So much of this trip has been at 65 mph great vistas before us. But lots of lovely tiny things are around you when you slow down.

This morning we had a nice breakfast at Jaspers Restaurant in St Regis. Our waitress was terrific, filled our Nalgene bottles without asking and gave us good advice about motorcycle roads nearby. She planned to take her daughter down our destination later in the week to harvest Huckleberries. Our plan is to take Little Joe Road from St Regis (about 12 miles of well graded dirt road) to connect with Saint Joe River Road that wends 110 miles to Saint Maries.

This turned into a lovely ride. We stopped at a creek, cracked open some canned pineapple, and caught our breath under a shade tree with our feet in cold water. We then doused our balaclavas and shirts with water before carrying on to St. Maries.

The heat ramped up fast. Mid-80s when we started, but by the time we hit St. Maurice it was pushing 98 to 100. We were both fairly exhausted so found an IGA grocery store and grabbed some Gatorades, potato salad, and bow tie pasta.

We were set for more riding, but the weather looked threatening – dark skies, ominous forecasts, people in the checkout line talking about storms. We beat cheeks via I-90 back towards St. Regis and towards our campground. About 30 miles this side of St. Regis, the skies just opened up on us. It was the first real rain of the whole trip, but it was a deluge with poor visibility. We pulled over, threw on rain jackets quick, but still got soaked through.

Their was rumour of flash flooding and rain predicted throughout the night. This nudged us in direction of Motel stay instead of camping. We had a couple miles to dry off before hitting St. Regis, allowing most of our clothing to air dry going down the highway. I dropped Tina off, then went back to break down the campsite.

Our lovely, quiet campsite had been invaded – a big RV pulled up right next to us playing a radio station with its stream of ads and pop music. It’s funny how unmistakeable an ad stream can be at low volume. You have no idea what their saying but the pattern is distinct. All of this was confirming our decision to do Motel; a good omen to get out of there.

I was able to break the camp down before the rain started. All our camping gear stayed dry, which is critical since it’s getting packed away for a couple weeks. Then zipped back to St. Regis, picked up Tina, and walked over to the Jasper restaurant for a late dinner.

A sweet young family was checking into the hotel when we arrived – the Dad had been born/raised in St Regis, they were returning for a family reunion. Their daughter had an uncanny resemblence to Tina as a 4 year old. It was kind of easy to substitute her parents for this family, and imagine what it must have been like for them so many years ago.

Stats

• Highlight : St. Joe Scenic River route
• Miles : ~250
• Hours : Full day with weather delays
• Cost : Motel upgrade due to storm

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