Spud Run 2002 - Part 5

Duncan takes off first this time, followed by Eric and we make good time up toward the summit. Its getting chilly again. As we climb over the summit, Duncan is up, over and GONE. Elaine is taking him for a magic carpet ride that he won't soon forget! I lose sight of Duncan and Eric, preferring to take this one in a little slower, appreciating the scenery I had not seen in over 5 years. Beautiful. The road flattens out eventually and I catch sight of Duncan and Eric. A quick twist of the throttle and the VX and I catch up faster than I wrote this sentence. We are heading towards Ketchum, one of central Idaho's more yuppified towns, with nearby Hailey and Sun Valley vying closely in the contest. As we near town, the absolutely immense log structures that some people call home litter the highway on the left and the right. These people have way too much money. We decide to catch a bite to eat in Ketchum and as we pull into town we see many, many touristas walking along the sidewalks clad in shorts and a few halter tops. Down Duncan. Easy big fella. We spot a nice enough looking restaraunt with roof top dining and decide to give that one a try. Wading through the tourists, some look at us like we've just stepped off a UFO walking along, dressed in our riding gear.

Get used to it folks. We sidle into said restaraunt and the snooty waitress says that we have about 15 minutes to wait....no problem we can get a coke at the bar. Eric and I sit down on a couple of barstools and get the "why are you wearing a bug covered black riding suit in this place" look from an old yuppy broad sitting behind me at a table. Sorry mom, its just the way it is. About half an hour passes and Duncan checks with the cooks to find out how long it will REALLY take. Another 45 minutes? Sorry, can't upset the CO by being late for dinner. Lets move.

So back down 75 and we head through Hailey, Belleview and to the intersection of 75 and Highway 20. Highway 20 is straight, unbelievable boring and the wind's a startin' to blow. A headwind. Right in our faces. Carry on. So west we head on 20....remembering Duncan's back tire, we mosey along at a GPS indicated 70mph. An SUV passes the three of us at maybe 85 miles a hour and I can barely stand it. Well that's OK, nothing like having a three ton SUV serving as bear bait on a long stretch of road in Idaho. He gets way ahead of us and I decide to catch up with him. What the hell. I roll on the throttle of the mighty VX and pass through the century mark in no time. With a head wind. Within about 20 seconds I've caught up with the SUV....smiling at how he's saved me from a radar ticket. Thanks guy.

I back off a bit and Duncan and Eric are with me in no time. We finally get to Fairfield and my bladder's just about to bust. Yeowwwie. Duncan and Eric head into the little diner for a quick bite, and I hobble straight for the men's room in the gas station. Reach for the handle and the door's locked. ERRR.....a second later, a lady walks out of the ladies room...I look left and right...and I'm in and the door's locked. Ahhhhh.....a neglected bladder is not gender specific, folks. There are few pleasures in life such as this. With great relief I grab a Snickers off the shelf and pay the nice lady. I

walk back to the diner and Eric's waiting by the bikes..he'd grabbed a quick snack and Duncan was ordering and devouring a chicken sandwich. A couple of folks walk up to their own bikes - he on a Road Queen and she on a big and low Yamacruiser. We get to talking and they are from Belleview, on their way back home from an overnighter in Boise. Nice folks - this is her first long trip on the big black Yammy. She takes off first in full toot, misses a shift at high RPM (thank God for rev limiters) and the two blast off to the east. She's embarassed for a second or two.

OK, gotta move..C'mon Duncan, quit flirting with the cuties and lets MOVE! We head west through the Idaho Camas high desert, resplendent with vast fields of wild flowers and still standing water from the recent snow runoff and begin our descent to the town of Mountain Home and the real sage-brush covered, jack rabbit jumpin', coyote chasin' desert of southern Idaho. Boring. But some call it home. Mountain Home happens about half an hour later and we stop at a gas station for more relief and another candy bar.

People are gassing up their motorhomes, ATV's, boats, toys. Eric wonders how people afford so many toys here in the Idaho desert. Eric and I talk over Air Force days - I was first introduced to Idaho when stationed at Mountain Home Air force base, 29 years earlier. Fixin Avionics gear on the old swing wing F111. Fell in love with the desert way back then. Eric describes his stint with the Air Force - he enlisted the year before I. Both of us were in the AF during Nam. Different reasons, tho. I had a low draft number and would rather not personally kill people I didn't know, so I enlisted. Eric enlisted because he was patriotic...good man that Eric. OK, gotta move.

Where's Duncan? Duncan? Well Duncan's got his riding suit off and is talking to about the fourth person on his cell phone. Ahh, to be within cell service again. Cool. Duncan - we gotta move. Get dressed. Mr. B and Mike have finished their spline lube tech session by now and they are waiting for us. With huge rainstorms slowly crossing the desert to south of us, we are headed west on I84. Speed limit 75, I crank up the old maroon girl up to a GPS indicated 75 and Duncan and Eric drop back. They don't seem to want to catch up, so I drop down to 65 or so and let them catch up. Seems like 70 is about right and we tackle the headwinds back to Boise with those huge storms to the left of us. South. Looks like we'll stay dry this time. Thirty five miles later we are back at the beginning of highway 21 ready to head north.

The odo is registering about 325 miles by this time and we are ready to get back to the ranch. Twenty-five miles later we are at our familiar Rush Creek road exit, and ten dusty and bumpy minutes later we are home. Where's dinner, oh Curmudgeonly One? Rick and Mike report that they'd had an excellent tech session and the new purple baby is lubed and ready to head back to Eugene. The "Scummies" are on the grill in no time and we're ready to eat. Scummies you ask? Yes, Scummies are an ancient Blunden recipe consisting of a patty of lean hamburger meat surrounding a slice of cheese and sliced onions....patted flat and grilled on a hot BBQ, if the cheese leaks out, its called a leaker. Ooh Rick, five out of six are leakers. Been awhile? Oh yea, we like scummies. Mr. B continues to delight us with his cooking prowess. And we have a new tradition for the Spud Run. Most excellent. Sunday night now, and the Run's just about over. We're staying up later than we should - watching speed channel m/c racing and marveling in Duncan's ability to immediately find THE satellite TV channel with the least clothed women. Uncanny. How do you do it man? Winding down now and unfortunately its time for bed.

This morning the dogs woke me up at their usual time...about 6:00 AM. Toss them their kibble filled chow buckets and I make coffee before I nudge the Runners out of their last sleep this year at the Rockin' Rottie. I nudge them because with earplugs saving their ears from numerous sources of snores, they cannot hear the wake-up bugle. Love them earplugs, I may start using them regularly at night. Coffee's ready and its time to load up the VXes and Runners to head home. A few bagles later and the guys are loaded up and lined up for the final photo session. Eric pushes his starter button and instead of the ERRRR-VROOM, we hear a feeble click, click. OK, unleash everything on Eric's black beauty and we find a battery that is in dire need of some water. We fill the cells back up and jumper her off the porta 12 volt unit. ERRR-VROOM, score one for the porta unit. Eric, don't turn it off til you get home!

Duncan, with his leashed-up tire heads out first. They decided to try to get a few more miles outta the plugged tire. And Duncan, with his usual (or unusual) humor has duct taped the word "FLYIN" across the back of his spare tire. I snap a picture as he heads up the road in a cloud of dust. Fare well my friend. Eric takes off second, the VX torquing its way up the road. Damn, I missed the picture. Mike heads up after Eric and with a flash, he's headed back to Eugene. Got that one. Rick hasn't suited up yet. We talk for a few minutes more and enjoy one last smoke together as he suits up for his hot ride back to California. In minutes, he's gone too and I get the picture of him heading up the driveway. Missed the wave though. Darn. Except for a slight breeze, the buzzing of several thousand bees and three panting dogs, Silence. Well, almost silence.

Time to get the garbages emptied and recyclables sorted. I sigh a big sigh, look at the dogs and ask them...."well didja have a good time?" They reply with their doggie smiles and pant expectantly.

I sure did.

Let's do this again next year.

Helluva week, helluva Memorial Day weekend and some hella memories. Yea,

VXers are some pretty darned cool people.