I woke up to what seemed almost like freezing rain.  It wasn’t frozen yet but was real close to it.  It was a very cold ride toward Butte.  About 20 miles before Butte, it started snowing and was getting colder. When I FINALLY got to the summit there was a couple of inches of snow all around.  It was only slushy on the road on the top.  I could not wait to get to the bottom and hope it would be warmer.  I pulled into a gas station and went inside to get a cup of coffee before fueling.  I had to get the feeling back in my hands first.  

After the coffee and fuel I took off to change my path. I thought the only decision I had to make was at Missoula, to continue on I-90 or take hwy 12 down to Lowell and Lewiston.  When I encountered snow way before Missoula, my path led me straight down I-15 to hopefully a warmer Idaho Falls and on to I-86 and I-84.  Two blocks away just as I was getting on the onramp my bike shut off and my wiring started to smoke big time.  I stopped as fast as I could and pulled the hot wire off the battery, and boy was it HOT!  Back in Milwaukee my bike started to have intermittent problems with the ignition.  I kept checking the wiring and it all looked ok.  Now I could find the problem.  My hot wire going to the brake light sending unit was getting pinched between the rear fender and the battery.  I pulled all the melted wiring out and pulled new wire from my back pack.  It started snowing on me again while I was rewiring it.  The light switch for the ignition got fried also.  I took one of the light switches off the handle bars that went to the turn signals and put it in place of the bad ignition switch.  I soon had everything working again except the brake light.  

After a half hour I was able to head south and it finally stopped snowing a few miles later.  As the interstate took me due west again I was battling a very strong head wind.  I smelled something like burning rubber, or…?  I stopped beside the freeway and checked my tires for any new rub marks.  It all looked good so off I went again.  I soon noticed a problem with the knee pads that are on my handle bars for hand protectors.  The right one was pushing on the front brake lever due to the strong headwinds.  It was causing the front brake to constantly drag.  That is what the smell was.  I took a bungee cord and hooked it on the knee pad and kept it from hitting the lever.  Funny thing about the brake being on all the time I was only getting 20 mpg on that fuel run.  After a couple of more fuel runs with no problems, I ran out of gas five miles short of Mountain Home.  I barely got pulled over in front of a truck that was in the slow lane and I dumped my spare gallon in and was on my way.  Everyone should keep a spare gallon of gas on their saddlebag.  I usually donate the extra gallon to someone else that is out of gas beside the road but this time it was for me! 

A few miles down the road a truck with a sign said, “Wreck ahead and very slow traffic”.  Traffic was stopped in both lanes.  I noted the mile marker where it started and I took off in the right side emergency lane.  I passed everybody for 12 miles.  Traffic was starting to crawl now and then.  The state police was having everyone get off the freeway and onto a single lane country road.  As soon as I saw the cops I pulled into line with everyone else.  Even with a 12 mile advantage over the rest, it still took way over an hour to be able to get back on the freeway and get back up to 80 m.p.h. again.  Today seemed like a lot of things were trying to tell me that I would not be making it home tonight.

I pulled back into Oregon and had only my leather flying hat on and didn’t stop to put my helmet on for 25 miles to Vale.  Fuel and helmet and back on the road again.  139 miles later I pulled into Burns well after the sun went down.  Eastern Oregon gets pretty cold in the high desert and tonight was no exception.  I pulled into a Best Western because it was next to a restaurant.  As I was waiting in line in the lobby, a couple came in off their bike and he said, “Milo, what are you doing here?  You’re supposed to be in Milwaukee”.  I told him that I was in the parade Saturday morning, St Paul Saturday night, Bozeman last night and now here.  I didn’t recognize him so I introduced myself to his wife and she said that she is Nancy.  That still didn’t ring a bell so I asked him where we met before.  He said we have never met and his name is Bob.  He told me that they are from upstate New York and a friend of his e-mailed him my Website and said that he needed to check it out.  Bob read the stories and was quite surprised to see me and the bike when he pulled up.  He did an excellent job with the whole thing (making me think that we knew each other) when they entered the motel.  He got me good!  I asked them if they had dinner yet and they said no that’s why they choose this motel.  We unpacked and the three of us went to the restaurant.  We had a great visit, learning that they had an Ultra and just sold it and found a Kawasaki with a side car on eBay.  They shipped their riding gear to the guy’s house that was selling it, and flew into Portland, Oregon.  He assured them that it would make it to New York just fine.  The bike and the side car combo are a good looking unit.  Bob has been a corrections officer in the prison system for 23 1\2 years with 18 months to go to retire.  Nancy retired from the postal service. They both are a very cool couple to be around.  We all three told stories and it could have lasted a lot longer but we needed some sleep.  Bob grabbed my check and said he would get my dinner if I leave the tip.  That’s ok with me.  We all said it was a pleasure to meet and have dinner together.  Bob said that his friend who e-mailed him my Website is going to be quite surprised to learn that we met tonight. What a great ending to a challenging day!......