Our host, James Thomas, has opened his cherry orchard to the Washington State BMW riders club for several years. His generous hospitality and comfortable facility and shady orchard, make this one of the most popular BMW club outings of the year. This was my first, having just joined the club in January, but I am sure it won't be the last .
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A couple hours ride over the Cascade mountains from the Seattle area, or west from Spokane or CDA Idaho, and you arrive in the Yakima valley. This is a big agricultural region, producing cherries, peaches apples and other fruiits and vegetables. A welcome climate of blue skies and warm temperatures is the norm here. We welcomed it after the past wet gray winter.
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Not a warehouse loading dock, but James' "carport" in front of his four car garage. A great place to relax with new friends in the shade and plan the next ride. A pooch sized tank tote allowed the whole Randall family to ride to Yakima. Michelle gets alot of double takes on her bike, I bet. (with or without the Pomeranian on the tank)
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My R1100RT on the "wash rack" , yours truly , waiting for the food to cook.
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James' friend Al stopped by Saturday morning on his way to ride with friends. Talk about a spotless bike and rider! John Thomas (no relation) and I explored the farming back country south of I-90, stopping at the Vernita bridge across the Columbia river.
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We stopped in Othello, where we found the president of Caylor Bee Ent. selling her wares. Ummm that cinnamon whipped honey sure tastes good. In Connell, we found the air conditioned comfort of the Golden Harvest a gooood place to stop for food.
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Saturday evening, everyone brought back thier road kill to put on the barbeque grills. Our gracious host provided all the trimmings to make it a sumptious feast. As is common when this club gets together, we had a 50/50 raffle, conducted by James, who provided the door prizes.
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On my way over White pass on Friday, I met these two riders from Germany. Jergen "Joe" and Richard from the Stuttgart area. They asked if I knew of a place where they might camp near Yakima. :o) Welllll I said "sure do, just follow me". They were welcome guests, riding thier own bikes, a R1100-R and a Yamaha FJ900. Several of the club got to practice thier German language skills. Joe and Richard will tour the western US for four more weeks before returning to Germany via Vancouver B.C.
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Megan Barritt presented James with a modified BMW Logo t-shirt, which was a big hit. Rolf-Immo Gabbe had a presentation for James also, recognizing him finally for his participation in several past events, somehow lost from the published reports.
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On my roundabout return to Seattle, I passed through Goldendale on the way to the Columbia river gorge and hi-way 14. This stop allowed a panoramic view of Mt. Adams and Mt. Hood .
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A stop at Hood River OR to watch the windsurfers, and pick up a new kite buggy harness. This is a beautiful ride along the gorge. One I will do again.
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Mt. St. Helens from above the Columbia river bridge at Longview WA, and Mt. Hood from Maryhill Museum. No shortage of volcano's to pose the bike in front of on this trip.
Mt. Rainier, from the Enumclaw WA area, taken on my way over on Friday.
A great trip, I put almost 1000 miles on the RT, and had a great time. If you would like to have a high resolution copy of any of these pictures, let me know.
Page created 6/20/99 updated 9/8/02
write to me steveirby (at) attbi.com , change the (at) to an @