From San Francisco to Sturgis SD, here we come!

Our motorcycle trip begins. We are off to Sturgis, and to North and South Dakota and Wyoming.

It was pretty hot while crossing the Nevada desert on I-80. It got up over 105°F, and when cruising at 90-95 the hot air felt like a blast furnace. There’s no AC on the motorcycle. Much of the west is in a heat dome right now. Thank you, La Niña. At least we didn’t see any 110°F temps. Thankfully we have the gear with us to ride in temps from 35°F up to 120°F. Still, it was HOT.

In Wells NV, 600 miles from home, we got off the interstate and headed north to Twin Falls. We’ll try to stay on the US and state highways from here. The interstates are so ‘sterile’, and you see the real countrysides from the US and state highways. The farm lands north of Twin Falls and Shoshone are pretty, especially as we watched the sun rise.

The lava fields at Craters of the Moon in south-central Idaho is a surreal landscape. The Earth’s crust is a weak point here, and the fissures of the Great Rift volcanic zone contain more than 25 volcanic spatter cones here in the National Park. The landscape here looks and feels like the Moon.

We also rode through the tiny town of Picabo ID. It reminded us of US Olympian alpine skier, Picabo Street, who won Gold at the Nagano Olympics in 1998. She was born a little north of here, in Triumph ID, and she’s actually named after this town.

In Butte MT last night we enjoyed a good dinner at Butte Brewing & Pizza — a refreshing cold beer with a Pizza Margherita. It was Montana’s take on the Naples, Italy pizza classic, a little heavy on the sauce and lite on the mozzarella di bufala. Still, it was tasty to two hungry motorcycle riders.

Today we’ll visit good friends here and then head east through Wyoming and into Colorado to visit with more friends.

Thankfully, the La Quinta Inn here in Butte MT is a comfortable stay. The Harley holds a lot of gear, but still we had to pack lite to make it fit.