Day 8 – Greenough to Missoula to Idaho.

(I'm trying a new format, with narrative up top, and all the photos below--please let me know what you think.)

After Deb and Jerry sent us off with a tasty breakfast, we headed down the gravel road out of their wonderful valley, back to Missoula's Big Sky BMW to get Don's deceased spark plug wire replaced. I took the opportunity to unpack and dry out my tent, which was still soaked from the rain at Glacier NP.

A couple of hours later, we headed south to Idaho’s Sawtooth Recreation area. The roads winding through the mountains of the Montana/Idaho border were fantastic! Great gentle sweeping turns, and almost no traffic. I think it was one of the first real “yee-haa!” moments of the riding portion of the trip. The Sawtooth Mountains were a spectacular backdrop, looking like a jagged set of orc teeth against the sky. We had so much fun riding that we didn’t stop for pictures. As we got further into Idaho, the haze began to thicken and I noticed a strong smell of smoke. We stopped for gas and snacks near the Sawtooth wilderness area and there was a group of what looked and sounded like out-of-state firefighters having barbeque on the porch. As we continued on, the sunset turned the entire western sky a deep red.

A few miles later we pulled into the Holman Creek campground, and were pleased to see that we were the only occupants. We picked the campsite furthest from the road, next to a chuckling stream, then I rode back to the front to pay the lockbox the eight-dollar fee. After pitching our tents, we watched the moon rise over the pines, and tried some creative night photography. The temperature dropped rapidly, so we retired to our sleeping bags.