I spent better part of the day riding a favorite circle route full of curvy roads and suitable scenery. Thompson Falls to Paradise, 23 miles of Clark Fork river road to St. Regis (I had to record mile markers for an upcoming float trip) - 50 miles of I-94 west over Mullen Pass through Wallace (narrow mountain valley where the "I" is elevated above town), to Kingston, ID & then back up the twisty Couer D'Alene River to Wallace (another hidden town of 200 souls) for lunch at the Sprague Pole and back over Thompson Pass to, you guesed it T. Falls.
While taking some relief at a rest area below Mullen Pass, I watched a couple of loaded down HD's motor by, with big waves. I later found them pulled over at the summit. Being the curious type, I pulled in behind them. They were taking obligatory "Welcome to Idaho" photo ops. They kept looking over at me. I'm not that scary as I was wearing pleated trousers, a shiny pair of oxfords, a clean button down shirt and conservative striped neck tie, not the narrow kind, door-to-door salesmen favor (well, I made part of that up).
After pointing, laughing, smiling, hand signs and a couple of written notes, I figured it out. They were both deaf. Travelling from Illinois to Alaska. Safe travels guys
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jh
