Mom's Bucket List: Lolo Pass Ride, July 15 & 16

  One of the many items on my Mom's bucket list was to ride over Lolo pass on a motorcycle.  I was in the area with my FJR so we took advantage of the opportunity and rode the ride.  The weather from Idaho Falls to Salmon was pretty un-eventful, except for a bit of rain we ran into just outside of Salmon.  Mom and Dad decided to pull over an put the rain gear on before it got too bad...even though I kept telling them "we're only like 1/4-mile away from Salmon...".  So we rode the last two minutes into Salmon and stopped at the gas station, and THAT'S when it started to rain!  After we filled up, we all donned our rain gear and headed to the local cafe where we had a nice lunch.
  After lunch the weather cleared and we headed to Hamilton, and then Lolo.  Since it was Sunday we found it really difficult to get a snip-o-brandy anywhere!  Turns out though, if you look in the gas stations with a bar and casino in them they'll sell you bottles!  Who'da thunk...we bought our pint and headed up to the Lolo Hot Springs.
  The 'rents had made the reservations for a cabin at the hot springs, which I was familiar with.  I stayed in a bungalo last year on the Adventure Ride 2011 with the boys, but the cabin was a step up...

Cabin outside

Full-size bunk beads (I call top bunk!)

Momma standing in the kitchenette

 ...it was definitely a step up from the bungalo.  It had a shower, toilet, sink, microwave, refrigerator, and kitchenette.  You could sleep someone on the futon too.  Mom was not impressed, though...she really was expecting something different!  You can probably see the nonplussed expression on her face in the pic above.  Not to worry, though...after a few glasses of brandy and wine and swapping some old high-school stories she was in a very happy zone!  We had dinner at the only restaurant there, which was pretty good...I can't recall what we had but I remember that it wasn't bad.  After a long sit in the hot pools I ZONKED OUT...man I was tired! 

  After a good breakfast at the same restaurant, we packed up the steeds and were on our way...

The steeds: My '06 FJR and Dad's HD Softail Deluxe

Along the way I took a few pics of the 'rents on the chop...

The 'Big Sky' country...

Pops turnin' and burnin'

I didn't take too many pictures after this...it started getting hot and it was taking a bit longer than I expected.  After eating at The Hub in Kamiah, we rode on to Orifino and up Old Highway 7 to Kendrick and then St. Maries.  We took the scenic highway 97 through Harrison and arrived home around 5:00.  Sweet ride...could have been better without the heat, but we missed all the rain and didn't have too much traffic in the two-lane highways.  And it was even better to do it with my parents and check-off that item on Mom's bucket list...