Wing Washington Ride to Royal City 20130922

Take Two on my getting some more of those Wing Washington sites.  Sunday the 22^st I decided to head over to the East side and bag 5 more.  I figured I might as well get up at normal time and jam on over.  The weatherman said not to expect the clouds n rain until around noon!  Woohoo!  Lets rock! 

Sooooo….. Sat night I toss all my stuff on the bike so I’m ready to go.  Not bothering with gas as I’ll get some in Ellensburg.  I’m up @ 4:15 and out the door by 4:30 with the motor running, I’m fiddling with the stupid bluetooth unit and want to listen to some tunes so 5-10 min later I’m zipping down the freeway.

Oh yeah, it was a Dark and Stormy night… Well morning anyway, and as I head down I-5 with a few other crazy souls I’m enjoying the dry pavement until I hit the 405 interchange (which is only about 10 miles…) then a little sprinkle here and there.    By the time I get half way to Kirkland it is POURING!  I’ve been in worse but at least I didn’t start out in this crap.  Another 15 min goes by and I slow to make the curve to I-90 east.  Because of all the rain I’m a little gun shy about blasting through the curve and that’s fine.  I’ve got all my lights going and wick up the pace to a tad over the limit.  The rain eases a little then comes back like an angry mob wanting vengeance.  The weather performed this little dance for the next 60 miles. 

As I rode up the freeway I hit a few of the wheel ruts and the water was deep, it felt like I ran into a huge sand pit and let out a parachute at the same time.  I concentrated on staying in the middle but wasn’t happy about that either as that’s where all the oil from cars/trucks leaks on the pavement. 

Now, when I ride I’m always scanning the mirrors, up ahead, sides, gauges and just keep this cycle going all the time.  At night it is easy to see if anyone is coming up from behind by their lights and I was totally taken by surprise as I passed an 18 wheeler in the last section of Snoqualmie pass in the rain.  I turned my head to the left and a white SUV went blowing by me.  Where the heck did this guy come from???  Oh well, let’s keep on going. 

It’s still pitch black as I make it over the pass, at least the rain has subsided so I can chill out and not be so tense.  I feel my jaw was really clenched riding in all that rain.  Now riding at my normal speed I am zipping along making decent time, the construction crews are not doing any road construction, which is nice so all of us are making time.   After many miles I am finally starting to get near Ellensburg where I’ll get some gas and then can zip to my first point. 

The west side of Ellensburg is a known speed trap area.  It just is, and (brian) we all know it’s not for safety (Hello Brian) it’s all about revenue.  I slow to 70 but feel so slow that I could hop off and push.  Somehow the speed sneaks back up.  I haven’t ridden or driven through there (BRIAN!) in a while but crap it’s still black out and I slow back down to 70.  Wait what is this?  I’m coming up on that White SUV!  Well that’s interesting I’m seeing it again, the dude must have stopped for something.  I over take him and get back in the right lane.  (HELLO DUMB ASS I’ve been blipping at you for a few miles and guess what YOU ARE BACK UP TO YOUR NORMAL SPEED AND THE MAN IS SHOOTING YOU RIGHT NOW!)  That’s what my V1 has been telling me for the past mile.

I can barely make out in the median up ahead a black crown vic with black windows and NO light bar.  CRAP I’m busted!  I don’t need this!  As soon as the V1 screamed at me I let off the gas and this time was no different.  I went by him about the speed limit while Mr SUV was coming up my 6 quite quickly.  I never hit my brakes and as I’m watching my mirrors I see Da Man turn on the car, flip around and start blasting up the road towards me.  I’m totally TOAST! But wait, What is going on here?  The dumbass guy in the SUV is pulling out and PASSING ME!  Isn’t he even paying attention to the cop flying up from behind us???   I’m approaching a big truck and maintain my speed/distance behind it, the cop comes up beside me and I know he is saying to himself, “I am almost positive it was YOU speeding but that chump in the SUV is leaving all of us, hmmm…..”  He presses on and gets behind the SUV and then lights up the Christmas tree inside the car and pulls over the SUV.    Both the 18 wheeler and I move over to the left lane and keep on truckin.  ;-)  Don’t ya just hate it when that happens……  I give the cop a minute of playing with his radio, then zip up the road to the next exit for gas. 

The sun is finally starting to come up, but the spectacular sunrise I was hoping for just isn’t happening so I check my GPS and have about 44 miles to Royal City where I’m looking for the middle school.  Back up to my nominal speed and in 15 min or so I’m coming up to a windmill farm . 

I stop, snag a few photos and head on over the Columbia River where I’m blinded by the sun for the next 15 miles to Royal City.  As I approach the town there are some HUGE combines or other mammoth farming rigs coming towards me with a lead car/truck with flashing lights.  There must have been 5 of these enormous rigs in a row zipping along at their max speed of 30 mph heading to another field to do whatever they do.  To me it’s really cool to see these types of things out in their element – this is America!  J

I make it to Royal City a small town of roughly 2200.  I pull into town and see probably the only cop in town trolling the 2 main streets.  I waved as I drove by him and putted through town looking for the school.  The GPS started routing me all over the place.  Good thing I looked at the map the night before.  I turn around and come back in town, drive down main street a ways then just pull over into a parking lot to get out my W Washington packet and review the street names.  Mr. Cop cruises slowly past as I play with the GPS a little and review the packet again and again.  This entire time I’m stopped my V1 is just going berserk!  I finally look around and Mr. Cop has some poor soul stopped down the street,  Sheesh, it’s like 7:30 AM on a Sunday morning in the middle of nowhere and you got this wild hair to get back at someone, what a police state this is.  I hop back on the bike do a U-turn and see the road I’m looking for and start up the hill going very slowly.  Finally I see all the schools - Elementary then the Middle and High school.  I stop by the sign and get my shot.

Also on the map last night I noticed a parallel road to the 2-lane highway roughly a mile from it, which I was right next to.  I’ll just ride through the country.  You know the farm areas are broken into 1-mile squares so this is a no brainer.  I’ll see some different countryside and enjoy the morning.  This is all fine and dandy until I think I see no more pavement!  What?  Oh well it can’t be far so I plow along and the gravel gets thicker and thicker (now probably 2-3” thick in places) so I really slow down and decide it’s probably time to head south towards the main highway.  Unfortunately I don’t see any roads for another mile, then another mile, then another….  Finally I see this big yellow sign pointing left or right (a dead end).  I head left and in a couple hundred yards I hit black top.  I don’t mind dirt roads but the big RT isn’t exactly a light or even a heavy dual sport bike.

I cross back over the Columbia and head up the 10 mile hill to the wind mills and notice the GPS says the next turn is about 40 miles away or something silly and it wants me to turn left.  Who the heck put the points in this unit?  Good thing I looked at the map the night before because I should be hitting the 2^nd or 3^rd point by the time I go that many miles.  Oh well…  I take the Kittitas exit and stop at a dead gas station to look at my WW packet.  The sky ahead is getting darker by the second as I pull back out and head into town, in a few turns I find the Secondary High School.  The road to the school is lined with pine trees and looks very nice.  As I am stopped to take a few photos the wind is starting to pick up and it’s spitting at me.  No biggie, I set the GPS to the next stop and pick the shortest distance so I can see more countryside.

The back roads are fun and you never no what to expect.  I don’t expect speed radar but hit 2 spots where schools or some little community has them going 24/7 to flash at folks but the lights are turned off this morning.  See some cool cars fixed up here and there, people starting to get up and are out walking, or whatever.  I get into the town of Ellensburg and find the Roadhouse Grill for my next photo.  It’s closed so I zip across the street for a bacon, bacon, biscuit at Carls Jr.  As I’m sitting there I see this big suburban pull up.  It is dark blue, dark, dark tinted windows and on the roof is a big satellite dish folded down and some other big radar receiver type thing that looked like a round trash can about 2 feet tall.  Hmmm…  It also had a big winch on the front.   As I walk out to the sprinkling rain the guys are coming in.  I flip open my back trunk and take a few “no look” photos.  The sticker on the side says something about Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team.  I set the GPS to the next stop and pull out for gas.

Next stop is the town of Cle Elum where I’ll be looking for the Historic Telephone museum.  An uneventful drone up the freeway in the rain and I pull off. Watch the instructions and in a few minutes spot the unassuming little brick building on the north side of Main Street.  I whip around and get my shot.  The sun is trying to break back out but I’m not holding my breath.  Set the GPS for my last stop (The Veterans memorial cemetery in Roslyn).

Roslyn has an interesting history starting in the 1880s as a coal mining area, had labor unions, strikes, brought in ~300 black miners from the east to be strikebreakers.   Because of the influx of all sorts of nationalities the Roslyn Cemetery is composed of 26 separate but adjacent cemetery plots, reflecting the diversity of early immigrant society.    If Roslyn sounds somewhat familiar it is because it was the site of the hit TV show Northern Exposure from 1990-1995.

Ok so 20 min later I’m pulling into the town of Roslyn, find my cross street and start heading up.  The road I’m supposed to take has been removed with a big bulldozer and some other machinery.  Hmmm…  Well the town isn’t that big so I just start heading up another street and make some turns to where I think it should be and wall-ah I’m there!

Now my dad is a Vet from Vietnam war and was in the service for more than 20 yrs.  It wasn’t easy on our family like it is today with the internet, email, skype and all this stuff but we made it through those years just fine.  I am quite thankful to all vets and thank them for their service when I see them out and about by themselves.  Enough of this sappy talk, the cemetery has a few helmets on posts or something so I decided to look around.  Many of the head stones are from men that served in World War 2 or the Korean war, I didn’t see much or anyone from Vietnam or the latest in the middle east but some had little vases w/plastic flowers at them which were blown all over by the wind so I stopped, picked them up and put them back at their respective places. After roughly ½ hour of this I hopped back on the bike and cruised slowly through town, waving at the locals and then meandered out to the freeway for the slog home.  I had plenty of heavy rain for the next 80 miles and was home before 11.  :-)  About 375 miles for the morning ride.

2013 09 12 Wing Washington Ride to the coast

I signed up for the Wing Washington tour this year and have hardly ridden to any of the locations for photos.  My friend Lloyd and I early on zipped out to the coast and did a big loop around the Olympic Mountains, out by the town of Forks n stuff but that was darn near 4 months ago.  I need to get on the ball here as the end of the time for finishing up is closing fast.  I figured I can hit some locations after work. 

Sooooo….. I decided on a loop or down and back ride Thursday Sept 12^th.  Get off work, blast home, toss my V1, GPS, tank bag on the bike, throw on the new helmet with my new SENA bluetooh headset and zip on down the road.   If early enough I’d zip over to the Edmonds ferry and bypass the Seattle, Tacoma, Fort Lewis traffic and boring ride, which I’ve done a bazillion times.

So lets back up a minute.  You know the drill, you haven’t ridden in a long time so 3 nights before you finally look at your gear, weather forecast, etc.  When was the last time I changed the oil?  Is it topped off, tires, wires for everything, tank bag, set up spotwalla, are batteries charged for cameras, phone, etc?  How the heck does this bluetooth thingiemabob work?  Read the manual, it pairs up perfect with the phone, now how about that other expensive unit I had to purchase so I could hook up the V1 and GPS?  Now I’m reading that manual and trying to pair that, 2 nights before.  It’s hotter than heck and I’m walking around the house, garage, etc wearing a stupid helmet for a couple hours trying every button combination and just can’t get it to work.  Lights are flashing, the headset says multi-pairing blah, blah, blah.  I get on line, search.  All to familiar territory to all of you.  After emailing the folks I bought the headsets from I fiddled a few more minutes and through sheer luck got it to pair with the helmet.  Forget the GPS, I’ll plug it in, it if doesn’t work I’ll just watch for the changes and try to keep up.  Enough of all that crap, lets get riding.

Thursday rolls around and It was a beautiful day, perfect for a ride.  I take off early from work, as I know it’s going to be a 450+ mile day and since my day starts at 4:15 AM it will be a long one.  I’m home by 12:50, start tossing stuff on the bike, changing into shorts, etc, bike loaded, kiss the wife goodbye and zip out the driveway at roughly 1:20.  I get down the street a block and determine my dang helmet isn’t strapped on = crap!  I pull over in the shade and fiddle with that for 5 min.  I’m burning precious time here as every second I’m late traffic gets worse by the logarithmic scale. 

I’m finally out on I-5 heading south, to late to make the Edmonds Ferry at 1:40 so I press on down the road.  Just a 2 miles down the road I see red/blue flashing lights at a typical police sting area and the moto cop on his ST1300 has a victim.  I am in the HOV lane making some pretty good time when the overhead reader board says there has been an accident just past Northgate mall, expect high traffic volumes, congestion, etc..  I never trust them as I never know when the incident happened?    Will traffic clear up by the time I get there??  I keep on going and of course you pass an exit to find out that right around the next curve traffic comes to a stand still and there is no off ramp for another 2 miles and no way to turn around… Grrr…  Did I mention I was all geared up and in stop & go get hot REALLY FAST!  Well that’s what’s happening.

All of a sudden my headset breaks from the music and starts beeping.  I tap the phone button (I think) and the music stops I say Hello but just have silence, a few seconds go by and I hear Hello and I start a conversation with a sales guy back in Michigan, we talk for a while which helps pass the 10 mph crawl for the next mile or so and I take the next exit like hundreds of others but this is a bypass type exit where you can get back on easy.  I was going to use it to get by the traffic on the right to take the following exit.  I see it’s all gummed up ahead but the break is before the next exit.  I’ll play a sheeple and abide as I know traffic will be excellent just after that mess.  Sure enough I’m going 70+ in no time, zip through Seattle, then Boeing field, traffic volume is picking up but everyone is still in the 70+ range blasting on through Tacoma, Fort Lewis and am getting close to my first Point - Norma’s Burger place.  As I head down the Nisqually delta area (a known police hangout) I see the famous red/blue flashing light and as I approach, the cager cop has a guy on a sport bike pulled over. 

I get off the freeway and low and behold Norma’s http://www.normasburger.com/ is right there.  I thought it was up the hill a mile or two so I’m pleased.  I pull in, take my photo, look at the next point, set the GPS and am back on the freeway  (after running the light) and heading on down towards Olympia.  Even though I was off the road for about 10 min I see the same cars/trucks I passed earlier.

Well I’m really jazzed, I‘ve cranked out 82 miles so far and I feel I’m doing good but I haven’t been out to the coast in a long time and figure it’ll take another 4 hrs.  I’d like to visit Mario Winkleman of LD Comfort fame but don’t know if I have time.  If I can make it out in time it’d be a nice visit.  I don’t know if Mario gets many or any visitors during the middle of the week but I’ll see when I get out that way.  The highway (101, 8, 12 take your pick, is the same dang road with 3 different numbers) is nice, I’m continuing to make good time and can’t believe my eyes that I’m out to Aberdeen before I know it.

The coast is socked in by the clouds and the temp has cooled down considerably.  Hoquiam is just like a suburb of Aberdeen to the west.  I see that it’s only a bit past 4 so I decide to try and find his place.  I’d looked at the map and had a good idea where it was the night before so I keep going and going and going through town and finally cross the last big bridge, hang a quick left, and see some of the nice little town, home of the world headquarters of LD Comfort undergarments (made for and by Long Distance motorcycle riders)  http://ldcomfort.com/   As I park the bike Mario comes out and greets me.  I ask if he has time to chat and a quick 20-30 min stop turns into an hour.  I got a tour of his facility, learned all about fabric, different kinds of sewing machines, marketing ideas with his ambulance, etc.  I wanted to pick up some items but the gal that ran the books had just left so I’ll order online.  After a great meet up I had to jam as I had only hit 1 stop and I wanted to hit 3 more before home and it was 5:30 already. 

 

Gas was next on the agenda so I filled up, had to go inside to get my receipt and then the Tokeland Hotel (haunted?) was my next stop, 40+ miles down the coast.  I’d never been out this way so it was fun seeing the bogs, short trees (compared to our 60-80+ foot trees) and the cranberry coast.  I unfortunately got behind a bunch of folks heading home from work and the two laner was curvy and hilly with a lot of double yeller lines.  After about 10-20 miles I decided the poking along had gone on long enough and decided to start spanking these guys with impunity.  A couple here, a couple there and then I was zipping along at my typical “Brian nominal pace” which is I don’t look at the speedo and ride with the force, get in the groove and let Zen take over.  An occasional glance at the instruments indicates 70, 80, ++ (oops).  I stop and take a few photos here and there, see half a dozen pelicans in formation cruising 10’ above the surf. 

I finally get close to the Shoalwater Indian Reservation http://www.shoalwaterbay-nsn.gov/ and the V1 barks to life.  I spy a dark blue Charger w/lightbar parked in the dirt lot waiting for victims.  I drop anchor and putt through to my turn off and around the next bend the V1 screams again.  I notice another really cool looking police Charger really hidden this time across the street from the police station.  I continue putting along and make it out to the Tokeland hotel  http://www.tokelandhotel.com/home.html  In the yard is a spike & doe deer.  Also in the yard is this incredible Horse made out of driftwood.  I take a few photos and plug in the next place (Long Beach WA).

I head back out to the main drag and take a few photos of the cool cop car.  As I’m trying to pull out my horn hits the tank bag and I’m honking away – sheesh, try to be indiscrete and what happens…..

Ok I make it out to the main highway 105 and head east.  A few seconds down the road and I spy another dark blue Charger.  Is it the same one or another?  I don’t know but putt along, wave and he waves back and I slowly get up to speed (55 that is) about a mile down the road as I’m soaking in the sites.  Coming at me at a high rate of speed is a truck with a house trailer behind, I motion to slow down and see in my mirrors the brake lights come on so I hoped I saved that schmuck a few $$. 

It’s now getting close to 7 or later and the sun will be going down soon.  Crap I have at least this one more stop I’d like to do before it gets dark.  My next victim is Marsh’s free museum  http://www.marshsfreemuseum.com/ in Longbeach WA.  Roughly 60 miles away so I put the hammer down and enjoy dispatching cagers & trucks along the way.  There were 2 road construction areas where I had to stop with others as the bridges were being replaced and it was one of those 1 lane crossings where a photo camera detects you and makes you wait while the others cross, then lets you go, etc.  Well I made it to LongBeach and found the Museum, took my photos and called my friend Lloyd.  It’s now about 8 or later and I had to get back home 200+ miles.  I wanted to stop at a school in Kent but don’t know if I want to do it too late at night, especially since I’m going to get home around 11 and will have to be up at 4:15 for work tomorrow……

I’ll decide later on the school, meanwhile I’m going for the fastest route towards the Seattle area and unfortunately it’s basically the same way I came down here.  I head down to Hwy 101 then start north.  I get stuck at a light and watch the cars go across the intersection.  I noticed one is an all white crown vic, a motorcycle struggles to get across and a few other cars.  Finally a green and I start zipping up the long straight away.  Soon one car turns off and there are a few more in front of me as I slowly approach them.  Then one more decides to turn off – woohoo I only have one more car to catch up to and then I can start screaming.  I twist the grip and am on the guys bumper in a heartbeat and all of a sudden I see on the plate XMT!  Crap it’s that crown vic and I’m getting ready to blow him away!  I drop anchor and fall in behind.  It’s pitch black and I can’t see any markings, any light bars inside or nothing but I’m not taking any chances.  I follow this person for a while and he/she starts picking up the pace, pretty soon we’re both flying around the marshes and curves 10+ over the limit.  I’m wondering if he is toyin with me or what?  I’m happy that we are over the limit and making time.  We get up to another intersection with Hwy 4 and crap he turns north just like me but pulls over to the “slow” lane going up the hill.  I’m tempted to blow by but he’s going above the limit so I sit tight.  A few miles up the road and we come to a one lane bridge and there are about 4 other cars in front but it’s green and we slowly make our way across.  I’m having a little deja vu here as some of the cars turn off here and there.  Pretty soon it’s just the car in front and another white car.  We get on a nice long straight and we’re going about 50?  What the heck?  Why isn’t the guy in front passing???  I decide I’ve had enough and bring the bike up to 60 and slowly overtake the crown vic then slowly catch up to the other white car and decide to speed up and pass before the solid stripe gets on our side.  I zip up and don’t make it.  I pass the car on the solid and notice it’s an XMT plate too!  SHIT!  I’m totally busted!

I stay at 60 and slowly pull away from both of those cars, I get in a few curves and can still see the lights, a few more curves and then I’m back to Brian nominal blowing the dust & cobwebs off the bike. 

I am finally getting close to the town on Monsanto and decide I need to get gas so I can make it all the way home.  As it was I’ve gone about 180 miles on the tank.  I get close to the Chevron station and notice a few Police SUV’s in the lot and a Police Charger pulling out onto the road I was on.  I then whip in to the front pump and start filling the bike. I look ahead to a cop walking around his SUV, back drivers side door is open, I pump, I look, I pump, I look, and all of a sudden I look and he’s taking the cuffs off some gal.  Hmmm….  The next time I look she is totally gone, and another SUV is going in circles around the lot, stopping to talk to the one cop walking around his rig and then around and back to talk again.  I’m like WTF is going on?  I’m done, button everything up and head out to the street so I can get back on the freeway east.   Before I can pull out the Charger with all the lights & sirens going is screaming down the road so I stay put.  After he passes I pull out to follow but see in my mirror another SUV with lights flashing and he is approaching my 6 really fast so I pull over and he goes by.  By now I’m thinking every frickin cop in the entire county id right HERE!  So I blast up the freeway ramp and wick up the speed so I can follow (a good distance back of course) and I think everyone else on the road thought the same thing as all of us were just flying up the freeway. 

Well always wanting to push the speed envelop just a little bit further – HEY the BMW was built for the autobahn right?  I push up to my nominal and start overtaking cagers, trucks and leave their lights in the darkness.  I keep pushing and am keeping 1 eye on the V1 and the other scanning every nook and cranny for anything reflective with red & blue lights on it.  I blast for miles and miles like this and am by myself.  I get to another long straight and WTH is that in my mirrors?  Is that a red & blue flashing light way the heck back there?  I keep up with my speed until I come up on an all white Impala w/ XMT plates (what the hell is going on with all these plain white cars w/exempt plates)?  This cat has an orange light that flashes on the top of his car so I don’t worry about him and blow him away.  A few min go by and the flashing lights finally are getting close enough so I slow down and start to pull over but the cop blows by me like I’m standing still and right behind him is Impala boy.  Sheet!  I’m all over this so I wick it back up all the way to Olympia and finally pass Impala boy before I get on I-5 north. 

The rest of the way home was more 80+ fun.  I called management around 10 to let her know I was heading home.  I bagged the school for another day and pulled in the driveway a few min before 11 and 465 miles.  Not bad for working 7+ hours and then going for a little ride.  :-)

This was from August 2012 (I think)

I get a note from Jack & Roberta a little while back to come up for their anniversary BBQ.  Now Jack's place looks like a darn museum and the grounds are like a well sculpted park.  You know park benches, perfect bushes in a row, gazebo, large koi pond, waterfalls, the list goes on an on.  I gotta get the wife up there to see this yard of beauty.

The BBQ starts at 2 on Sat (18th) and I'm nursing my dawg and wife who have both had surgeries this past week.  The wife gives me a kitchen pass and I'm jazzed.  This will be the 2nd longest ride I've had all summer which is about time.

I check the tires as they have been feeling squirrely a little lately and yes the back is down to 29 so I break out the compressor and get to town.  Get my side bags down and fill with tools n stuff, put in my extra shoes and the liners of both my jacket and pants, ya never know if it will be raining or a cold front come in while I'm there and the temp was hoovering around 70, so one of those just in case kinda things.

Of course Friday night I got about zippo sleep, dogs barking at stuff, phones ringing, I'm on the couch and lazy boy and could just not get comfy so it started out slow.  After getting everyone situated and gotten my passport I was finally ready to head off.  (1:30 PM or so)  I get out to the freeway and its a stinkin parking lot!  WTHeck is goin on???  We slowly make our way north and of course near the stanwood exit the Highway Patrol boys are making sure their lights still flash and were pulling people over like nobodies business.  (a known speed trap BTW).  Traffic was thick all the way past Bellingham and I wanted to get gas somewhere up there but everytime I was going to take the next exit a bazillion others were doing the same or the exit looked like it would be difficult to zip off and back on so I ended up getting it right at the border where I usually do.  Regular was something like 4.03 or 4.13 or summat - way more than it should but that's the way it is.

The actual border crossing into Canada went fairly well, no big deal, the usual questions and of course the angle of the license plate is such that the cameras can't get a shot so the guard tells me to move forward to read it, then keeps talking and of course I can't hear with the motor running and ear plugs but all in all a pretty typical crossing with no big deal.

Now I bring my GPS so I know how fast I'm going as it can show Kph and Mph and my bike speedo (cop unit) only shows in MPH and is dead accurate with the gps.  Well I forgot to change the gps and just road with the locals.  When I got to Cloverdale I asked a guy in a Jeep where the local pharmacy was, he pointed up ahead so I zipped up and got my special acedomyiphin (sp) and kept on going up to Jacks.

I got lost just once and had to look at the map again but arrived, parked changed in the culdesac and headed on towards the back.  Jack was showing off his Honda Gold Wing and BMW 1200 GS but on the inside of the garage was a 2000 Magna in very good shape.

Got up at O'dark thirty and met my friend Lloyd (LD rider also and we both work at Boeing in different areas).  We are doing the Wing Washington ride which is kinda like the dam tour I've done a few years.  What the deal is, is they divide up the state into 5 sections then have some bonus sites on both the east & west side.  The themes for places to see is Haunted Places, Distillers, Middle Schools, Unusual Museums, & Road Houses.

The last big ride I did was mostly over in the northwest even though I only got 1 museum there.  This time we headed over the mountain to the east and north (I don't know who thought up the areas on the WW site but I think they are screwed up). 

Anyway, temps were in the upper 40's - low 50's as we left the Denny's parking lot.  Overcast looking like rain but NOT so we're happy.  Well it must have been time for every cop, sheriff, security punk and their mother as we found that cops were all over the place.  Most didn't their radars going but some did.  Some had folks pulled over so it was a real crap shoot for making time.  Near the top of Stevens Pass the windshield  got covered in rainy/mist and the fog was so bad we could barely see the road so we had to slow to a darn near crawl.  Of course heading down the canyon towards Leavenworth (a Bavarian themed town) I just had to wick it up and enjoy.  There were a few cars/trucks early that morning that were trying to slow us down but I dispatched them quickly.  The sun was starting to come out and we stopped for a quick breakfast at McD's.

Next stop was our first location Distillers - It's 5:00 somewhere distillery in Cashmere.  Unfortunately the name was changed so we took a shot and kept on to the 2nd location Lake Chealan state park (an East bonus lake).  The sun was out in full force and we had some beautiful blue sky.  As we came over the mountain I wanted to shoot the lake & mountains and of course when I went around the next curve the darn trees were in the way and I was hosed the rest of the way down (I didn't feel like turning around - gelhead).   I tried to take a few shots as I was riding but it was hard to see the camera phone working.  (Later I strapped my regular camera to the handlebars so I could grab it and take some shots.).

 

Next stop was the Bridgeport Middle school (home of the mustangs) and they had Hoof prints for a qtr mile up to the school.  Kinda fun out in the middle of know-where-land.  Finally we had to back track and get some gas in the small town of Brewster.  We both got gas and I noticed an old AF trainer at one of the parks so I went back and read all about it, where it was from, all the bases it trained our kids at, etc. then went back to the gas station where an indian gal was getting $ from Lloyd and telling him all about her teepee business.  We also had to get out of some of our liner type clothes as it was getting hot.  I think I saw 77 or so and we were starting to roast.  (you socal types are probably freezing at those temps).

I kinda rescued him and we were off for our next location up north - Pearrygin lake state park which is just outside of Winthrop (a wild west themed town).  This place is a known tourist trap and a healthy nut place and today was no different.  There were a bazillion bicyclist out ridding all over the place and many were heading west up highway 20 which has some super steep mountains to climb.  We were still quite warm but figured we'd be up in the cool mountains soon so off we went, I don't remember the time but it was around noon or 11 - we were hungry but decided to wait until we got over the mountains to "The Eatery"  which was my next location.

Up the pass I wanted to take a few shots of the beauty and I did but the phone only managed to transmit one???  I'll put more up later.  At the top of Washington Pass there were "feet" of snow on the sides of the road (temps got down only to 61 on my thermometer) but we were saved by the cooler temps.  Ross Lake Dam overlook the wind was really whipping and I was passing cars n trucks like a guy on a mission.  No time to wait for them to find a spot to pull over as they weren't doing it anyway.

A ton of motorcyclist and cars were heading east as we went west.  Over the top and heading down the winds started picking up.  By the time we got to the

We drove through the small town of Marblemount ( a typical spot to put canoes & kayaks in for a trip down river) and stopped at "the Eatery" my next photo op and I thought we'd eat there but Lloyd mentioned something about BBQ back in Marblemount and I won't argue about that at all.  We initially scoffed at the price ~9 for a sandwich but the thing was huge with over 1/2 pound of brisket meat on it and it's the best we've tasted so 4 thumbs up.

He loves BBQ and has eaten everywhere, this time he said he WOULD BE BACK!  I was disappointed I didn't order another to take home - oh well, next time!

Lloyd had gotten some other locations a few months back and since it was still early I said I was going to hit them and we decided to split at the small town of Rockport (where the canoe & kayak folks take out).  We waved at each other as we went our separate ways and I headed towards Baker Lake to get the swift creek campground.  My GPS & Streets n trips obviously got the wrong addy as the GPS drove me straight through the town of Concrete to the Baker Lake road.  grrrr... probably added another 5-10 miles to the route.  I zipped up the road at, well above the limit (maybe 2 or 3 times.... I didn't say that), and after looking high and low decided on the campground.  Took my photo and headed back to hwy 20.

My 7th location of the day was the Cascades Job Corps Center (Haunted places) which I could not find on any map, google didn't have an address and after driving all over town, I finally went 2 a gas station ask a guy who lived there, he didn't know, then I found a fireman who said go to fruitdale rd like Lloyds gps initially said (and he said that's not right because it was only 8 miles from our lunch spot not the 40 like it should have been). then up the road, blah, blah, blah...  oh well, at least I found the place. 

Now head west over to Whidbey Island for the last bonus Deer Lagoon Grange #846.  This was about another 60 miles away and the sun was out, Wind was out and blowing me all over the place and I was tired since I had gotten about 3.5 hrs of sleep the night before and I'd already done over 450 miles (whinner).

I headed west and started to dance my way through the slow traffic heading west to Anacortes and the ferry's to the San Juan Islands and got to the turn off to head south.  On the way south you pass over the Deception Pass bridge which it way above the water and quite a pretty area.  On the island is the Whidbey Naval Air station home of the radar jamming E6 Prowlers that fly around the world working to keep our boys safe.  I managed to only see 2 deer on the island (and there are many) as I got my last stop photo and zipped over to the Ferry.  They were loading up the ferry as I got there.  I paid and the gal said to go over to the HOV lane and wait.  Well I stopped and turned the bike off as they loaded more cars on.  Finally the workers were radio'ing back and forth and the one man started to count off cars and then haulted the rest.  He asked if there was room for a bike and off I went, the last vehicle on the Ferry and I'd be in Mukilteo soon for the last 12 miles home.

A great day, 545 miles and roughly 13 hrs from when I left to when I got home.  No tickets, no rain and my new HJC helmet with the integral sun shield is awesome!  I wish the sun shield was darker but it sure beats the prescription sun glasses.

I'll get some picts up later,