We re-entred the US in Montana, we had wanted to ride the Going To The Sun Hwy through Glacier NP. With all the smoke we had been through in BC (The smoke it turned out was from bush fires in Alberta, Washington and Oregon) we were worried that the stunning views we had been told about would be obscured, and they were. What we could see was brilliant, we could only imagine what it would be like in clear weather, and the road was awesome, apart from all the traffic. From Glacier we headed southwest into Idaho taking in as many scenic roads as we could. Our destination in Idaho was a campground/resort for some much needed R&R, in the three odd months we have been back in America we have only had around seven days where we haven't ridden, so we planned on having a couple of days off in a place that offered heated pools, spas and all the mod cons. It was wonderful! After our R&R we continued south down US95, I had read about the road and views in The Zen Of Motorcycle Maintenance and wanted to retrace the authors route. The section we wanted to ride was south from Grangeville where the road descended down off the high plains into a deep valley, the author had described how the road was so twisty and tight, a bikers delight, so we were surprised when as the road started its descent that there was no sign of any tight twists and turns, but just as we started down the hill Julie spotted a road sign pointing down a side road that said Old US95, so we turned around and headed down Old US95 and found the tight twisty road the author had written about, it was quite something to do. Our destination for the night was Oxbow, just over the border in Oregon, we would be arriving late but figured it was near a lake so would be a tourist type of place and have everything we needed. Wrong, we got there and couldn't buy fuel or food, but the campground was brilliant and made better by the fact that we met a couple of bikers that let us set up on their plot and in return we gave them what we had for dinner, they too had arrived expecting to be able to buy food! From Oxbow we headed up to Washington and followed the Columbia River to Vancouver before crossing the river into Portland. When we had been down in Utah we had met a couple from Portland and they had invited us to stay with them, they lived on the 25th floor of a upmarket apartment block right in the middle of the city, it was an amazing place with incredible views. We spent a couple of nights there and were treated to dinner and sight seeing at the Japanese Garden which was stunning. From Portland we headed to Mount Hood where our new friends had offered us their cabin to stay in. To get there we followed the Columbia River again, this time on the Oregon side taking in the waterfalls and views along the Historic Columbia Hwy, it was brilliant with magnificent forests and waterfalls, the downside was all the people doing the same as us! From Mount Hood we headed west again to the coast, to get there we travelled some lovely small back roads that went through some lovely forests with clear streams in the valleys. When we got to the coast we found all the people that hadn't been in the forests we had just travelled through, and it was windy! We managed to find a campground back from the coast a bit and out of the wind. We followed the coast south to Reedsport before heading inland to Crater Lake. We didn't think the run down the coast was that special, it did have the odd very nice spot. Crater Lake on the other hand was just incredible. The Americans claim that the water is the cleanest in the world, and it was incredibly clear, and blue, something we hadn't seen anywhere else and so incredible to see. We spent time riding right around the lake before heading southwest again, we were headed for a giant redwood forest in California on our way to the coast again.