Lolo Pass, Lolo Passed, Lolo Past
Motorcycle Vapors . Social Studies
May 29 – June 2, 2025 – Total Loop 2050 Kilometers
I begin, relieved to be on my way, away from my troubles and worry, away from an iffy ignition switch and away from a very Canadian Jones Plantation truth doom scrolling news porn treadmill – and back on two wheels instead of four. I leave early to avoid morning weekday traffic. The conditions are perfect. I settle in. I meld with my brilliant machine, every shift perfect. I know I’m heading towards another country that has it’s own problems, but even if symbolic, I need to leave the gloom and threat of my own, my home and stolen native land, my post nation state. My brilliant machine and recovering body will take me somewhere else and back.
I head south for the border.
I head south on highways 201 and 2. I roll through sad reservation lands of tragic failed socialism and past weedy, crumbling monuments and historical markers that tell short stories of engineers, explorers, surveyors, prospectors and native Indians.
Funny not funny how at U.S. border crossings they ask if I’m carrying any fruits vegetables, meat or dairy or firearms or over $10000 in cash or diamonds into the country. I tell them no, I’m boring that way. As if they are genuinely worried about any contamination of their domestic, highly processed GMO food supply. Of course there were white, high altitude atmospheric spray marks crossing overhead as I passed through at Carway. Don’t look up. Keep your eyes on the road ahead of you.
I am making good time. I had planned on stopping for the night in Babb or St. Mary, Montana but pushed on to East Glacier.
My first night was spent at Summit campground just outside of East Glacier. A sign said, “Take Your Trash With You – There Are No Services”. The camp toilet was new and clean. Of course I dithered on the $20 honor fee. I only had $20 CDN and the hosts weren’t around to make change for a hundred U.S. I honorably paid what I had. I made camp as dark clouds rolled in and the wind picked up. Of course I didn’t pack my neurotoxic mosquito repellent. Swatting is good post riding exercise. I made my supper sooner than later, before a storm hit. I clean up to bear proof my camp and decide to move the tent further under a large pine. I string up my tarp just in case.
I lie awake with the realization that in pursuit of the Lolo Pass, I am a human dot in the cosmos, a rider made of meat and bone and flesh and fluids, controlling a machine of steel and aluminum and plastic and wire and rubber with it’s own vital liquids, making my way to planned points of conquest with uncertain events and outcomes. If I can, I will.
I should.
I sleep and wake in cycles. I try to read a bit by flashlight. I brought ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance’. I read it years ago but now hope to find more meaning in it. Are Robert and Phaedrus really one and the same? Could electroshock therapy change or normalize me? Did I check my tire pressure and lube my chain before I left?
Yes I Did.
From the book:
“This is the ghost of normal everyday assumptions which declares that the ultimate purpose of life, which is to keep alive, is impossible, but that this is the ultimate purpose of life anyway, so that great minds struggle to cure diseases so that people may live longer, but only the mad-men ask why. One lives longer in order that he may live longer. There is no other purpose. That is what the ghost says.” – Robert Pirsig
I thought I left my ghosts behind me but they still linger and hover at times. They get ahead of me. They get in the way. How long will I live today? How long will I live this week?
Is that a storm coming? Trains are coming and going. They chug and rumble and squeal. Through the night I wonder at the complexity of tracks and trains and scheduling and how important they are to people and economies – to life. How is New Palestine doing these days? Where are tonight’s trains going? What are they carrying? Where am I going? I know exactly what I’m carrying. At times I think I carry too much but I’d rather have it and not need it than otherwise. A heavy wind rushes through the tree tops. It sounds like ocean waves. Rain drops and branches and leaves and pine needles are amplified on the tarp. There is an ebb and flow of light and heavy vehicles daring or having to travel at night.
I sleep.
I wake and break camp. The ground and the gear are surprisingly dry. A dense yellow pollen has settled on everything. One last check of the camp site and a walkaround of the brilliant machine and I’m off. As I settle into the next leg to Lolo, it occurs to me to give thanks to God for the beautiful morning that followed a night of worry. I feel good. A few clicks and eye blinks later, I well up, emotional. Was this another sign? Is this the opening I’ve been waiting for?
I grind on past the 428th carving or plywood cutout of Sasquatch, past ‘The First Second Bank and Casino’, past the ‘First Church of Christ and Mini Storage’. Diversification is the key to salvation and sustainability. Let us prosper and give thanks. Jesus saves. Oh look, a gift shop!
The Lolo did not disappoint. Despite the warnings, the pass is a smooth and twisty two lane Highway 12, heading west, rising to 5,233 feet, one that runs though trees and rocks and hills and pretty much along the run of the Lochsa river. It cuts between the Bitterroot Valley in Montana and the Weippe Prairie of Idaho. There have been some improvements to the trail since Lewis and Clark passed through, looking for ways to steal land and since 1985 when The Long Ryders released a song called ‘Looking For Lewis and Clark’. Plan on at least four hours to complete the journey. There have been some accidents in it’s history. Keep your wits. Watch for rocks and animals. Stop and smell the river and the pines. Mind your speed. Mind your manners.
At a rest stop, I was approached by a woman who had pulled up in a van. She was hitting all the rest stops with a flyer that was also being posted at campsites and trail heads all along the Lolo. A crew was trying to locate a 68 year old man named Jeff Howe who had gone missing while walking his dogs in and around the Wilderness Gateway Campground on Loop C (Mile Marker 123). His dogs turned up frantic and wet. Jeff Howe was missing for three days already. It’s suspected he somehow went into the fast flowing Lochsa River. The woman asked me to keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary as I travelled the pass and to report anything via SOS (InReach/IPhone/911). So of course I glanced at the river as I made my way west. I was multi-tasking as I tried to stay on the narrow winding road. Of course I hope for the best possible outcome.
The United States are and can be big and beautiful. They are our friends and neighbors. I hope for the best possible outcomes for us.
THE PLACES – THE STOPS – THE LOOP
FORT MACLEOD,AB-GLENWOOD,AB-CARWAY, U.S./CAN BORDER-BABB,MT-BROWNING,MT-EAST GLACIER,MT-WEST GLACIER,MT-COLUMBIA FALLS,MT-POLSON,MT-PABLO,MT-ST. IGNATIUS,MT-ARLEE,MT-MISSOULA,MT-LOLO,MT-POWELL JUNCTION,ID-SYRINGA,ID-KOOKSIA,ID-KAMIAH,ID-GREER,ID-OROFINA,ID-AHSAHKA,ID-WILLOLA,ID-MYRTLE,ID-ARROW,ID-VALLEYVIEW HEIGHTS,ID-CLARKSTON,WA
HWY 95 NORTH:
To: MOSCOW,ID-VIOLA,ID-POTLACH JUNCTION,ID-TENSED,ID-PLUMMER,ID-WORLEY,ID-MICA,ID-COEUR D’ALENE,ID-ATHOL,ID-COCOLALLA,ID-ALGOMA,ID-SAGLE,ID-SANDPOINT,ID-PONDERAY,ID-NAPLES,ID-BONNERS FERRY,ID-GOOD GRIEF,ID-EASTPORT U.S./CAN BORDER-YAHK,B.C.-MOYIE,B.C.-CRANBROOK,B.C.-JAFFRAY,B.C.-FERNIE,B.C.-9
(THEN THE HEAVY RAIN CAME – TIME TO SUIT UP – BIG LAUGHS)
To: SPARWOOD,B.C.-FRANK,AB-BELLVUE,AB-BURMIS,AB-LUNDBRECK FALLS,AB
I pass back into the pall and threat of Canada at the Carway border crossing without incident. The memory of the COVID lockdown, shakedown detention and search and threat of arrest from a prior re-entry on two wheels instead of four flashes. This is a memory of an emerging, collapsing dystopian Canada that will stay with me always.
AND THEN HWY 22 NORTH
(THE COWBOY TRAIL – A FAVORITE)
To: LONGVIEW,AB-DIAMOND VALLEY,AB-BRAGG CREEK,AB-COCHRANE,AB
(THEN THE HEAVY SCARY TURBULENT WINDS CAME)
TO HWY 567 EAST TO AIRDRIE,AB (HOME AGAIN)
Loop finished. Over but not out. Done and partially dusted, mildly moist and muddy. Fitness test passed. Another unregistered Iron Butt Challenge completed. There will be no official certificate. I’m not done yet – not by a long shot.
LOOKING FOR LEWIS AND CLARK –
I thought I saw some diplomat hawking secret plans in the park
I thought I saw my President walking through Harlem late after dark
In a world of love where they burn like Nero
You write them a check and you then add zero
In a world of love where they burn like Nero
You write them a check and you then add zero
Looking For Lewis And Clark
I was standing alone in Mabuhay Gardens (looking for Lewis and Clark!)
I was thinking about the late Tim Hardin
Well, when Tim got to heaven hope he told Gram
About the Long Ryders and just who I am
Yeah, no one gave Tim reason to believe
So he just packed his bags to leave
Looking for Lewis and Clark
Looking for Lewis and Clark
Looking for Lewis and Clark
I thought I saw my government running away with my heart
I thought I heard Mubute anthems in Johannesburg after dark
You can find them in the yellow pages, baby
That’s where you get your kickbacks from the Navy
Looking for Lewis and Clark
Looking for Lewis and Clark
Looking for Lewis and Clark
I said a Louie-Louie Lou…
Looking for Lewis and Clark
Looking for Lewis and Clark
Looking for Lewis and Clark
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