WASHINGTON COAST & MOUNTAINS – JULY 2001
(INCLUDES SEA LION CAVES, SAN JUAN ISLANDS, NORTH CASCADES SCENIC HIGHWAY, GRAND COULEE DAM, LEAVENWORTH, WA., MT. RAINIER, MT. ST. HELENS, COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE NATIONAL SCENIC AREA)
SUNDAY JULY 8 TO FRIDAY JULY 20, 2001
13 DAYS / 2,874 MILES
$ 102.18 GAS / 56.137 GALLONS GAS / AVERAGE MILEAGE 51.19 MPG
GRANTS PASS, OR.; FLORENCE, OR. (via SEA LION CAVES); LONG BEACH, WA.; PORT ANGELES, WA.: FRIDAY HARBOR, SAN JUAN ISLAND, WA.: WINTHROP, WA. (via NORTH CASCADES SCENIC HIGHWAY); EPHRATA, WA. (via GRAND COULEE DAM); MONROE, WA. (via LEAVENWORTH, WA.); ASHFORD, WA. (via MT. RAINIER); THE DALLES, WA. (via MT. ST. HELENS and COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE SCENIC HIGHWAY); REDDING, CA.
On my 1998 Electra Glide Ultra Classic with Dana on her 1998 Dyna Low Rider.
LONG DAY = 420 MILES / DAY 12 / The Dalles, OR. To Redding, CA.
DAY 1 SUNDAY JULY 8, 2001 387 (Miles Today) 387 (Total Miles To Date)
Motel 6, Grants Pass, OR. $ 55.07
DINNER Black Bear Diner Yreka, CA.
East I-80 to Vacaville; north I-505 to Dunnigan; north I-5 to Grants Pass, OR.
Dana had six or seven weeks vacation time waiting for her to go have fun but due to a very busy time at work she had agreed to take only two weeks right now. The one thing she said when the vacation was being planned was that she may want to go north since we almost always head south. So I told her that Washington is usually fairly mild and I gave her the Washington-Oregon tour book and map from AAA and she set this vacation up.
We left home today at 11:15 over an hour past the time we wanted to leave but this is typical. This was a get-outta-town day so we simply hit the freeway and jammed northward. The first good omen was when we stopped to pay the toll at the bridge a few miles from home we were told that the guy and his kid in the Explorer in front of us had paid for us. They had waved and honked when they passed a couple of miles earlier. Nice folks. It was warm from the start and downright toasty after Vacaville.
We done a straight 200-mile nonstop roll to Redding before taking a break. When I got off the bike I was stiff and when I spoke I found I sounded like I had been snoring all night. It had been too warm for this no-break foolishness. But we had sodas at the gas stop then headed into the mountains where it cooled off somewhat. It was still so warm at the summit near Mt. Shasta that we never had to put on more clothing and I had been in a tee-shirt all day.
But we done another 95-mile non-stopper to Yreka where we stopped for dinner at a nice place we have not seen before. I got Dana a “Talk To The Paw” tee-shirt there in their gift shop. The sun was dropping behind the nearby mountains but the heat was still high when we pulled out for our last stretch of the day.
After another gas and soda stop in Medford we done the last 25 miles into Grants Pass, arriving around 7:15. We unloaded and cleaned up a bit then enjoyed the air conditioning for a while. Three guys on Harleys pulled in a bit later. They were from Ohio and Colorado and were cruising the mountains and coast too. We took my bike across town to Albertson’s for supplies and got back to the room in time to watch Sex And The City and Six Feet Under which are the two HBO shows we watch when home. After sunset there was a cool breeze but it never got anywhere near “cold.”
DAY 2 MONDAY JULY 9, 2001 222 609
Park Motel, Florence, OR. $ 87.74
BRKFST Tubby’s Restaurant Myrtle Point, OR.
DINNER Mo’s Seafood Restaurant Florence, OR.North I-5 to near Roseburg; west SR 42 to Millington; north US 101 to Florence.
We woke up at 8:00 but we had the slows after such a day yesterday. While Dana showered I got her some coffee and ate some potato salad I had brought from home. It was already warming up outside and we fled the area at 10:30. We rolled north on the freeway for an hour then exited for smaller roads; we’d not see an Interstate again for over a week. Cool. We stopped for a short break in Dillard and it was already hot. The lady at the station said it had been over 100° all last week. Traffic was much lighter now and I turned on the CD player I had brought and fed through the H-D’s stereo system to test it out. Ten hours of music on one MP3 CD took place of the dozen cassette tapes I usually pack along.
It was a good 80° in the cool mountain roads until we approached the coast where it cooled off a bit. We stopped in Myrtle Point for a huge breakfast then rolled into Coos Bay where I had planned to simply gas up and continue. But a big orange sign caught my eye down a side street so we doubled back to visit the newish H-D store there. When I pulled in I noted a bike with the same paint scheme as mine and we met the owners, Bill and Chris Anderson from the Auburn area back home. They were cruising the coast too, and had been having a fun ride. We visited the store then gassed up around the corner and headed north again. I had to put my sweatshirt on here as it had cooled a lot.
We blew right past our motel since it was located a mile before town but soon found it and got settled in. This was a fine little place out in the trees and even though it was right off the highway it was very quiet here. Dana had seen the Sea Lion Cave as an attraction nearby so we jumped on my bike and took off about twelve miles north and visited the sea lions. Here the visitor gets to walk out to a overlook to see the sea lions on the cliffs below then also can take a elevator a couple hundred feet down into the cave itself. It was very windy out here and we had a good visit. We got some postcards there as well as a magnet and a couple of those squashed-engraved pennies for souvenirs. Dana even picked me up a cool Oregon Coast 101 motorbike tee shirt – cool!
We jammed back to town a few minutes later. It was dinner time and Dana had seen Mo’s from the bridge so we went to Old Town and had dinner there. We had “slumgullion” in bread bowls which was a pretty good shrimp stew and Mo’s is a fine place that hung out over the water and seemed very popular. After dinner we rode down to Safeway for some snacks and things then went back to our quiet forest home for the evening. It was fairly cold out here tonight and it got even quieter. It was odd because this is situated on the same US 101 as at home – same road, except in this part of the world you can watch the highway for a half hour and see only one or two cars go by where at home it is a steady stream. Dana went to sleep at 11:00 and I stayed up for a while reading and watching TV. “The Langoliers” was on the Sci-Fi Channel so I had some weird entertainment tonight.
DAY 3 TUESDAY JULY 10, 2001 281 890
Super 8 Motel, Long Beach, WA. $ 78.78
LUNCH J’s Restaurant Monmouth, OR.
DINNER Milton York Candy And Café Long Beach, WA.North US 101 to Waldport; east SR 34 to Philomath; east US 20 to Corvallis; north SR 99W to McMinnville; north SR 47 to near Manning; north US 26 to Astoria; north US 101 past Chinook; north SR 103 to Long Beach.
We were up at 8:15. I walked over to the café next door for Dana’s coffee. We were on the road at 10:30 and it was still foggy and cold. I put my jacket on after 20 miles and then ten miles later Dana altered the plan and we turned inland for some better weather. It was a great road with very little traffic and it sprinkled briefly in a few spots. In Monmouth we decided to stop for lunch and J’s was a good choice. It had warmed nicely too so I had no need for a jacket. We stopped to mail post cards at the post office down the road, then by the time we got into McMinnville it was hot and I was down to a tee shirt again.
There were loads of small towns along this route and riding was slow and easy. The road climbed over the Coastal Range and we stopped at the Sunset Summit rest stop for a break at 4:40 p.m. It was colder here again so the sweatshirt came on and by the time we got down to the ocean it was cold and windy. I was about to jacket up but the road turned inland enough to warm up. Fifteen minutes later we were crossing a super long (four miles) and very windy Astoria Bridge across the Columbia River and into Washington.
A short time later we were in touristy Long Beach checking in at the hotel. We had a nice big room that overlooked the main drive. We hung out for a bit then went walking around the small shopping and dining area. We ate good oyster stew at Milton York, a combination restaurant and candy and ice cream maker, which is the oldest café in Long Beach and oldest candy-maker in its original location in Washington. We grabbed some good chocolates and taffy to take back to the room, too. We took pictures at the carvings of theoctopus and other sea animals and were walking down towards the pier but it was cold and windy so we strolled back to the room. The town was fairly quiet for a vacation place but there were a few folks milling around. Dana had wanted to visit the cranberry research center and farm but it was closed today so we missed out on that. The two oldest lighthouses on the west coast are located a mile away, too but we missed those as well.
Back at the room I found that the conclusion of The Langoliers was on TV. I also got a call from David Hammond who was in Winnemucca, NV. on his way home from Jerry’s in Montana. He said he’d had a wet and cold yesterday but a good today. He’ll make it home tomorrow. Denny Parsons up in Bremerton had also left a message while we were at dinner so I called him back and let him know our route and plans in hopes that we may be able to hook up in a few days. Dana and I rode my bike down to Sid’s IGA for some supplies then cruised the north part of town and the pier area. She had planned to cruise up to the tip of the peninsula sometime, too, but it didn’t seem like we’d see anything at night so we never headed up that way. It was likely that we’d skip it in the morning, too, so maybe next time. We were back in the room by 10:30 and we just hung out and watched a little TV and relaxed.
DAY 4 WEDNESDAY JULY 11, 2001 257 1,147
Super 8 Motel, Port Angeles, WA. $ 86.29
LUNCH Kalaloch Lodge Restaurant Kalaloch, WA.
DINNER Skippers Port Angeles, WA.South SR 103; north US 101 to Port Angeles.
We were up at 8:00 again. I had breakfast at the lobby then carried back Dana’s coffee. I talked for a long time to an older guy in the lot with a Porsche Boxter who’d had Gold Wings all over the US. Seemed like he was having fun on his trip. It was foggy and cool here and we were out at 10:50. We fuelled up then headed out through the inland roads and soon it had warmed to a reasonable trippin’ temperature. There were some great scenic roads with flats, hills and twisties and always trees and water and no traffic. Our first stop was a short pit stop and soda break at a minimart in Aberdeen then we climbed into some great forest roads and entered the Olympic National Park and Queets Rainforest.
We stopped at the Amanda Park Post Office to mail home some library books and the lady at the window warned us against local eateries. She suggested the restaurant inside the Kalaloch Lodge an hour north so we decided to wait and eat there. As we were leaving another lady in the lot spoke for a while saying that she used to live in Oakland and El Cerrito close to our home and had a lot of biker boyfriends. She had moved to this area a short time ago. Moments later we saw a bald eagle flying low and slow above us looking for lunch. We could feel and smell the difference as the road approached the Ocean and a fewmoments later we pulled into Kalaloch for lunch. The place was very nice but service was pretty gruesome since they were staffed only by traveling school kids who didn’t know much. But the food was good once we got it and we even left an unwarranted tip since our waitress was a girl who had to report to Vet school back in Ohio in two days. The dining room overlooked the ocean and after lunch we visited the gift shop and I took photos of the area. There were cool cabins on the bluff that seemed like a great place to stay for a while.
Back on the road it warmed nicely as we pulled inland and we cruised through a major logging area where we saw a huge helicopter carrying fresh logs by the dozen from the mountainside down to waiting trucks. We were also passed by a hot rod Mustang flying by in the opposite direction being chased by a cop car. We cruised the south shore of the Lake Crescent park which was a great scenic ride then climbed on up to the last leg of the day. I grabbed a quick soda at the Forks gas stop and saw that Denny P had phoned while we were riding. I called back and left a message for him that we were nearing Port Angeles. A short time later we pulled into town and found our hotel just after 6:00 p.m. This town was pretty busy with traffic, visitors and many stores and shops.
We checked the news on TV and found that rain was in the forecast in this area and that terrible forest fires had claimed the lives of four firefighters near Winthrop, the town where we planned to be in a few days. Dana called the hotel in Winthrop and was assured that all was well there since the fire was distant. On the way in I had seen a Skipper’s – an old favorite of mine that I had given up for good when the chain closed down several years ago. It was too good to be true and we packed up and rode my bike down for dinner. It was still the same ol’ good chowder and shrimp that I have missed for some time. The manager told us that Skipper’s downsized and now is active only in a few states nearby. Good enough for me tonight but I wish they’d come back to California. We left and went cruising to Albertson’s but I took a wrong turn and we got lost in some shaded cold areas that had Dana’s teeth chattering. We finally found the store and grabbed some supplies and returned to the hotel around 9:30.
I spoke to Denny and we figured maybe we’d hook up in a few days if his work schedule permitted it. I showered while Dana started the laundry and later I spoke to a couple of guys on Harleys in the lot who were taking a tour of Victoria Island tomorrow with their wives. I called Kenny K back home, too and he said all was cool. We read and watched some TV and I drifted off around 1:30. It had been a fine day and I had gotten along without my jacket all day.
DAY 5 THURSDAY JULY 12, 2001 87 1,234
Inn At Friday Harbor, Friday Harbor, San Juan Island, WA. $ 138.61
DINNER Haley’s Bait Shop And Grill Friday Harbor, San Juan Island, WA.
East US 101 to near Shine; north SR 20 to Port Townsend; Ferry MV Quinalt to Whidbey Island; north SR 20 to Anacortes; Ferry MV Chelan to Friday Harbor, San Juan Island.
The alarm woke us at 8:00 as we had to be at the Port Townsend ferry terminal in a few hours. I had some food from the breakfast bar and grabbed Dana’s coffee and we were rolling out by 10:00. There was quite a bit of local traffic and it was crisp but not too cold. Once off the main highway we had a nice road but construction shut us down for fifteen minutes or so. Even so we made it to the ferry by 11:15, just short of the 11:30 boarding call. We spoke to a guy on a Shadow in the lot and also while on the boat. He lived near Seattle and was just cruising today. It was a short 30 minute ferry ride on the MV Quinalt toWhidbey Island and I had a corn dog and soda while we watched a guy playing the harp in the fore lounge. Dana left the musician a few bucks for his efforts. But when we stopped, the Shadow guy’s bike wouldn’t turn over. He said he had just installed a new battery, too. I and another guy tried to push him but it was a no-go. He said he could get a truck to take him to a shop so we rolled off and headed onward. I also “thought” I heard Dana’s bike do the low-volt-click-thing as she hit the starter but it caught quickly so maybe it is my imagination. Then again maybe not…..
After a 30-mile ride we were in Anacortes but signs were not abundant and I didn’t know where to go. We stopped at a Texaco for directions, a break and snacks and were at the ferry terminal at 1:30 and found the ferry didn’t leave until 3:10. We simply stood around in the lot with everyone else. We made some phone calls and walked over to the snack bar for some Cracker Jacks and just hung out. It was cool and even sprinkled for a moment. Folks in cars must get in line early since there is limited room but bikes can come late and always get directed to the front of the line so there is never any worry about timing. Some car people in other lines for other ferries were unable to get on and had to wait another 3 hours for the next boat. I had some of the snacks I had bought at the Texaco a while back – good planning. We boarded the MV Chelan just after 3:00, tied up the bikes and went to the upper decks. This was to be a 90-minute ride so we had time to relax and have lunch from the boat's cafeteria. I had a great salmon burger and Dana grabbed some chowder and we ate, relaxed, saw the sights and took pictures from the front and rear open decks. It was very breezy, kinda cool and very clear.
We docked at Friday Harbor at 5:00 p.m. and rolled off at the head of the line. Again, I heard a funny click from The Gurl’s bike but again it started. Her original battery, it is three years old and is a gel battery. Lucky to have lasted this long to begin with, hmmm??? Turning up the main street we found our motel in the third block so we pulled in and unloaded and relaxed for a bit. It was warm on this side of the island and it was busy with tourists and shoppers. We took a walk around the main downtown area and found there was little to it but plenty of places to shop, eat and see. We took photos at the harbor and marina then stopped at a small place where I had pizza and Dana had a spinach salad. Later an Asian couple from L.A. sat at the next table and struck up a conversation. They seemed very happy to be traveling the area. Their son lives nearby and was away from home so they had his house as a free home base. Cool. On the way back up we stopped at King’s Market for soda and snacks for the next couple of days and hit the room at 8:30.
It was getting dark around 9:00 and had cooled off but was nowhere near “cold.” I wrote a few post cards and watched the TV report about the “Thirty-Mile Fire” which had killed the firefighters and was still spreading. We were still questioning if it would affect our Saturday/Sunday destination. There was still rain forecast for those days as well. I was pooped out and actually rolled over and slept at 11:45, probably one of three or four times I have slept that early in the past ten years.
DAY 6 FRIDAY JULY 13, 2001 52 1,286
Inn At Friday Harbor, Friday Harbor, San Juan Island, WA. $ 138.61
LUNCH Lime Kiln Café Roche Harbor, San Juan Island, WA.
DINNER Mi Casita Friday Harbor, San Juan Island, WA.
North 2nd Street and Guard Street then Roche Harbor Road to Roche Harbor; south on West Valley Road then west on Mitchell Bay Road then south on West Side Road to the Lime Kiln Lighthouse; south on West Side Road and Bailer Hill Road; east on San Juan Valley Road to town. Later out Beaverton Valley Road and West Valley Road to Mitchell Bay Road looking for British Camp but back via San Juan Valley Road when we didn’t find it.
I woke up at 7:00, again at 8:00 and for good at 9:00. I had a morning shower today and I was draggin’. It was a great-looking day out there and we were out on the bikes at 10:15. We fuelled up across the street and rode out to Roche Harbor at the north end of the island. There were a couple of recently "chip sealed" spots on the roads along the way, one beingtwo miles long. It was warm at Roche Harbor and we had a quick lunch of fishy stuff at a nice place at an outdoor table right on the water in the Marina. We walked out to the end of the harbor and watched a seaplane take off and a couple of boats come in. There was a circus across the lagoon but we didn’t go over. I took a load of pictures of the harbor and its surroundings and especially liked the utility boat with the sign identifying it as the “M.V. PHECAL PHREAK – WE TAKE CRAP FROM ANYONE.” If you can’t figure that out it is a boat that pumps waste tanks from pleasure boats for disposal. I mailed some cards from the post office there and we rolled out at 1:30.
There were more chip-sealed roads along the way. We saw another bald eagle cruising for lunch overhead. Dana’s starter had triple-clicked after lunch so now we were concerned with that and when we stopped at the lighthouse park on the west side of the island we parked on an incline so she could roll start it if need be. We walked out to the Lime Kiln lighthouse and took some pictures and saw a crowd there waiting for the whales to come by “in about 45 minutes.” How do the whales know when to swim by????? Dana’s bike started up well and we left there and continued around the island and made it back to the hotel.
I began calling some of the local auto stores and equipment shops in search of a new battery for Dana’s bike. We also walked to Northwest Auto Supply next door and also went to the NAPA shop at the edge of town but no one had the battery or a small charger. We were directed to Harbor Rentals near town where we picked up a small half-amp charger. A few minutes later we were at Radio Shack getting connectors for the wiring and then went across to get an extension cord at the ACE Hardware. This should be adequate since we had only to start her bike three more times; once to get to the lot, once to board the ferry and once to unload from the ferry and get the thirty miles to the H-D shop. Cool.
But we weren’t exactly finished with our day because I wanted to see “British Camp” so we hopped on my bike and rolled off in search of this place and found after several miles that we were covering the same roads as this morning and that we had probably passed it before. So we turned around and were climbing a chip-sealed section when my bike began to shake like a Chihuahua shittin’ a peach seed. I didn’t know how but I figured I had broken the motor or something. We pulled over and checked what we could and all looked well. It vibrated, even when stopped in neutral, beginning at 1,500 RPM and was very bad at 2,000 RPM. Broke-dick. Huh. We limped slowly back to the room where I phoned a great buddy who is a professional H-D mechanic and was told that maybe it was a broken motor mount or even an exhaust mount. I checked all that and even checked the primary chain and other things with no results. I even put a new set of plugs in. Well, hell, we are going to the H-D store tomorrow anyway, so if I can make the 30 miles after the ferry ride I’ll be okay. Except I had visions of having to leave my totaled bike at the shop for a few days and all that.
I phoned Denny in Bremerton to tell him we may have altered plans and he said he had to work the weekend anyway, so we’d not hook up unless it was somehow later in the week. Still a possibility but not likely as he works all week, too. While working on the bike in the lot we were visited by one of the motel’s crew, Crystal, and her husband. They visited for a long time and when I mentioned that I was planning to have dinner at Amigo’s they told me to avoid that place and eat at Mi Casita instead.
I cleaned up, put the bike out of my mind (as best I could) and we walked down the hill to Mi Casita for dinner. It was packed, loud and very, very good. Great food, great service and apparently very popular. And while we were eating Crystal came in to pick up her dinners to go. I was glad to have been steered that way. We walked down to the ferry afterward to see about tomorrow morning’s boarding procedure then stopped at King’s market again for sodas and stuff. We were back in the room at 8:45. I hooked up the charger to Dana’s bike to let it trickle all night. I began a light packing routine since we had a very early morning ahead (ferry leaves at 8:00) and I tried to get an early sleep, too but I was still lying awake at 2:00 a.m. Damn………
Oh, by the way, did you notice this was Friday the Thirteenth?????
DAY 7 SATURDAY JULY 14, 2001 163 1,449
Best Western Cascade Inn, Winthrop, WA. $ 110.59
LUNCH Cascade Inn Concrete, WA.
DINNER Creekside Gril Winthrop, WA.Ferry MV Kaleetan from Friday Harbor to Anacortes; east SR 20 along North Cascades Scenic Highway to Winthrop.
The alarm rang us at 6:00 a.m. This is not my favorite time of day but we were charged and had a schedule to keep. If we missed the 8:00 ferry we’d have to wait until 11:00. With all the impending doom looming and hovering this turned out to be a very happy and fine day and some of the best riding, but I’ll get to that in a moment. Yawn. It was cold and cloudy. I began preparing to jam and took the charger off Dana’s bike and packed a lotta stuff. She was a ball of fire, too and we were pretty much ready to leave at 7:30. Okay Dana, be nice to your starter. The bike started promptly and without any backtalk. Then……. Hey, Mikey, my forks are locked and I have to use the key in the ignition. Turn it off and unlock the forks and another good start. But now, Hey Dana, I have to run back to the bathroom again!
After these brief setbacks we were out at 7:45 and in the ferry line with a half-dozen other bikes and a line of cars just as the ferry was unloading. We were on, tied up and the M.V. Kaleetan was rolling a few minutes later. My bike was still acting up but the day was going as planned so I felt okay. I grabbed some popcorn and a Coke from the snack bar and we relaxed and watched the other islands go by. We stopped at Orcas Island for more cars and after that we walked out onto the wind-whipped deck and took some pictures inside the cabin as well. Upon approaching the dock at Anacortes it was very foggy and cold and windy so we bundled up real good before exiting. We docked at Anacortes at 9:40 and Dana’s bike started up well and mine shook all the way up the ramp. Damn……
There is about four miles of town to go through after leaving the ferry with many stop signals and much traffic. I was half-way through town, leaving a stop uphill and presto……. A weird sound and my bike was running normally again. I wasn’t sure if I should be happy or maybe sad since it could still be broken with an unidentified problem, but after a few miles of checking out the performance, revving it up through the gears and all, it came to me what the problem had been. Yesterday in the heavily-graveled chip-sealed roads, my tire had kicked up a rock which settled into the crack between my motor and the frame. This rock was the right size and shape to stick there, held fast, thereby disabling the rubber mounts and becoming a solid-mount for the engine, which was passing along all the vibes. Then today as I left that last stop light I torqued it enough to lift the motor off the rock, the rock fell out and I was rubber mounted again. I felt good again and the bike was running fine all the way to the Harley store in Burlington where we pulled in at 10:10.
The service guy told Dana he’d squeeze her in as soon as possible but it’d be at least 90 minutes. Her battery is in a chrome cover that I could not readily see how to remove. I told the service writer that and he showed me where the bolts were hidden so I started the removal and Dana went in and bought her new battery. When she brought it out I was ready to put it in and a few minutes later we were buttoned up and back on the road. We were headed to the North Cascades Scenic Highway, a road that has been suggested dozens of times and I was unaware of the geography here so I asked another rider in the lot if there were places to eat between here and the other side and he said no, only on the other side. It was too early to eat here so we decided we’d just have to chance it and wait a couple of hours.
We rolled out at 11:30 and found it was immediately warmer. I took off the jacket a few minutes later at the gas stop in Cedro Woolley and we rolled through the flats and foothills finding many places to eat along the way. Just as the road began to rise into the mountains we saw a lodge in the country and stopped for lunch there. It was a great lunch and again we were back on the road. The North Cascades Highway is a superb run with much scenery and there were many, many bikes of all kinds cruising in both directions. We stopped in New Halem so I could lose my sweatshirt as it was warming more all the time. Between Diablo and Rainy Pass we passed a couple of Harleys sitting in a pullout. We stopped and I pulled back around to find that one of them had a brand new bike that had sprouted some kind of frontal oil leak that had soaked his girl’s right pant leg up to the knee. He had just bought it at the shop we had stopped at this morning but he had help on the way and his buddy had stayed with him. They were okay as possible so we jammed on and at 4:00 p.m. we rolled into Winthrop, our destination for today.
There was no sign of the huge forest fire nearby, probably due to the constant wind from the west that had been with us for days. Winthrop is a western-style tourist town with a whole lotta bikes and even more foot traffic, many shops and cafés and just a load of touristy things. Our hotel was a mile past town and we were soon checked in and unloaded. There was another couple of groups of bikes coming in and we even had a stray Ferrari, one of a group of a half-dozen at the motel next door. We hung out for a bit then took my bike to town for a good visit and a great little dinner. We watched the midget golfers, visited the bookstore and bought a load of fresh candy from Sheri’s. We visited the gift shop which also had a fun western/gold-rush/war museum display and picked up post cards and other stuff. It was warm and breezy as we rolled back to the motel at 7:15.
A bit later we walked down to the Evergreen Market for supplies and while there were greeted by a man and woman in a car that had seen us at the lunch stop today. They were having a fine drive and were nice folks. Back at the room I took a few pics of the bikes and surrounding areas. We watched TV and read and relaxed. It was still warm and breezy later on.
DAY 8 SUNDAY JULY 15, 2001 172 1,621
Ephrata Travelodge, Ephrata, WA. $ 72.41
LUNCH Picnic Coulee Dam, WA.
DINNER Bamboo Shoot Chinese Restaurant Ephrata, WA.East SR 20 to Omak; south SR 155 through Colville Indian Reservation to Coulee Dam and on south to near Coulee City; west US 2 past Coulee City; south SR 17 to Grant Orchards; west SR 20 to Ephrata.
I was up at 7:00 but went back to sleep until 8:15. I had the slows again. I went outside to see a helicopter with a water bucket heading eastward, apparently to the big fire. It was warming a bit already and was still a bit breezy. I got some coffee for Dana at the office and grabbed some juice and we were gone at 10:40. We had some pretty nice hilly, twisty roads for 50 miles and at a forest pit stop I found my lucky wormwood Takawra mojo stick that would protect me for the duration of the trip. We then rolled down into Okanogan and Omak. At the gas stop an old guy greeted us saying he was visiting town for his father’s 100th birthday. At Omak we rolled south and entered the Indian reservation where we stayed for an hour or so until we came upon the Grand Coulee Dam, another of Dana’s planned destinations. It was a flat easy ride through here and as soon as we hit city limits we saw the local cop giving an Indian the drunk driving test at the roadside.
I was looking for a café when Dana yelled she wanted a picnic. We just happened to be in front of a store with a deli so we went in, loaded up and came out to the park across the street where we sat facing the dam’s front and had a fine couple of sandwiches and other goodies. On the way back to the bikes an Indian guy pulled up in a truck with two Taco Bell dogs in the bed. I asked if they were ferocious and he said no and told Dana she could pet them. One dog responded in greeting by simply jumping off the toolbox, flying through the air into Dana’s arms and began the kissing thing. Cool dogs, cool dude. We mounted up and rode up the hill to the dead end behind the dam and took some photos then rode down and parked on the dam’s top where we were just in time for the dam tour. Our dam guide took us down to two separate levels and showed us around. Very interesting and although I have always heard about Grand Coulee Dam, I never really had an idea where it was. I am now very dam knowledgeable in a Grand Coulee-istic kind of way.
We completed our drive across the dam and rolled through some very, very scenic roads, alongside a river, along some cliffs and through some passes cut through rock. We stopped in Coulee City at Big Wally’s minimart for a soda break and a short time later rolled into Ephrata where our room awaited us. We checked in at 4:10 and were soon unpacked and planning our evening. Dana had seen a theater showing Tomb Raider on the way in and said she wanted to go see that and I agreed but a few minutes later she realized that the motel TV had the channel that was airing the Mists Of Avalon mini-series tonight so she quickly changed her mind. There were a couple other Harleys pulled up a short time later. These folks were from Minnesota and had done the Route 66 ride all the way to L.A. and were now cruising northward along the coast and mountains. They were having a blast, too.
It had dawned on me today that a majority of the restaurants along the way were closed and this seemed odd since it was summer vacation time, tourist locations and a weekend. And when we went cruising for dinner a few minutes later we found several fast food places open but only a couple of “real” eateries. We chose a Chinese place and found it to be pretty good despite all the white, non-Asian people cooking and serving. Eating at a Chinese place far from a metropolitan area is a crap-shoot and many times disappointing but we done okay here. And the helpings were the biggest in the Chinese industry, too. We stopped on the way back for sodas, milk and toothpaste. All throughout dinner and before and after, too, Dana was conferencing with her son Brent as he had been buying a car and she was concerned about the deal, the insurance, the finances, and just about everything else that may or may not be related to the purchase of an automobile or anything else. Always working, that gal.
We were back at the room by 7:30, in plenty of time for Dana’s movie. The air conditioner was not making the grade and I checked later to find that the core had frozen over with ice, so I turned on the fan only and allowed it to melt and all was better. I done a load of post cards while Dana watched the first part of the series. We were supposed to be having thunderstorms this evening but it was only warm and cloudy. After her movie Dana discovered her tube of sunscreen had exploded in her bag so she had minor cleanup to deal with. We spent the rest of the evening hanging out, relaxing and reading.
DAY 9 MONDAY JULY 16, 2001 162 1,783
Best Western Baron Inn, Monroe, WA. $ 88.16
LUNCH King Ludwig’s Gasthaus Leavenworth, WA.
DINNER Ixtapa Monroe, WA.West SR 28 to past Wenatchee; west US 2 to Monroe.
We managed to sleep in a little and woke up at 9:15. It was cloudy and almost warm. We were in no hurry and didn’t roll out of town until almost 11:00. There were storms visible to the west right in our path. We had not yet had the rain gear out of the sacks but we stopped at the rest stop past Trinidad and suited up. Twice the road headed right into storms just to turn abruptly at the last minute to allow us to miss them. But about 15 miles from Wenatchee it began to pour on us and continued to do so until we had gassed up in town and gone another few miles.
It was warm and nice a few miles later and when we stopped in the touristy Bavarian town of Leavenworth it was very nice. We had a nice visit here and a great lunch. I had Hungarian gulyas and Dana had Debrecziner, a Hungarian and German pork and beef sausage an specialty. This stuff was superb. The waitress spoke to us for a while about the seat on her boyfriend’s Harley and the fact that it could be a bit more comfortable. After walking the streets and visiting gift shops, Dana bought me a cool wooden hippo puzzle and some stuff for her grandbabies and I bought a couple of smashed penny souvenirs. Upon leaving town there were two passes and we were lucky to have taken the one away from the visible storm, riding alongside another river and through more forests. But we had to climb over the Cascades again, this time westward, and we stopped for raingear and rode through a few drizzles over a very cold and windy summit at Stevens Pass. There was snow alongside the road and this was at under 5,000 feet.
It was better on the other side as we dropped but it was plain to see that we’d get wet sometime soon. It was a somewhat wet cruise with showers off and on until we reached Sultan and then it poured down so hard the last six miles into Monroe that it was very hard to see. The road was pretty empty going our way and we just held steady and slow until Monroe where it let up to a manageable drizzle. We had passed our hotel as it was situated back off the road and were two miles past it when we asked a local who set us straight. A few minutes later we were at the hotel unpacking and glad to be done with our day. It dried up as we were settling in but later began raining and it rained off and on most of the evening.
I showered so Dana could start the laundry then when we got the second load into the dryer we left it and walked over for a good Mexican dinner. I had spied the Italian place next door on the way in and I had wanted spaghetti for a couple of days but the desk guy said it wasn’t that great and suggested the Mexican place instead. We were treated well and fed even better. Dana had sopes, which she has never ordered before and I had camarones a la plancha and both were great, although hers was pretty hot. After dinner we collected our clothes from the dryer and since it was dry for a minute, we walked down to the Fred Meyer for supplies. We were back in and settled at 10:00. We read and watched TV and just relaxed.
DAY 10 TUESDAY JULY 17, 2001 157 1,940
Nisqually Lodge, Ashford, WA. $ 84.00
LUNCH Aaron’s Ark Restaurant Eatonville, WA.
DINNER Deli Dinner in Room Ashford, WA.South SR 522 to Woodinville; south I-405 to Takwila; south SR 167 to Puyallup; south SR 512 to near Summit; south SR 161 to past Eatonville; east SR 706 into Mt, Rainier National Park and up to Paradise Visitor Center; west SR 706 back to Ashford.
Today was a nice ride despite some wetness. We were up at 7:30. The alarm had gone off at 7:00; I thought Dana had set it so she could get up and make calls on her boy’s car insurance and she thought I had set it so we could get an early start and it wasn’t until two days later we figured out it was just set by someone before us. But she was on phone/insurance duty anyway. There was no rain but it was very wet and the streets had not dried. I had waffles at the hotel breakfast bar and we were rolling out at 10:00. Since it was raining in the hills Dana abandoned the planned 190-mile northern inland hill roads to Mt. Rainier for the more direct and shorter (90 miles) route.
It was cloudy and damp and the roads were all small two-laners but very fast with hurried commuters, slowdowns, etc. We were soon on a freeway for some time and this was the first freeway we’d seen since leaving I-5 near Roseburg, Oregon over a week ago. Kind of a letdown but a necessary evil that lasted only a few minutes until we exited the freeway in Renton. There were a few spots of rain but very little and not enough to worry about the raingear. We stopped for lunch at the only place visible in Eatonville and a small storm passed through during lunch. It had stopped to a heavy mist as we left and we felt lucky but it soon began to rain on us enough so that I wanted to dig out the gear but there was no shoulder. By the time I found a place to pull over it was dry so we just kept rolling along. It was a great mountain road and we stopped at the Unocal 76 mart before Elbe for a break. It wasn’t long before we were at our lodge, about a mile east of town but it was too early to get our room.
We stayed packed and rolled out to cruise up Mt. Rainier to the visitor center at the highest point of the road. We entered the park under cloudy skies and about half-way up the hill a drizzle began so we suited up and continued. It became colder by the minute and by the time we hit the top of the road at the “Paradise” visitor center it was downright freezing cold at 38° and raining pretty hard. We didn’t waste any time getting the bikes pointeddownhill and 20 minutes later we were dry and stripping off the raingear. On the way back to the lodge Dana decided we ought to have a deli picnic in the room so we passed the lodge, stopped in town and grabbed food and stuff from the market. We were back at the lodge, unpacked and in the room at 5:00 p.m.
The lodge was a very fine place and the room one of the nicest so far. It is a very quiet area backed by a thick forest. We relaxed and watched the TV for a while and ate our picnic food. The big story on the TV news today is about six of seven kids that died when their speeding Ford Escort hit an abutment under a freeway in nearby Auburn. The seventh person was still barely alive and the kids had just left a party after drinking all evening. The rain stopped at 8:00 p.m. We also watched something called “Real TV” where gruesome crash and accident footage is shown. It rained a little between 9:30 and 10:30 and around 10:30 a couple of BMW bikes and a Moto Guzzi pulled in. Our room window on the forest side of the building was open all night – pretty cool out there, but nice fresh air.
DAY 11 WEDNESDAY JULY 18, 2001 311 2,251
Super 8 Motel, The Dalles, OR. $ 62.04
LUNCH Rose Tree Restaurant Castle Rock, WA.
DINNER Cousins The Dalles, OR.West SR 706 to Elbe; south SR 7 to Morton; west US 12 to I-5; south I-5 to Castle Rock; east SR 504 to Coldwater Ridge Visitor Center at Mount Saint Helens; west SR 504 back to Castle Rock; south I-5 to near Vancouver; south I-205 to Vancouver; east SR along the Columbia River National Scenic Area to past Lyle; south SR 197 to The Dalles.
We were up at 8:00 and looking at another relatively short day. We were to check out Mt. St. Helens then stay in Woodland a short ride south. We were pretty much on Dana’s preplanned schedule and would stay in Madras, OR. tomorrow night then Redding, CA. on Friday, our last night out. These last three days were so short she asked if we could arrange to be home Friday instead of Saturday. If today’s weather was good we could do it easily. I had very good breakfast snacks from the lodge’s food bar then packed up and took a few pictures of the lodge as the other team of motorcyclists left eastward. They were enroute to the BMW Rally in Oregon but were going over through Idaho to accomplish that ride. Strange but understandable to a guy who once returned to California from Alaska via Texas.
We cruised out into the cool and cloudy skies at 10:20 and a few short miles later stopped to check out and take photos of the “Recycled Spirits Of Iron” sculpture forest of Dan Klennert which we had seen on the way in yesterday. There were many different things sculpted from scrap iron, horseshoes, wagon parts, etc. There were gunfighters, bikers, guitarists, hanged men, dinosaurs, a giraffe, all kinds of wonderfully done exhibits. Dana left a few bucks in his donation box and off we went. We cruised some very fine mountain roads with a bit of oncoming traffic, took a gas stop in Morton then cruised some resort river and lake areas before running headlong into I-5 where we had to join the freeway once again. Fast cars, people in a hurry, trucks making money and a whole lotta noise, but it was only for a half hour then we rolled into Castle Rock for lunch and the side trip to Mt. St. Helens.
Lunch was very good and we were soon on another great country road through small towns and resorts and ranches and then into the hills and up to the colder elevations of the St. Helens Visitor Center at Coldwater Ridge. We watched the short movie about the volcano’s eruption 20 years ago then bought some stuff in the gift shop and I got some more smashed-engraved penny souvenirs as well. Dana couldn’t pry herself from the gift shop so I got a soda in the café and went out onto the observation deck and saw a lot of themountain, but not the top because it was clouded over. It had sprinkled a little as we had climbed the mountain and there were thunderstorms nearby but we made it in and out with only a few drops. I saw a young girl get her hand bitten while feeding a chipmunk some seeds and she was saying through a shaky and teary voice that she liked Ohio squirrels better because they don’t bite. There were a few motorbikers having lunch on the deck and I spoke to them for a while. Two of them were from New York and New Jersey who had flown out to visit the third guy who was a local from Olympia with extra bikes for them to borrow. They were having a blast. Dana came out and collected me a while later and we returned to the bikes and made the same trip back to Castle Rock.
We stopped at the post office in Toutle to buy more post card stamps and the clerk there talked for a long time about having moved here from Santa Cruz a year ago and finding a house that cost so little compared to the place she left in California, etc. We stopped for fuel and a break in Castle Rock and seeing as how it was so early and how we were so close to tonight’s destination, Dana cancelled the Woodland motel and called ahead for a room in The Dalles an extra 110 miles farther than planned. We jammed back on the freeway for a while, got caught in a small shower in a no-shoulder construction zone so we never put on our gear but it was fairly light. We exited at 5:00 after less than an hour on the freeway and took the road eastward alongside the Columbia River. It was heavy traffic for about fifteen minutes but then thinned out to a slow, windy, scenic road with few other cars.
We had covered the Columbia River road east of The Dalles a few years ago but this was the other half we’d never seen so it was great. It was an odd feeling of riding through a vacuum along the river and there were many tunnels that seemed to suck us through with no wind resistance. I understood why once we stopped at the rest area near Lyle – there was a terrific tailwind that was pushing us along. When Dana started her bike at the rest stop after a fifteen minute break one lifter sounded off loudly then quieted itself gradually over a 20- 25-second period. Dirty lifter or low oil? I reminded her that we should check the oil tonight. There were hundreds of wind surfers in the river in a few spots and the scenery was great.
We rolled across the bridge and into The Dalles at 7:00 p.m. and I had been looking forward to getting settled in because I remembered the superb restaurant where we ate six years ago and wanted to revisit it for dinner. At the hotel, the desk girl was close to tears, having computer problems that had her in the middle of a nervous breakdown and precluded her from giving anyone their rooms. So we relaxed in the lobby, had a soda and watched TV and waited for the manager to come from home. It wasn’t much later that things were cool, we had our room and were able to unpack and get set up. It was dinner time now and Dana jumped on the back of my bike and we fled the hotel looking for food. After taking a few turns and exploring a bit we found Cousins, the café I was looking for but couldn’t remember the name.
We had a fine dinner there; my meat loaf was just what you’d want and Dana had a huge salad. And there was a John Deere tractor in the dining room. Afterwards we stopped in at the Albertson’s near the hotel and returned with supplies and snacks. After getting locked up and unloaded I went down and checked the oil on both bikes. They were both down a little but nothing that would make Dana’s clatter. We’ll top them off in the morning. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing and reading and just hanging out and were happy to be ahead of ourselves by over a hundred miles. If we play it right tomorrow we may make it even farther. There were about a dozen bikes from all over the place here tonight.
DAY 12 THURSDAY JULY 19, 2001 420 2,671
Motel 6, Redding (North), CA. $ 52.79
LUNCH Jake’s Diner (at Jake’s Truck Stop) Bend, OR.
DINNER Corina’s (the old Italian Cottage) Redding, CA.South US 197 to near Willowdale; south US 97 to Weed; south I-5 to Redding.
Today’s original destination was Madras, OR., but due to yesterday’s decision to cruise farther, Madras was only a few miles down the road. So Dana thinks maybe Bend would be good for a stop but that looks more like a lunchtime arrival so we figured maybe we’d make Klamath Falls instead. For some reason we woke up at 7:45 and started slowly preparing to leave. I had some snacks downstairs in the lobby and stepped out to see some clear and fairly warm skies. In the lot I spoke to a biking family from Ellensburg, Washington. Mom and Dad had just bought their son a new Shadow for his birthday and they were out having a few days of quality time. Good deal.
We pulled out of the hotel at 9:50 and rode down to nearby Fun Country Motorcycles where we got a quart of oil and topped off our bikes, using only half of the quart. We fuelled up a few blocks later then hit the two-laner that would carry us south for most of the day. It was a great road and there was little traffic. We could see a couple of snow-capped mountains behind us as we fled The Dalles and I figured they must be Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Hood. The weather cooled a bit as we climbed to higher elevations but it was nice cruising weather and I done okay without my sweatshirt. We saw a couple of strong dust devils alongside the road and a deer or two grazing in the fields. There were many bikes on the road and the few small towns we passed through were popular food and rest stops for many of those on the bikes. As we cruised through Madras I saw a huge snowy mountain to the west, maybe Mount Jefferson, and the scenery was still some of the best.
We had seen many BMW bikes the past couple of days and there were way too many today to be coincidental so when we got into Redmond and saw a couple hundred BMWs we figured there was a rally nearby. This was confirmed by a rider I spoke to at a traffic light and he said 6,000 Beemerphiles were in attendance so far. A short time later we rolled into Bend looking for gas and food, both of which we found at Jake’s Truck Stop. The young guy at the gas pumps was very friendly and said he’d watch our bikes while we ate. Jake’s Diner is famous for their ultra-huge cinnamon rolls but after the amount of food they laid on us for breakfast the roll was not to be considered. I had eaten one a few years back and had to take half of it to go. We were out at 2:00 p.m. and I could see clouds and cooler weather to the west and blowing into our path so I put on the sweatshirt for a change.
There was a little more traffic along this route, most of it oncoming and the state cops were working a fair amount of radar. We watched an oncoming BMW get stopped on his way to the rally. At one point near Crescent a coyote on the right shoulder hopped out on the road right in front of me and I had to brake with all I had which not only had me shook up but Dana, who was behind me, as well. He hopped back onto the shoulder snickering, knowing he had just caused some small bites to be taken out of my seat leather. We could see some rain in the distance but it looked as though it was a ways ahead when ka-pow, we got hit by a short storm that we just cruised through for about ten minutes. We had another short sprinkle but never did stop for our raingear and then saw what looked like two big storms crossing in front of us with a clear spot lined up for us between them. I looked at Dana to see if she wanted her rainsuit but she gave me the haul-ass signal so we took it up a few notches, headed for the clear spot and made it the thirty miles through the tunnel between the two storms with only a few sprinkles. The cover looked to have only been about 5 miles deep but I measured it out at 31 miles and we rolled out of it at Bend. It cleared and warmed nicely and we stopped for gas and a break.
We had considered this as a night stop but it was still only 4:30. If we done another 150 miles we could have a good Italian dinner in Redding and a very short day tomorrow. I phoned ahead and got a room in Redding next to a favorite restaurant and off we went. It was warm and clear but as we topped the rise and cruised around the bend into California we could see that we may get wet. It was fine as we rolled through Dorris and the agricultural inspection station but as we began climbing the mountains outside Macdoel the skies opened up and the temps dropped rapidly. So is this The Big One where we should stop and suit up or is this another nuisance shower that will be gone in a while? We jammed on over the hill and dropped off the other side to find it was drying and warming rapidly. Only ten minutes of rain but it was a cold, hard rain and the sun looked like it was gone forever. And there were thunderstorms with some of the biggest lightning I have ever seen closing in from the west. It looked as though we could get past these before they reached us and we did but just barely, catching a few drops at the edge of the storm. It was safe now and all was clear between us and Mount Shasta so we slowed and relaxed and rolled steadily along.
Dana pulled up alongside me and said her brakes were making funny noises but I figured with all the water and road grit it was just something that would clear up soon. I was more interested in getting into the sunny skies past Weed than a squeaky brake so I told her we’d look at it later. The clouds were low and black to the west but we were going south. At least until we were until 15 miles from Weed then the road turned directly into the clouds so it could clear Mt. Shasta. We had been doing some cornering and passing and Dana pulled up again and said her brakes were getting louder. Okay, just a few minutes. It looked bad but during those last dark, cold fifteen miles we stayed dry. When we hit Weed we could see clear sunshine all the way south. Once in Weed, we stopped in a lot to look at her brakes and I saw one pad on the front that was down to nothing. It was okay since she wouldn’t need the brake for the next hour and I had a plan.
We cruised off the mountains and the lower we got the hotter it was. We pulled off around Pollard Flat to lose my sweatshirt and Dana’s jacket. Wonderful sunny heat and no clouds here, it was 80° by my temp gauge. Upon entering Redding I stopped at the first Motel 6 which is located next door to the Harley shop. I got a room there and the desk lady was nice enough to call the original Motel 6 a few exits farther and cancel that room for us. We were set up if the Harley folks could do a brake job in the morning. They open at 9:00. We had just covered over 400 miles, making this the high-mileage day of the trip. It was odd, too; we had not done any truly long stretches like on he first day out and we had stopped for a leisurely lunch and we had hit rain in several places and it still felt like a typical low-mile day. It was a great riding day. They should all be this cool.
We unpacked, had a conversation with a couple of Harley folks from Canada (they were in their car for this trip, though) and relaxed for a few minutes. I still wanted Italian food from the Italian Cottage (which is next door to the other Motel 6) so we jumped on my bike and headed off for some food.
As we pulled in we saw that the Italian Cottage is now “Corina’s.” Not a good sign. We have had many favorite eateries change hands and turn out for the worse so we were apprehensive but we stopped anyway. It seems the place was bought by a long-time Italian Cottage employee who was able to retain the same food, recipes, all that. It was as good as it ever was and we loaded up on great food with great service.
Afterwards we rolled down to a local store for some drinks and went back to the motel and locked up. We relaxed for a while but later walked down to the Unocal minimart for some room snacks. It was still wonderfully warm and calm. The freeway was fairly busy all night but the motel area was pretty dead after midnight.
DAY 13 FRIDAY JULY 20, 2001 203 2,874
LUNCH Black Bear Diner Willows, CA.
South I-5 to Dunnigan; south I-505 to Vacaville; west I-80 to home.
Dana’s wake-up call came in at 7:00. I guess I didn’t need to get up since it was only for her to get ready to take her bike next door for a brake job, but I got up anyway. It’s the last day so I may as well experience all of it. I walked to the office and got Dana’s coffee then around 8:00 I walked over to the Harley shop to see if maybe they had opened early. One man was inside but he had nothing to do with service and told me to come back at 9:00. We relaxed for a short time then at 8:50 went back over and got Dana’s bike stuffed in front of the service line for new brake pads.
It didn’t take them too long to finish the job and we were packed up and heading south on I-5 at 10:30. It seemed warm standing around but was almost cool at speed. Still a tee shirt was okay for me. At the gas stop in Red Bluff we ran into a load of Moto Guzzis on their way to the Goose rally in Grass Valley. Lots of bike stuff this week. It would be an all-freeway day and we hopped back on and headed southward in the typical California summer country traffic. We exited at Willows due to hunger pangs. I had been seeing the same frequent commercial for several days about the KFC “Caesar Twister” wrap-type sandwich and had mentioned to Dana earlier that I may want one but as we cruised along I-5 she pulled up and shouted over the engine noise, “Anywhere but Kentucky Chicken!” Damn, man……
Ah well, I was headed for Denny’s but whizzed past the driveway and Dana spied a Black Bear Diner which was one of a very small chain. We had eaten at one in Yreka on our first day out two weeks ago and she liked it so she herded us over for a great lunch. I ordered a big burger and when it arrived at the table it was the biggest hamburger I had ever seen. Anywhere. Ever. Two-thirds pound on a huge, huge bun. I have been eating “Giant Burgers” at all the California places my whole life and I have never cut any burger in half before. With this one it was not an option, it was necessary and then after struggling with that half, I actually cut the second half into quarters which were, indeed, manageable. What a burger, and very tasty as well. Dana ate a whole peach cobbler bowl with ice cream. Well, last meal of the vacation so I guess it was all okay.
After an hour and twenty minute lunch stop we were back on the road and cruised the last 120 miles nonstop. The weather held out and cooled off a little as we rolled into home territory. My plan was to stop at Vallejo H-D for some oil and a filter so I could “jump right on it” when I hit the driveway but I was so close I just wanted to get in and relax. As it was, I rolled into the garage, unpacked and left the bike untouched for the next four days.
What a ride!!!!!!
As usual it was a great trip. Two weeks is almost long enough and it was good to get home. The rain, which usually bums me out quite a bit, was even okay with me this trip, although I never figured out exactly why. Maybe it was because we were having so much fun and it seldom got in the way.
A huge 90% of the places we rode through and visited were all new to me with even more places being new to Dana. I always knew I’d visit Grand Coulee Dam some day but I didn’t even know what state it was in until this trip. The trips to the two wet and cold mountains, St. Helens and Rainier, were well worth the side trips despite the weather that hangs around these kinds of places. The North Cascades Scenic Highway was everything everyone told me it would be. The San Juan Islands were another thing I had never heard of and it was a great visit but I’d sure like to go out and hang around for a week sometime. I can’t really remember any stretch of road where I felt bored because of the lack of scenery or character, except the parts of I-5 I have been over dozens of time and even those places were interesting on this trip.
The fact that we got to abandon all freeways for over a week was a huge plus and throughout the entire 2,874 miles there was only one long freeway day, one short freeway day and two days with very short hops on The Slab. I like it like that.
The one afternoon I spent trying to figure out my bike’s vibration problem and collecting stuff with which to charge Dana’s battery could have been better spent but even that evening turned out well and we finally got to relax.
It was a bummer that we had missed a visit with Denny and his family in Bremerton but he got stuck working the weekend for the first time all year. But there’ll be another time so it’s cool.
We could have done better by gassing up at the no-name mini-marts but we usually done the Unocal 76, Chevron or Shell thing which was always higher in price but still way cheaper than in California.
I averaged 51 MPG but the best mileage was between Castle Rock, WA. And The Dalles, OR where I measured a fat 53.56 MPG.
I don’t know what Dana’s average MPG was but on that same stretch of road she got a whoppin’ 57.07 mpg. Not too shabby for a Harley.
Dana had planned the whole trip without much input from me. The stops, the motels and hotels, the attractions, the routes and ferries, everything. She could not have done better and even had the last three days down where we were able to make it home in two. She was missing her grandbabies and was like a horse heading for the barn at the end of the day.
And I know I say this for just about every trip but she is the best riding partner I have ever tripped with. No head trips, no bummers, no wah-wah-waaaahhh crap, just wake up, pack up, get on and ride. Rain doesn’t matter, cold doesn’t matter, let’s just GO. And I haven’t figured out the finances yet, but I believe she paid for most of it as well. What a gal!!!!!!
So it is good to be home cleaning up the messes that accumulate over this type of absence but I do believe we are ready for the next!!!!!!
Stay Safe!!!!!
