Saturday, May 3, 2003 - Day Four - Mountain Home, Idaho
I slept well, thanks to the extra blanket. I was awake around 6:30 a.m., looked outside to see overcast skies and wet conditions, and went back to bed. I got up about 8:25 and finding everyone else asleep, I went out to the garage to wipe a layer or two of dirt from the Road King. Thanks to Allen for the S-100 and paper towels.
After cleaning the bike, I checked my voice mail and was pleased that there were no new voice or pager messages. Outstanding.
Sometime later, people awoke and stumbled to the kitchen/living room areas, where we had bagels and cream cheese, muffins, eggs (cooked to order!), juice, conversation and another session of The Weather Channel. It became obvious that riding motorcycles for fun would be out of the question, as a storm was approaching. We could see the clouds on the western horizon.
Around noon we piled into two cars, drove through Mountain Home and then east on U.S. Highway 20 for a while. We turned onto a road (Allen knew, I didn't need to know) and drove into the Boise National Forest, past Anderson Ranch Reservoir and some other beautiful territory, into the Sawtooth National Forest, through the community of Pine, past a Boy Scout Jamboree site (in the rain) and into Featherville. Diane and Allen had previously visited Bryan & Kelly's House (restaurant), so we ate there. (Well, okay, it was the only restaurant in "town.") I can't relate what everyone had, but I had a nice steak sandwich and everyone was very happy with their meal.
After lunch we went next door to the Featherville Saloon. I communed with nature on the front porch for a while, but when a guy showed up with four dogs, one of which had recently tangled with a skunk, I then went back inside to join the others for a spirited game of darts. I suppose I could have done better had I understood the rules, but I had fun throwing darts and making the electronic scorer buzz (once in a while).
We got back into the cars in the rain, then returned to Casa Noggin, about 60 miles, passing through various weather conditions on the way back, mostly glad that we had taken cars and not motorcycles.
About 5:30 p.m., Grumbler and Barbara and their two daughters rolled in from Boise. They had previously lived in the San Jose area and had been in Boise for a few months. Daughter one was very unhappy to be present and quite anti-social; remember back to when you were 13? 'Nuff said. Barbara brought cinnamon cookies to share (and they were great!).
Dinner preparations were made, conversations abounded, and we enjoyed sunshine outdoors, but could still see dark clouds on the western horizon.
Another fantastic dinner was served, and we enjoyed it along with NASCAR's Pontiac Excitement 400 from Richmond VA on the FX channel. There was cheap talk about taking a group walk around the neighborhood, but it didn't happen. Let's blame it on the bad weather -- yeah, that's it!
During the evening the empty Coors bottle was passed around, along with a marker pen, and various autographs were enscribed as a memento to Snarl of the party that he missed. Later Randy put the bottle into his saddlebag for transport back to the pacific northwest.
After a while, Diane brought out the most wonderful cheesecake and shared a little with everyone. It was fantastic!
According to The Weather Channel, it was going to rain on Sunday. We watched "your local on the 8s" several times and the forecast never improved. Oh, well.
Grumbler and his family left for home, conversations continued, but the weather forecast never got better.
Since I did not know what time I would arise or leave in the morning, I said my goodbyes and thank yous before going to bed around midnight.
Miles for the day = 0. Miles for the trip = holding at 902.
Tomorrow: Rain and cold, but I could still feel the warmth.