Day 17 - Idahome!

It was cool to cold riding out of Rock Springs in the mid-50's at 8am this morning.  But the draw of home was all we needed to tolerate the morning chill.  We knew the sun would warm us as we rode and expected temps to be in the 80's by the time we arrived home at lunch.

We were on I-80 West as it's the only option to get to Cokeville, WY, our first stop of the day.  We waived by to Rudy as he split off to go to UT at Little America.  From Kemmerer to Cokeville we were on Hwy 30 which always seems to be a busy road.  We got "stuck" behind 4 vehicles which were doing close to the limit, but it still seemed like getting to Cokeville took forever.

At Cokeville, we fueled and some grabbed a quick drink before we got back on Hwy 30 West. Inside the convenience store, Cami snapped a pic of hats on display before we saddled up.  This is a familiar ride to us.  Today was our third trip this summer down this road.   We were cruising between  Cokeville and Montpelier when something to my left caught my eye.  Torrey had surged a bit ahead of me.  As I slowed down, so did he.  There was a full size sheep eating on the edge of the highway.  It had looked up at us as we approached.  Not sure if it would decide to cross, we wanted to ensure we weren't taken out by a sheep in the last 100 miles of our trip.  The sheep turned away from the road as we passed by.  There were no other sheep to be seen in the area.

Dilly Dilly!

Soda Springs was our last stop of the ride.  The lure of Pocatello was a magnetism that would not be denied.  At McCammon we jumped on I-15 and were immediately into construction.  We were nearly to Pocatello before the construction ended.  We arrived home around noon and as we had hoped, the temps were in the 80's and we were warm.

Upon our arrival I texted Rudy. Timpanagos HD, in Lindon, UT had his bike in the shop for it's 10,000 mile service as Rudy had planned to do as part of his ride home.  I asked him to text me and let me know he made it home safely.  He said he would do so.

About 4:30pm Rudy called.  I asked, "Are you home safe?"  With a bit of a giggle, he said he was.  Then he went on to explain that after traveling all the way across the country safely, he was about taken off the road within 15 miles of his home.   I inquired what might have crossed his path that may have put his safety at risk.  His answer was a hawk!  Apparently the hawk had just swooped down and snagged a whistle pig in it's talons.  It was flapping its wings trying to gain altitude, but the weight of his prey was making it difficult.  That's about the time the bird and Rudy crossed paths.  Unfortunately the two collided.  The hawk got tangled up in the foot peg and the whistle pig he was carrying got lodged between the headers.  Luckily Rudy was able to keep in upright on the road.  He pulled off to check the damage.  Sadly both animals lost their lives.  The smell of the whistle pig prevented Rudy from getting close enough to dislodge it.  He opted to get on and ride away to outrun the smell.  He said that when the bike cooled off, he would have to go out and pick out what was left of the animals.  The pictures are a bit graphic so you may want to scroll past them quickly.  I asked Rudy to submit the photos in part because it was unbelievable, and because one can't make this up.

Overall is was a great trip.  While the weather could have been better, we learned about ourselves and each other.   We made it safely there and back with only minimal repairs and regular maintenance to the bikes we rode.  That's a good day or series of days that make up the trip.

Total Miles for the day: 251 miles
Time to Travel that distance: 4 hours
Cumulative miles for the trip: 4623