My "Heading Northwest" thread morphed into this one today. To put the finishing touches on "Heading Northwest," I learned that sometime, I passed within a mile of Daboo's house -- you'd think he would have run outside and waved even if he wouldn't invite me in. Oh, well....
The same Spotwalla link will let any who are interested see where I am, and where I have been. That link is:
https://spotwalla.com/publicTrips.php?un=PTarman If you switch to the satellite view and zoom in on my last Spot today, you can see the place on the sidewalk where the bike sat while I got out my 'Stitch before unloading it.
Yesterday, I was northbound from Eldon's house and thought I had left in plenty of time to make it to registration and the pre-ride banquet for the Three-Flags Classic. But then I hit Tacoma. And then I got off of I-405 and onto I-5 between Seattle and Marysville. I got to the banquet at 6:20 and people were eating dessert! I had been off an hour on when it started, but it wouldn't have made any difference. I couldn't have gotten there any sooner (and still have eaten a great late breakfast at GeeCee's north of Vancouver, WA).
A sweet little server went to the kitchen and fixed me a wonderful plate of really good food, but I couldn't eat more than about a fourth of it.
Then it was off to Registration and to track down the guy (and his wife) who I shared a room with in Abbotsford and will share a pretty deluxe suite with in Puerto Penasco. We talked a little and I made motel reservations for tonight and tomorrow night (both Motel 6s, tonight in Redmond, OR, and tomorrow night in Ely, NV). I owe my discovery of Motel 6s (they've all been clean, lower priced than anything else, have semi-decent WiFi, and meet my basic criteria for consistency, plus they "leave the light on for ya'!) to good ol' Rick (FalconAF on the Forum).
Then we turned off the lights and I pulled my usual pre-ride stunt. I laid there without sleeping until about 3:00AM. I laid there from 10:00 till 2:00 and may have slept a little before 3, but I know I slept from 3 till I woke up at 3:38, and rolled away from our motel at 4:20. We had to prove we had started after midnight and we did that by dropping a numbered poker chip into a jar on the registration desk at the Quality Inn (Rally Start HQ). It was a couple of miles from ours, and then we all lined up (well, not all of us, but many of us) at the Sumas border crossing. It took about a half hour for me to get through, just like it did last night when I was going into Canada.
Of course it was still dark as pitch and I wasn't feeling real whippy, so I took it very easy till I made it to I-5. And then I was amazed. I-5 moved well, I-405, moved even better, and I-90 wasn't bad at all and got better the further east we got.
As the sun began to brighten the world, I was freezing! I hadn't put on my heated jacket, I hadn't zipped all the zippers on the 'Stitch, and I hadn't put on my Gore-Tex winter/bad weather gloves. I promised that if the sun would simply warm the world, I wouldn't complain about being hot on the rest of the trip. And I didn't, even though it was 94F at Hood River at 1PM when I got there for the first checkpoint.
The ride over Snoqualimie Pass was impressive, but I was surprised at low the pass was. I think it was just over 4,000 feet ASL. That ain't no pass! Real passes are at least 10,000'!
And while I was coming down the east side of Snoqualamie, the Apple Maps truck merged into the lane beside me. If any of you use Apple Maps, let me know if you see me.
It was really smoky around Ellensburg, but cleared up by the time I got Yakima. From Yakima, I rode to Goldendale, and then went on south to Maryhill, I was high up on the north side of the Columbia River. The ride from there to the Hood River Bridge was incredible. Back 30 years ago, when I was working in the oilfield, I had customers around Eugene, in Aloha, and Pendleton. Before I got my pilot's license, I drove that it from Santa Rosa, CA, and it took the better part of a week. I've driven up the Columbia River Gorge (and down it) and I've flown Cessnas up and down the Gorge, but I never saw it as clearly and as beautifully magnificent as it was today.
After registering at the checkpoint at the Hood River Marina and having a snack and lots of water, I headed south on OR-35. It's a good road that has more stupendous views of Mt Hood as it climbs away from the south side of River, but the higher you get, the less of Mt Hood you see. It was fun with good twisties and little traffic, until I merged onto US-26 and all the traffic coming from Portland for Memorial Day and was facing all the traffic going to Portland for the Memorial Day Weekend.
I'd thought I'd walk up to the Subway on the highway for supper, but when I got there, the only folks there were rebuilding the kitchen. There's a Mexican food place across the street that's supposed to be good, but there's no way on earth I could get across that highway alive. So, Domino's is cooking my supper. Then I'm going to bed.
Tomorrow, there's a long empty stretch between Burns and Winnemucca, the 2nd checkpoint. Then I'm riding on to Ely, NV, through Austin and Eureka on US-50 that calls itself the "Loneliest Highway in America." Bullfeathers! The stretch of OR-78 between Burns and Burns Junction is waaayyy lonelier than 50. I took it once years ago and tomorrow I'll take OR-201/202 and see how it compares to US-50.
Oh, I was going to post some pictures, but my camera went belly-up this morning. I'll hit the WalMart in Winnemucca tomorrow and get a new one.
The same Spotwalla link will let any who are interested see where I am, and where I have been. That link is:
https://spotwalla.com/publicTrips.php?un=PTarman If you switch to the satellite view and zoom in on my last Spot today, you can see the place on the sidewalk where the bike sat while I got out my 'Stitch before unloading it.
Yesterday, I was northbound from Eldon's house and thought I had left in plenty of time to make it to registration and the pre-ride banquet for the Three-Flags Classic. But then I hit Tacoma. And then I got off of I-405 and onto I-5 between Seattle and Marysville. I got to the banquet at 6:20 and people were eating dessert! I had been off an hour on when it started, but it wouldn't have made any difference. I couldn't have gotten there any sooner (and still have eaten a great late breakfast at GeeCee's north of Vancouver, WA).
A sweet little server went to the kitchen and fixed me a wonderful plate of really good food, but I couldn't eat more than about a fourth of it.
Then it was off to Registration and to track down the guy (and his wife) who I shared a room with in Abbotsford and will share a pretty deluxe suite with in Puerto Penasco. We talked a little and I made motel reservations for tonight and tomorrow night (both Motel 6s, tonight in Redmond, OR, and tomorrow night in Ely, NV). I owe my discovery of Motel 6s (they've all been clean, lower priced than anything else, have semi-decent WiFi, and meet my basic criteria for consistency, plus they "leave the light on for ya'!) to good ol' Rick (FalconAF on the Forum).
Then we turned off the lights and I pulled my usual pre-ride stunt. I laid there without sleeping until about 3:00AM. I laid there from 10:00 till 2:00 and may have slept a little before 3, but I know I slept from 3 till I woke up at 3:38, and rolled away from our motel at 4:20. We had to prove we had started after midnight and we did that by dropping a numbered poker chip into a jar on the registration desk at the Quality Inn (Rally Start HQ). It was a couple of miles from ours, and then we all lined up (well, not all of us, but many of us) at the Sumas border crossing. It took about a half hour for me to get through, just like it did last night when I was going into Canada.
Of course it was still dark as pitch and I wasn't feeling real whippy, so I took it very easy till I made it to I-5. And then I was amazed. I-5 moved well, I-405, moved even better, and I-90 wasn't bad at all and got better the further east we got.
As the sun began to brighten the world, I was freezing! I hadn't put on my heated jacket, I hadn't zipped all the zippers on the 'Stitch, and I hadn't put on my Gore-Tex winter/bad weather gloves. I promised that if the sun would simply warm the world, I wouldn't complain about being hot on the rest of the trip. And I didn't, even though it was 94F at Hood River at 1PM when I got there for the first checkpoint.
The ride over Snoqualimie Pass was impressive, but I was surprised at low the pass was. I think it was just over 4,000 feet ASL. That ain't no pass! Real passes are at least 10,000'!
And while I was coming down the east side of Snoqualamie, the Apple Maps truck merged into the lane beside me. If any of you use Apple Maps, let me know if you see me.
It was really smoky around Ellensburg, but cleared up by the time I got Yakima. From Yakima, I rode to Goldendale, and then went on south to Maryhill, I was high up on the north side of the Columbia River. The ride from there to the Hood River Bridge was incredible. Back 30 years ago, when I was working in the oilfield, I had customers around Eugene, in Aloha, and Pendleton. Before I got my pilot's license, I drove that it from Santa Rosa, CA, and it took the better part of a week. I've driven up the Columbia River Gorge (and down it) and I've flown Cessnas up and down the Gorge, but I never saw it as clearly and as beautifully magnificent as it was today.
After registering at the checkpoint at the Hood River Marina and having a snack and lots of water, I headed south on OR-35. It's a good road that has more stupendous views of Mt Hood as it climbs away from the south side of River, but the higher you get, the less of Mt Hood you see. It was fun with good twisties and little traffic, until I merged onto US-26 and all the traffic coming from Portland for Memorial Day and was facing all the traffic going to Portland for the Memorial Day Weekend.
I'd thought I'd walk up to the Subway on the highway for supper, but when I got there, the only folks there were rebuilding the kitchen. There's a Mexican food place across the street that's supposed to be good, but there's no way on earth I could get across that highway alive. So, Domino's is cooking my supper. Then I'm going to bed.
Tomorrow, there's a long empty stretch between Burns and Winnemucca, the 2nd checkpoint. Then I'm riding on to Ely, NV, through Austin and Eureka on US-50 that calls itself the "Loneliest Highway in America." Bullfeathers! The stretch of OR-78 between Burns and Burns Junction is waaayyy lonelier than 50. I took it once years ago and tomorrow I'll take OR-201/202 and see how it compares to US-50.
Oh, I was going to post some pictures, but my camera went belly-up this morning. I'll hit the WalMart in Winnemucca tomorrow and get a new one.
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