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 Before
hitting the open road, we locate the legendary Spiral Highway on
the north edge of Clarkston/Lewiston. This road is spoken of in
reverent whispers by many Northwest motorcyclists as something
that must be experienced.
After coming around a blind
turn or two and narrowly dodging cows standing in the middle of
the road, we quickly modify the name of the road to "The
Spiral Highway of Death".
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 It
features approximately 30 turns in only 10 miles of road while climbing
2,000 ft. and meanders
all over the place while doing it. At first, as you are riding it, you think the
engineer had to be either drinking or an avid motorcyclist. But
then you find out at the top that it was built for Model Ts that
barely had any power. I read that the nasty, steep wagon trail
that the Spiral Highway replaced was so bad that some of the cars
of the day had to ascend it in reverse as that was the only gear
that had the enough torque to manage it.
(Click on photo to view full size image)
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 The
informational sign
at the top of the Spiral Highway. For some reason, it doesn't
mention how this road has escaped obsolescence by turning into a
destination for motorcyclists all over the Northwest.
(Click on photo to view full size image)
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 A
veritable genius when it comes to building perfect motorcycle
roads, CC Van Arsdol is one of our heroes. This plaque is
displayed at the top of the Spiral Highway and indicates that he
engineered 2 highways and 3 railways. Little did he know then that
he'd be toasted with mugs of ale by many riders now.
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 Ok.
It doesn't get much better than this. Highway 12, east of
Lewiston, ID, becomes an absolute blast when it heads up along the
Clearwater River up to Lolo Pass. 77 miles of high speed sweepers,
great scenery, beautiful weather, few cars and a couple of buddies to ride
with. The only way to improve it would be to learn that all the
cops were on strike as you were passing this sign. (Click on photo
to view full size image)
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 After
dropping down out of the Bitterroots into Montana, we stopped for
gas. A man and woman pulled in on a pair of BMWs. She had a nice
figure that was sporting a very nice brown leather riding suit and
we gathered around to get a good look at this babe as she was pulling off her
full face helmet. We just about fell over when we saw her white
hair and realized she was old enough to be our mom!
They turned out to be very friendly people and
their reflective vests were sporting a huge logo for the Christian
Motorcycle Riders Association. Their slogan is "Riding for
the Son".
This inspired us to talk about starting our
own religious riding group: The Christian Sport Bike Riders
Association. Our slogan would be "We speed for Jesus!"
and we wondered if the traffic court judge would buy the argument
that the speeding ticket would be an infringement on our freedom
of religious expression as guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. Hmmm...
(Click on photo to view full size image)
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 Meanwhile,
Pork Chop and Pablo are heading north into Montana after touring
the Tetons and Yellowstone National Park.
(Click on photo to view full size image)
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 Thanks
to Inga making the motel arrangements for all involved, we rendezvoused
with the Tucson desert rats in Missoula as planned.
(Click on photo to view full size image)
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| Click
here to view the next day
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| Click
here to return to the Glacier National Park ride page
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