was still a bit on the chilly side. We bundled back up and started on our way. (I left the parking lot at an angle as to not scrap anything this time.)
Before getting too far, we stopped at the gas station at the south end of town and filled up. Then we took highway 54 for a short jaunt over to Athol where we got onto highway 95 headed south. The GPS had be get off 95 and before I realized what it had done I was already off. I pulled over to get a look and it was going to have us drive through a section of town and then take us back to 95 to get closer to where I had planed to exit in the first place. Doug said he would prefer being off 95, so we stayed off 95 and went though the side roads of Hayden and Coeur d'Alene.
Finally, we made it to Coeur d'Alene Lake Dr which we followed along the edge of the lake for a while then we turned onto Yellowstone Trail. This took us up on the hill, zigzagging through some interesting homes and a couple contraptions to get to those homes. Then, all of a sudden, coming around a corner, the road turned to gravel. I stopped and looked at it. Doug was good with what ever I wanted to do. The road was in good shape, so we pressed on. Luckily, I don't think the gravel lasted even a mile before returning back to paved.
The road continued to carry us along the side of the hill around Blue Creek Bay and finally dropping us back down next to I-90 at the highway 97 exit. This is exactly where we wanted to be, as we began to follow highway 97 south along the lake until reaching Harrison, where we stopped at the Harrison Creamery. Brad introduced me to the Harrison Creamery back in 2020.
We both ordered a cone and sat out back while we ate them and chatted.
Once we had finished, we climbed on the bikes and headed on our way. We soon reached and turned onto highway 3 and headed into St. Maries. Continuing on 3 we passed through Santa, Clarkia, Bovill and stopped in Deary.
From here, one would normally stay on 3 to drop down into Kendrick. However, I have taken that road several times and so we went on 8 over to Troy, turning onto 99 and then dropping down into Kendrick. Here we turned back onto 3 and followed it through Juliaetta and on to highway 12. This we followed for a short bit until it merged into highway 95, which took us back into Lewiston.
As we pulled into North Lewiston, Doug pulled up and we waved and he peeled off to head home. I followed 12 across the bridge and around to the bypass, which I took around downtown, then onto Snake River Ave over to Primeland. I stopped there and filled up, before heading home.
The ride was approximately 346 miles, taking us approximately 10 hours. A very enjoyable day.
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