Idaho wilderness was part of Zoran’s and mine interest for last several years. For different reasons, almost always related to our job responsibilities, we had to cancel Idaho trip. Now when Zoran is retired we have removed one important variable in Idaho equation and at this point in time all depends on me and my availability. Zoran keep saying that he is still very busy even though he is retired, but I really don’t believe him. Anyhow, we have put Idaho on our agenda seriously and here we go. Idaho we are coming.

During our trip we will cross Idaho from a Border crossing with Canada at the north of the state all the way to the very south of the state staying mostly off road following the Rocky Mountain. Idaho will be first part of our trip. We will climb Rocky Mountains, follow numerous Idaho rivers, riding through forests and staying in small towns for most of our time in Idaho. We will use already scouted roads by the Backcountry Discovery Routes organization or BDR. The Backcountry Discovery Routes is US organization that crates routes to cross the state or multiple states from the south to the north, using off roads, back roads, log roads or no roads at all. Staying off main paved roads is main tasks and so far they created routes for twelve different states. Twelve different BDRs.  Idaho is one of them. I have already done one BDR, Mid Atlantic BDR (or MABDR).  Idaho BDR will be my second and Zoran’s first.

How my MABDR looked you can see from the pictures below. I had a wonderful time and I enjoyed every meter of that trip through Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Idaho is very long state and we will ride about 1800 km though Idaho wilderness. Even though IDBDR is not technically challenging there are sections that will require advanced riding skills. The route provides challenging hill climbs, riding on mountain ridges with magnificent views, breathtaking view points and beautiful camping opportunities. The last is very important for Zoran. We all know how much he enjoys camping. He is trough camping master. During our trip we will cross to Montana and visit Missoula where we are going to stay overnight before we return to Idaho. This little excursion will have connection with our second part of the trip after we finish our off road adventure in Idaho. 

Highlights of Idaho BDRA are Lolo Motorway and Magruder Corridor Road. Both are narrow roads that run throug Idaho forest. As soon as we get out of the mountains we will turn North-East to Boise where our first part of the road trip will be finished. 

Zoran and I are big fans of David Lynch work, especially television drama series Twin Peaks.  The entire series is filmed around Seattle, in Snoqualmie area. This is the destination for our second part of the trip. We will try to visit all sites where the series was filmed. We will try to stay in Great Northern Hotel, have dinner in Roadhouse bar, breakfast in Double R diner, visits the Twin Peaks Police station and many more. I mentioned that we will stop over in Missoula, MT for a reason. This is a birth place of David Lynch, director and one of the creators of the Twin Peaks.

After we finish with Twin Peaks i.e. Snoqualmie and North Bend   we will start our ride back. First stop will be again in Idaho. We will stay overnight in lovely Cour d’Alene which is on the lake with the same name. Last stop for Zoran and myself will be day later in Belgrade, MT. This town has been named after Zoran’s and mine home town. Nice and symbolic place to finis our journey together. After that Zoran will go North, back to Calgary and I will start four days solo ride home to Detroit.

Riding the first part of the last leg of my journey back home I will try to follow east section of the route that Robert Pirsig took with his son Chris back in 1968 on his Honda CB77 motorcycle. They travel 17 days from Minnesota to the Northern California. This journey was used in his book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance where he philosophically explores importance of quality and value through motorcycle trip. Even though this book is more philosophical than adventurous, the book is popular among motorcycle riders. For years thousands of riders were following this route as motorcycle pilgrimage and I will join them for a part that covers Montana, North and South Dakota and Minnesota.  Day or two after that I will be at home probably very tired but full of new experiences, interesting stories to tell and memories that will stay forever.

S.