Start Location: Burley, ID
Ending Location: Kennewick, WA
Miles Today: 458
Trip Miles: 2814
States Visited: 5
National Parks Visited: 3
National Monuments Visited: 1
Low temp: 49.8° F
High Temp: 74.8° F
Min Elevation: 309'
Max Elevation: 4309'
Route Map:
Utah Parks 2026 Day10
Today was our longest mileage day and included a few
frustrating problems. The first problem started almost immediately. We
filled up the tank in town and then got right on I-84. Almost
immediately the motorcycle started sputtering and stalling and wouldn't
accelerate. I was pretty sure I knew right away what the problem was -
water in the gas. This is the third time it has happened to us over the
years, both other times I think were in Wyoming. I down shifted into
4th gear and just tried to baby the throttle and keep the motorcycle
running. Fortunately there was very little traffic early in the morning
so we weren't in anyone's way. After a few minutes the motor smoothed
out and after 15 minutes or so, the bike was running normally. I guess
we were fortunate that there was apparently not much water in the gas.
You can guarantee next trip I will be carrying some ISO Heet for
insurance. ISO Heet works by blending with the water and allowing to
pass through the fuel system without any problems.
Eventually
we passed out of Idaho and entered Oregon at which time Linda mentioned
that we had not seen too much construction on the trip - big
mistake. Almost immediately we entered several long construction zones
with not much actual construction going on. Needing gas, we stopped in
Huntington, Oregon which happened to be in the middle of one of those
construction zones. We had to navigate some local construction but
eventually got gas and headed back to get on I-84 only to find that the
westbound entrance to I-84 was closed. There was a marked detour but it
took us back 9.5 mies eastbound to the previous exit where we could get
off and back on westbound. So we added an extra 19 miles to our day. It
would have been nice if they had posted a sign indicating the lack of
an easy back on to the Interstate.
We eventually arrived in Kennewick around 5:00 where we had a free
night at a Quality Inn because of accumulated points from previous
stays at Choice Hotels.
Speaking
of which, once we have dinner one of the first things we do is plan the
next days route and make reservations for a hotel. We didn't always
make reservations in advance but we got burned a few times by not
having them. Anyway we were looking at the Pendleton area but, when we
started checking out hotels, hotels that were $150 to $200 a week or so
ago were now $400 to $500. Apparently this was the middle of the
Pendleton Roundup which seems to be very popular and brings lots of
people to the area. We had to get as far as Kennewick before hotels
were normal rates again - a good thing we checked in advance.
