Cleaning up the bike this morning in the hotel parking lot led me to believe we were in for a nice cool, pleasant day of riding. I was way off the mark on that. The riding was certainly enjoyable (well as enjoyable as it can be pounding down the interstate). The issue was what started as a 60 degree morning ended up a 95 degree run for the cool air conditioning of the hotel.

We followed Idaho State Highway 33 until it bumped in to Interstate 15 North. That road carried us through the rest of the day. The first 100 miles or so we were all dressed for cooler temps but it was obvious it wasn’t going to stay cool for long. It was just about time for break to fuel the tanks and grab one more cup of coffee. The next exit had gas so we pulled off at Lima, Montana.

Across the street from the gas station was a small cafe. The sign said Jan’s Cafe. It looked like my kind of place. Fresh coffee and a some small breakfast item would help keep us comfortable as we moved farther north. Looks can be deceiving.

I’m not sure if Jan was having a bad day at the cafe or what. Our entire order consisted of a small order of a biscuit with gravy, a biscuit with honey and butter, and 1 blueberry pancake. Simple right? Everything except the pancake was already made and should have been delivered promptly. I guess I don’t call 75 minutes being very prompt. Our server, Crazy Stacey (that’s what she called herself) did the best she could but I can only drink so much coffee and have any hope of riding very far. When the food was delivered, it was very ordinary. We could hear that a new cook was being trained in the kitchen but even allowing for that we were disappointed.

While we were at the cafe, the diners at the next table asked if we were the guys on the motorcycles. “Yes, that’s us.” The gentleman asked which one of us was riding with our feet 4 feet up in the air. It took me a minute to comprehend what he was referring to. I guess he had never seen anyone use “highway pegs” before. What do you expect from a Tesla driver.

Speaking of Tesla’s, if you look closely at the picture below you will note that there are a row of Tesla charging stations at the back of the parking lot. If there had been cars at all 8 of these stations, the population of Lima, Montana would have tripled with the influx of e-vehicle owners.

There was one more gas stop for the day and the jackets came off at that point. Gas is not readily available in some areas so we drove 5+ miles from the exit to find the Town Pump. More drinks were procured (water, Gatorade, etc. – no alcohol while on 2 wheels). Off we went, headed for Missoula, Montana.

It turns out that our hotel is next door to the local Cracker Barrel. The question of where to eat dinner was answered pretty quickly. The hotel is part of a chain that I’m not really familiar with – My Place. It is reasonably priced and has everything we need including a guest laundry which we took advantage of.

Missoula has some stringent face-mask requirements which is a lot different from where we were last night (Rexburg, Idaho). We’re doing our best to follow the rules.

Hmmm, I wonder where we can find breakfast in the morning before we roll toward Lewiston, Idaho.