Alaska Ride, Day 26

After visiting Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, and one of my favorite brewing companies, I was left without an itinerary, and studying maps to decide what else I should see.

Mike and Paul already left for home early, well ahead of schedule. Should I depart for home too, or should I take this opportunity to see more?

As it stands now, I'm expected home around July 14, which is one month after I left on June 14. Technically, I had six more days of riding left, but I was having trouble deciding where to ride to.

Upon leaving my campground in the Targhee National Forest this morning, I saw a billboard providing information about the "Teton Scenic Byway". It actually runs further north from where I stood, but only ran about 68 miles to the town of Ashton, ID. It sounded interesting, and it was something to do.

The Teton Scenic Byway is officially Idaho state routes 33 and 32. It's hardly scenic, however. It's all flat land and straight road, with little else to see but homes and buildings. As it turns out, it's an historic trail first blazed by fur trappers, which ultimately created many of the towns along this road. I think it was dubbed a scenic byway for the many historical markers and museums along this road. I didn't stop for anything, however.

The Teton Scenic Byway is a lot of flat scenery

Once at Ashton, I looked for a Wi-Fi coffee shop so that I could get some trip reports posted on this blog. But there were none to be found in Ashton. I headed south along US20 to Idaho Falls, which is a medium-sized town, and I rode all over Idaho Falls, and still couldn't find a coffee shop with Wi-Fi. I probably wasted an hour there.

I rode a little further south to Pocatello. There, I had a decision to make. Either I could take I-15 south to Salt Lake City and then decide what else to do there, or I could take US30 to Twin Falls, and then drop down into Northern Nevada. I opted for Salt Lake City.

The reasoning is that I wanted to find Internet access and I knew for certain I could find it in Salt Lake City. But also because if I still wanted to go into Northern Nevada, I could still get to there easily via Bonneville.

Of course I visited the Potato Museum in Blackfoot, ID

And in fact, I'm contemplating riding out to see the Bonneville Salt Flats, even with the hot temperatures there. From there I might jump on US50, and ride what is known as "The Loneliest Highway in the USA", basically a road that no one travels along.

And if I went through Nevada that way, it would set me up for a ride over the Sierra Nevadas, home to some of the best riding in California.

The other thing is that as it stands right now, if I were to take the I-15 straight home tomorrow, I'd get home with about 9,000 miles on this trip. I would like to boost it up to 10,000 miles, just because it's a nice number, and technically I still have some more days left until I'm supposed to be home.

This sign was one of the more interesting things to see along the I-15

Of course, my wife has been on the phone with me throughout the entire trip, and texting me as well. And I've been calling her too, and I do miss her much and would love to hold her right now. And she basically wants me to come home right now. But if I leave for home now, who knows if I'll ever do something like this again.

Well after making my decision to go into Salt Lake City via the I-15, the ride was unremarkable. Boring riding, boring scenery. In Salt Lake City, I picked out a room, and then found a couple breweries within walking distance, "Red Rock Brewery" and "Squatter's Pub Brewery". I visited both, and both are very similar in their decor and ambiance. Squatter's Pub seemed to have the better beer however.

So right now, I'm leaning heavily towards Bonneville tomorrow.

Red Rock Brewery, Salt Lake City, UT

Squatter's Pub Brewery, Salt Lake City, UT

Potato sack sewing machine, Potato Museum, Blackfoot, ID

Beer taps, Squatters Pub Brewery, Salt Lake City, UT