On this Thursday morning we reluctantly broke camp at the Whitefish KOA. Both Robert and I were in need of rear tires (he much more than I, but mine would never make it all the way home) and had located a dealer in Post Falls, ID with tires.

We headed South of Kalispell into Idaho and West on the interstate through Coeur d'Alene to Post Falls. I thought of my judge friend from Coeur d' Alene but knew we did not have time to call him. We arrived earlier at the dealership (Beaudry Motorsports)than expected and were among the first in line for tires, seemingly behind just a couple of jobs that were being finished up.

So by 1:00 p.m. were were in the job queue and still anticipated arriving at the rally that evening. So how did we end up getting out of there only at 8:30p.m.?

The tire machine was at the rally and the borrowed one did not have the correct adapter to balance the BMW rear wheel. There was then apparently something else wrong with the borrowed machine. Then there were other riders with more critical problems and they were shuffled ahead of us. I can sort of understand that and would appreciate the added priority if I was there, from out of town (state) with a debillitating problem -- but, we sure got bumped a long way!

Then I thought I'd have the sidestand cutout switch replaced that had been gimpy for months but when I was told it would take quite a while longer to do the work, I just said I'd take the part and replace it when I got home. I had been able to cycle the sidestand and start the motor so it was not a critical problem.

Then it became critical -- my tire was on and we were ready to go and ... yep, the 'cycling' technique suddenly no longer worked. I choose to chalk that up to coincidence.

So, back into the job queue and several additional hours later that too was repaired and off we went.

Off we went to a motel for the evening as it was too late to get to Spokane and we had learned that all of the camping space was taken up. Those factors, combined with the desire to see more of the country and still get back before the 25th cemented out decision to skip the rally.

One Outback Steak House dinner later and a good night's sleep in a motel and we were renewed for the balance of our trip. That was only the 3rd motel I had been in since June 30.