The people we stayed with in Couer D’Alene we got hooked up with because of the church we were visiting, Meet Christ the King Lutheran Church.  We came while they were doing a lot of construction, so it is neat to see the physical changes they are currently undergoing, and Mike and Cindy who we stayed with were also excited about the new things going on in their church.  They were once a larger church that went threw a slow decline, but now they are starting to grow again, so it was cool to visit this church while they are growing again.

Sorry the picture is blurry, I think there was something wrong with my camera.  We actually took a couple pictures and this was the best one.

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Coeur D’Alene, Idaho We left Yellowstone Saturday afternoon after a great morning of white water rafting, and then lunch with a fun family from Northern California.  From there we headed to Butte for the night, and the next day we headed to Missoula.  We were ahead of schedule so we were in no rush to go very far.  We got a tent site in Missoula, but of course it rained, and rained hard.  However we were fortunate because the rain did calm down by the late night so we were able to sleep. Then Monday we headed to Coeur D’ Alene (CDA), ID.  This is a gorgeous town.  The town is all right on CDA lake and surrounded by forests of pine trees.

It is not a big town, but it is a gorgeous one.  We met up with our host family, which we got connected with through the church we visited there, Meet Christ the King Lutheran Church.  Their names were Mike and Cindy, and they were a lot of fun.

They are both retired teachers, and they know how to have a good time. Mike has a small bar he built with a friend in his backyard.  It is simply indescribable, so here is a short video.

We hung out and drank some beers there till 11:30 at night and then finally went to bed. The next morning, Tuesday morning was my birthday.  I did not want to call attention to it, but Ryan let our hosts know during breakfast that it was indeed my birthday.  Mike said we should get some fat tire for tonight, and I said half kidding that I would like to get some La Folie.  La Folie is an expensive beer made my new Belgium Brewery in Colorado, which we visited earlier on the trip.  The beer is very sour, and most people do not like it, it actually tastes more like a wine than a beer, but I really enjoy it. The problem is that it is rare, and hard to find, but as soon as I mentioned it, Mike made it his goal for the day to track down that beer.  So sure enough, before we sat down for dinner that night up at upper twin lake, he brought me out a brown paper bag, and he had found one of only 2 bottles of La Folie in all of Northern Idaho.  What a birthday gift!  I drank the whole thing with excitement, but probably too fast, it is a beer that is meant to be drunk slowly. After some La Folie, I kayaked out on the water, and spent some time just observing the beauty there.  I spent some time thanking God for my travels, and for my 26 years of life.  Then I heard some thunder so I hurried into shore, where we enjoyed the rest of the evening with a good ole beach side bonfire.

Yesterday morning we were in Livingston MT, and we headed to Gardiner MT, which is about 50 miles south, and borders the north entrance to Yellowstone park.  We dropped our stuff off at a cabin here in Gardiner, and headed into Yellowstone.  What a place.

We stopped and saw some hot springs.

Then we saw Old Faithful

More hot springs

Yellowstone Lake

A wild buffallo right on the side of the road.  Also right after Ryan took this picture, a lady fell and broke her leg.  I saw the lady screaming for help, and so I stopped Ryan from taking more pictures and told him to get to work.  He went over and helped the lady with a cold pack, and told her what was wrong.

When we were just about 10 miles from leaving the park and going back to our cabin, it started to rain and the wind picked up quite a bit.  This was all in the curviest part of the whole park. So needless to say it was a little hairy getting back, but we made it back to our warm cabin for the night.

This morning we went white water rafting on the Yellowstone River.  It was a lot of fun, and we met a nice family that bought us lunch afterwards.  No pictures from that yet, but the family said they would email some to us, so we will post those as soon as we get them.

So when I last updated we were in Deadwood SD, and we are now in Billings MT, which is about 400 miles away.  We stopped last night in Miles City MT, after riding about 275 miles.  It was really hot out, and it is the same today.  I have a rad farmers tan, from riding in just my tshirt yesterday.  We stopped at a KOA there and got one of those little cabins again.  It was well worth it cause it had AC, so we pretty much just relaxed in there the rest of the day.

This morning we started heading west again, we both filled up on gas, and then hit the road.  Now what is weird is that yesterday, i got 160 miles to my tank, however today I was not so lucky.  It sputtered out at 124 miles, that is extremely low, cause the average is about 145-150.  I tried to call Ryan on our headsets but he was just out of range, cause he was on the other side of the hill.  I knew I was low on gas, and had my GPS set to take me to the next gas station, which was probably the first in about 100 miles, but I ran out exactly 1 mile to soon.  I got off the bike tried to call Ryan, but there was no connection.  So I started walking to the exit, almost immediately a trucker and his wife got pulled over and offered me a ride to the gas station.  I filled up the little gas tank, and started headed back to the bike.  Again after a couple hundred feet of walking an elderley man pulled up and asked, “Is that your bike over there on the highway?”

“Why, Yes it is.”

“Well would you like to walk back, or would like a ride back?”

“I think I would prefer the ride back sir.”

He laughed and took me back to the bike.  Here is the crazy part, I never once stuck out my thumb, or tried to get anyone’s attention, it was just natural for these people to try and help me.  And the old man, actually pulled off the highway to look for me, to see if he could offer his help.  What a world out here.

I filled up the bike, and headed to Billings where I just met up with Ryan at a starbucks.  I think I am going to savor the AC for a while. We are planning on stopping at KOA tonight in Livingston MT, just north of Yellowstone.

I meant to write this last night but this morning is good too.  I haven’t been feeling 100% for the past, lets say 36 hours or so more like 65% and I think it has to do with missing some sleep but here is the scoop.  Yesterday when I got on my bike and started riding the Black Hills outside of Mount Rushmore, I felt like a new man!  I felt 110%, leaning into the turns, passing up cars.  Then to be doing all this and see Mount Rushmore come up in the distance, it is amazing.  The experience of riding a motorcycle is unlike anything else in the world and I often forget while we are riding, day in and day out, to stop and remember that I will probably only be able to do this once in my life, and to take in every second of it!   I love riding motorcycles and I hope everyone has a chance to enjoy one thing in their lives as much as I enjoy a good ride.

Ryan

We havent had a lot of cell phone reception or internet connection lately, but at the KOA we are staying at tonight there is internet.  So I will update you on the last couple of days.

Sunday we headed out from Minneapolis late in the afternoon and only made it about 180 miles to Jackson MN.  There was not much there, we just set up camp, and went to bed.

The next day we both were feeling pretty good, and so we decided to go pretty far, We went 375 miles from Jackson to Wall SD.  It was a long day, and it was made even longer because there was a big storm that we had to pass through.  Ryan made it through with just high winds, I however stopped at a rest stop and tried to wait it out.  It was dark black at 3 in the afternoon, and it rained hard at that rest stop for a good 30 minutes.  After a while it lightened up, and I hit the road.  However I didn’t realize that the wind was still real strong.  So when I crossed the Lake Francis Case – Mo River, I hit a strong northwind, and it almost pushed me out of my lane, and it probably would have had I not prepared myself.  I could see the wind blowing water over the bridge pretty fast, and so I knew I was in for a fight.

We made it to Wall witch must be the capital of tourist traps.  There were literally signs every 10 miles for what is called the “Wall Drug.”  Signs like $.05 coffee, Free Ice Water, and lame stuff like that, so of course I had to stop by.  It was a bunch of overpriced country stuff, but it was fun to see.

Then today we woke up, and headed to Mt Rushmore.  We were only about 75 miles away so we got there pretty quick.

It was $10 to park, so I opted to park outside the parking lot, or so I thought.  When I got back to my bike, which was in a spot right next to an RV, that appeared to be outside of the paying area just on the side of a street, there was a guy in a golf cart waiting for me.  He told me that I owed him $10, I told him I only had $7 on me which was true, so he held out his hand for the $7.  I gave it to him, then he told me that is how he pays all the people that work there.  As I started to ride away it occured to me that the only people who worked there were people who collected money for parking.  At $10 a vehicle, someone is making a whole lot of money, and I am sure it is not the hardworking parking attendant.  I wasn’t so upset at the guy demanding the money, as much as I was upset with the guilt trip he was trying to give me.  It occured to me, they could just have free parking, and then eliminate the need for all these extremely well paid parking attendants, oh well.

After the overpriced Mt. Rushmore, we headed to Deadwood, which once had its own HBO show.  The town is historic for lots of reasons, but that is where Wild Bill was shot while playing poker.  That happened at the Saloon #10, so I decided to play a little cards there as well.  Granted this was a rebuilt Saloon #10, but still pretty cool to play cards where Wild Bill once played.  I lost though, so it was a relatively expensive experience.

Tomorrow we start the journey to Yellowstone.  If we ride conservatively we will be there by Friday.  I hope there is internet between now and then.

Yesterday we had the privelege of sitting down with Pastor Marty, or Master Party as he sometimes likes to be called.  He is the pastor at The Edge Christian Fellowship.  We met up with Marty because the people we are staying with, Jane and Christy and work at a cofee shop that the church started in.  Jane is related to the Schmillens, some really good friends of ours from home.  They were a lot of fun to stay with, and so it kind of stinks that we have to move on.

The Edge is a very unique church, one of their slogans is we are just beggars showing other beggars where to find bread.  I love that concept and mentality, and that humility really does ring true there.  We also went to their Sunday service this morning, and Marty asked us to share a little bit about our trip with the church, so we did.  I think that is one of the first times we did that, but it was really cool.  In the podcast Marty shared some great stories of how God is moving in their church.  I really enjoyed our time with him.  You can also find them on youtube at http://www.youtube.com/user/pastormarty72

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