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,

Puttin Graphics on the Truck

So today I decided to put some graphics on my truck.  The victim is a 2002 Extendo cab Chebby Silverado 4 WD.  Now I am replacing my 2002 Toyota Tacoma Prerunner with this as the PreRunner is just to small to haul stuff to Missoula including management and the head of security (90+ pound Roscoe).  And we needed the 4 WD the last time we were over there.

Anyway, the used Leer Shell I picked up is a dark maroon metallic and I thought I had gotten as close to it as I could with the vinyl selection but as it turns out - not that close, oh well it's in the family and won't look to bad.

First off I created the graphics and I wanted to do a 3D look so I got a shade lighter for the top and a shade darker for the underside of the graphic.  I got the very next on the color chart (of vinyls available).  Here is the basic layout on the truck.

Next I started from the right and moved my way towards the back.  I'll just put a few more shots up so you can see what the heck I'm talking about.  ;-)

Ok so the truck has all the graphics on it.  Now comes the hard part, doing the doors as you have to cut the graphics and wrap the tiny part around the door jamb.  You did remember to clean those out didn't you???  Or was it me who was supposed to do that?    I start with the easy parts and work towards the middle door.

Now that I have finished the middle door the graphic looks like this, not to shabby but the color is off from the shell, Oh well......... 

I decide I'll try my 3D look and see how it "really looks", if I don't like it I'll remove the colors right away, if not I'll leave and enjoy it.

I decided I did not like the dark color as it is just way to purple, it's supposed to be the shadow parts of the graphic with the light coming from the front, however it just wasn't speaking the love to me so I ripped off the dark color and have decided I'll cut more of the light and just do an outline.  It'll be just fine when I get R done and since I only did one side the other will go great  & easy next weekend.  ;-)

Ride #3 OR-NV-ID-MT Dams Aug 6, 2011

It was a dark and cloudy morning, typical I’d say for the Everett area at 4 AM on Aug 6, 2011.  I headed out the door, topped off the tank and zoomed over to the rest stop to meet up with my riding partner Lloyd Gardner.  I got there a few min early so I fiddled around with this and that, made sure my GPS was set for our first target – the Roza diversion dam in Yakima Canyon about 3 hours away.

            Lloyd showed up and we were off at our 4:30 departure time and whisking down I-5 to 405 then east on I-90.  We both had liners in our coats and pants and we needed them over Snoqualmie pass at those early hours of the morning and I enjoyed it as I knew later in the day we’d be on a slow simmer!  Snoqualmie pass has a fair bit of construction and we were fortunate to zip on through without being held up.

            By the time we reached Ellensburg and our cut off to Canyon road the sun was starting to rise and it was beautiful.  The colors in the canyon were perfect for taking great landscape photos but we were on a mission and had many miles to go so I just soaked in the colors and pressed on to our destination.  Upon arrival of the GPS coordinates I could hardly see the dam in the distance and there was a dirt road down to the dam.  Lloyd mentioned we could get our photo right here so we got the gear out and took a few shots then hopped on and headed up the hillside where I thought we could get a much better photo and… we stopped again and took a few more shots.

 

Now lets blast on out to the freeway and head SE towards Heppner, OR for our next victim (Willow Creek Dam).  One of our goals for this trip was to avoid the freeway as much as possible but sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do so we hit Hwy 82 south to the Grandview area where we pulled off for some gas.  (There is a “Free right turn” sign at the exit which I think is so funny I need to stop and take a photo.)  We got gas at the Shell station then zipped across the street to McD’s for a wash-up and quick breakfast before scooting to the next exit or so at Prosser where we got off the freeway and up the hill onto county highway 221 which goes through farming country, rolling hills, plenty of dust on windy days and you can see for miles and miles.  When you approach the Columbia river area you drive right past the Columbia Crest Winery  (just north of Paterson WA).   East on county hwy 14 and we’re back on Hwy 82 heading south over the mighty Columbia River into Oregon.

In Oregon we continue on I-82 a few miles to I-84 east to the Hermiston Highway (207).  Along this county 2 lane road you can see windmills doting the land to the west.  If you are lucky you can see Mt Hood or Mt Adam along the route too.  This is a continuation of rolling hills and farm country.  After 33 miles we hit the small town of Lexington and then head SE towards Hepner.  The Dam “Willow Creek” is just SE of town and actually part of the town.  We meander our way through town and come upon this HUGE dam.  

 It is quite toasty by now and I take off my jacket and pants liners.  We take photos and start heading back out to the town.  Now we’re both thinking if this dam ever breaks the entire town will be wiped out completely, it is crazy that they built the dam (or town) right there but that’s the way it is.  Since we (Lloyd and I) were not completely sure which way outta town to the next set of roads we wanted to drive on I spotted a young hottie and pulled over for directions.  With her dark gray painted fingernails she motioned and gave us the directions we needed to get out to Willow Creek road.  As we zipped up the road we had this vision of Deja Vu again.  Of course another great shot of the Dam or a better shot of the dam so, we stopped again and took a few more shots. 

Ok, now back on the bikes toward Ukiah.  The road along the reservoir was nice and we twisted and turned until we were high up in the hills and after a little while the rolling hills and baron landscaped turned to some rocks here and there and pine trees.  To me it was starting to get beautiful.  Up and down we went and were making good time.  Lloyd led us right on down to the small community of Ukiah right off hwy 395.  Back in Hepner I ask Lloyd if he wanted to get gas and it was determined to head on to Ukiah.  I felt we should have done it because it would have been cheaper but… ya takes your chances.  Lloyd was getting low on fuel and we had roughly 100 miles to Baker City, He asked where the gas station was and I pointed out to a dumpster across the street and said over there.  (I think is was some guy who had a 5 gal pail of fuel to pour into Lloyds bike – ha, ha, ha).  Of course gas was about $50/gal but we filled up anyway.   As I was approaching the window of the building to pay for my fuel I see a rifle pointing out and shooting.  Well this is a small town in the middle of nowhere and this is the old west so I expect these types of things.  As I get to the window another young hottie in a spaghetti strapped top yells out that she wasn’t shootin at this guys dog but just getting close so the dog wouldn’t crap on her sign.  They were friends and it was kinda funny.  We chatted and joked as I paid and then we were off. 

Forest road (NF-052) I’d been on many times and just love it, up and down and all around.  The first time I zipped over this road was many years ago (probably 10) with my late great riding friend Jimmy Bolin and my other friend Pete Naylor.  At the time the land along the road was devastated by a fire and it was good to see that the forest was starting to come back to life with small trees all over the place.  The road was deteriorating but I kept zipping along as I was having so much fun in an area I felt quite comfortable with.  I wanted to stop at Anthony lakes as that is just a typical stop on rides through the area (When the Devlins host a ride from their place in Baker City) but I had passed the entrance to the campground before I knew it so we just headed on down to the valley below.  The temps up in the mountains was perfect for riding, upper 60’s – low 70’s but the lower we got to the valley below the higher the temps rose and it was in the mid-upper 80’s by the time we were approaching Baker City.  My friend Jim Devlin works at the John Deere dealer and I wanted to stop in and say “Hi” but the place looked deserted for a Saturday so we went into town and stopped for lunch at the local Subway.  Of course as we pull in everybody and their brother decided to pull in too but we got our food quickly and enjoyed the air conditioning. 

Back out to the heat and onto I-84 for the jaunt down to Ontario, OR.  A fellow long distance rider unfortunately passed away on a Rally earlier this year and has a son who is serving some time at a facility just outside of Ontario so we zipped over and Lloyd  (who has been communicating with Sam) could take a photo of the sign.  I wanted to stop in to say “Hi” but you just can’t do that kind of thing.  (There is a lengthy process involved, background checks, approval, all sorts of other crap that is obviously necessary because some idiot screwed things up for the average Joe to just go say Hi). 

Anyway, back out to 84 to the town of Caldwell Idaho where our next set of dams are.  This is one of the 4 bonus dams but the trick on this one is there are FOUR dams on this body of water that we needed photos of.  Lloyd had the points set into his GPS and I had photos of the different places printed out so between the two of us we got it figured out.  Seems there were two up near the top of lake Lowell and then 2 more on the SE side of it.  We got a little turned around here and there but managed. 

Next stop was Mountain Home for the night.  We wanted to take the back roads to skirt around south of Boise but Lloyd was hot and tired and said screw it, let’s just get back onto I-84 and beat feet to Mtn Home so we did.

The temps had reached 98 on my thermometer and I was more than just simmering, the meat was falling off the bone but both of us made it to Mtn Home and as usually Lloyd found us some inexpensive rooms.  The signs to the place were new, fresh, and upscale.   The outside the had a new paint job and was kinda cool retro.  The pool was very inviting crystal clear but food was first thing on the dock so we tossed our stuff into the rooms (which were next on the upgrade plan but not there yet…) and off to Taco Bell.

I just a soon would have liked to just blast down to Wild Horse dam in Nevada since it was still sunny but Lloyd wanted to chill which was probably for the better.  I had been bitten earlier on the legs from something so we stopped by Albertsons and I picked up some medication and we got some milk and a few other things for our early morning departure to Wild horse dam.

After a little bit of planning Lloyd determined that our next day would be a long one (in the 780 mile range – gack!).  We had to go 125 or so miles south, get Wild Horse dam then back then east and north to Dillon Montana for the next dam (Clark Canyon dam).  We hit the hay and got up around 3:30 or so and were on the road by 4:11 on my clock.

It was pitch black, no lights, no nuthin out there in the middle of southern Idaho.  It was peaceful and no wind (yeah).  We flew long the county road (51) for miles and miles.  When the road was straight for a long time we’d ride next to each other and put all our lights on so we could really see out into the darkness.  Sometimes I’d lead, sometimes Lloyd.  At one point Lloyd was just flying (I’m sure he wasn’t aware of his speed) but thankfully we were heading over a hill when a vehicle came over in our direction and zapped us with radar.  Fortunately we were at or just under the limit.  That would really be a drag to get a ticket in the middle of nowhere at 5 AM in total darkness because some cop felt the need to use his pen, grrr…

Anyway, we kept going and at one point we saw a hillside full of deer grazing in the lights then later around a bend everything in our lights was black.  I noticed that there were 7 or so wild horses in the middle of the road and flashed my lights, we both stopped while they just slowly walked across the road.  There were some young colts with the group and all were huge and beautiful.   One cool thing to see was the small desert mice that ripped across the road, they were fast along with the young small bunnies. The next bit of wildlife we saw was while Lloyd was leading and I didn’t see him point or anything as he zipped through a turn and I narrowly missed it myself.  I thought it was a raccoon but later he said he thought it was a porcupine.  I led for a while and almost hit a bunch of bats in the Wild Horse Canyon and by now the sun was starting to rise.  We made great time and got our photos of the dam, now time to turn around and head back towards Mountain Home.  I led heading back up the canyon and saw more birds & bats then at one point almost hit the porcupine and then we saw the wild horses again and this time there were some very large sage grouse in the middle of the road and as I tried to go around they moved and then took off, one of the females darn near took my head off as it freaked out.  I put my arm up to deflect the large bird but luckily didn’t hit it.  I did hit a small bird on a suicide mission a little later though.  

Now about the return mission to Mountain Home - the only problem was Lloyd didn’t have enough fuel to make it back and we looked at every gas station on the way down and only 1 looked like we could use a credit card otherwise we’d have to sit around till 8 or 9 or 10 on a Sunday morning for someone to show up.  (Remember it’s about 6 AM and we have about 650 miles to go for our stop in Missoula, MT for the night.)   As luck would have it that little mini-mart type store on the Duck Valley Indian reservation had a card reader and we filled up, cleaned our visors, had a quick bite and were now blasting north.  There was a bit of road construction on the way down and we lucked out on the way back as everybody was still sleeping so no stops. 

Just past the small community of Bruneau we turned right on Hwy 78.  A few miles down the road you can see the Bruneau Sand Dunes state park.  The dunes were HUGE and you could see them from quite a distance.  It was interesting that in this farm valley were some very large dunes that looked like someone had just dumped a bunch of sand right there but that’s the way it looked.  Shortly we were back on I-84 and heading east.  Remember we wanted to avoid the slab on this trip but since today was going to be a bun burner of a ride we needed to make some time so the freeway it was.  We did have sections of road construction that got us down to 1 lane but for the most part we made decent time.  I think our next stop was in Eden Idaho for gas and a pit stop.  There were some Harley types there fueling too.  A couple of older gentleman struck up a conversation with us and come to find out the guy I was talking to used to live up near Mt Vernon WA so I brought him up to speed on the changes to the roads and all since it was about 30 yrs ago that he lived up there. 

Off again heading east, we saw a ton of beautiful old cars and trucks on the road heading in the opposite direction and when we got to Pocatello Lloyd pulled off.  I was surprised as we were trying to go further before our next stop but he said he was tired and nodding off so another stop in at a Subway (I think it was about 10 AM), I wasn’t sure they would be open yet but we’d been up for half a day already and were ready for lunch.  Fortunately they were open and we got some lunch, I explained to the curious young guy making our sandwich about the Damtour and we ate then headed north on I-15 toward Montana.

Today we really lucked out as I thought we’d again be roasting in the sun but it was overcast most of the day and that kept the temps in the upper 70’s, which were quite tolerable.  I think our next gas stop was in Dubois.  Lloyd was still having nodding issues so he had a 5 hr energy boost drink as we talked to a guy on a nice Vmax coming back from the Testicle Festival http://www.testyfesty.com/  We were wondering where all these bikers were coming from as we thought they’d all be heading to Sturgis for that rally.   

Next stop was Clark Canyon Dam right off the freeway.  We took a few shots and the water was HIGH!  There was a picnic area and half the spots were under the water, you could see the roofs of the spots and the water was at least half way up to the roofs.  I saw a place at the bottom of the dam that would be a good shot and when we got to the road to it, we found it was dirt.  Lloyd decided to bag it and I decided to head down and got my shot down there.  I took off my jacket liner and headed back up the dirt road. 

It had been many years since I was up on this section of I-15 (probably when I did my BBG ride back in 2000 http://ironbutt.com/ridecerts/getdocument.cfm?DocID=3 )  I remember back then that at one point I got blasted by a gust of wind and was blown across the lanes into the other lane without even a blink of the eye so I wanted to be aware of this happening again.  Well sure enough at one point on this ride I got blasted with a force so hard that it ripped the back part of my tank bag loose.  I thought it was going to fly off so I grabbed it and swerved off onto the median and slowly recovered from the blast while getting back onto the freeway.  I had to hold the back end of the tank bag on an off to our next gas stop in Deer Lodge.  That section of freeway south of Butte is just plain dangerous, it looks fine but the winds are what is killer through there.

By the time we hit Deer Lodge I was starting to nod and Lloyd was feeling good so he led and I followed till we approached Missoula and I took over.  We got off the first exit and after going over the bridge hit some major road construction but managed to make it to Higgins street and then it was a straight shot basically to our home there.  We fueled up at the bottom of the hill and then had Management pull the car out of the garage so we could park the bikes and not have to remove anything.  We chilled out for a few minutes and got a little cleaned up before heading over to Applebee’s for dinner.  We slept like babies, as that was a long day.

Up early again for the ride home, Lloyd wanted to be to the freeway by 5 AM.   We would have made it on time, except his SPOT (http://www.findmespot.com/en/ ) wasn’t working right and it took AT LEAST ½ hour sitting by the side of the road while he figured out how to turn it on (ha, ha, ha) then we got on I-90 and blasted on west.  There was minimal traffic and the 30 miles of 1 lane construction near Superior was handled in quick order.

As we approached a small town (really a gas pump w/a couple houses) called De Borgia about 18 miles from the Montana – Idaho state line I noticed on the frontage road a huge animal loping along.  As I got parallel with it I saw it was a juvenal moose with long gangly legs just trotting along in the middle of the road, it was fun to see as I rarely see moose.  Going up the pass I was in the groove and smoking up the road and at one point got up to a truck that was flying also.  I let him lead, the signs say the curve is a 45 mph curve and we took them at 70-75 just crazy but I’ve done it in my truck to.  Still way early in the morning Lloyd wasn’t into it so he held back.  I saw 41 on my thermometer and was glad I had in all my liners.

Near Wallace Idaho I spied another moose in the water having breakfast and shortly there after a pair of elk having their breakfast too.  Soon we hit Post Falls, Idaho where we stopped for gas.  I was heading north to get Sullivan lake dam way up by Metaline Falls, WA just a few miles shy of the Canadian border and Lloyd was heading west towards home.  We said our goodbyes and off we went.

I decided to go through Post Falls instead of Spokane as I always hit tons of stop lights going through Spokane.  As I headed north on county road 41 I thought I had made a wrong decision with the slow traffic and lights.  I chilled out and slowly made it to Newport then Hwy 20 further north.  I never did see a sign saying I was in Washington but I was.  I arrived at the dam about 9 AM and was happy with my progress.   

I had seen a fawn at a house in the forest on my way to the dam and kept my camera ready on the way back to the main road but it was gone.  I did come across a family of wild Turkeys though and stopped to take a photo, this freaked them out and by the time I got the camera ready they were running down the road away from me so I took a few shots and chased them down, unfortunately they ran into the bush before I could stop and take another photo. 

Later I stopped at the metal grate bridge to take a few photos while a sheriff laughed at the tourist and kept on going. 

My last victim of this trip is the North Dam in the town of Electric City near the large Grand Coulee Dam.  First I needed to get there and headed west on hwy 20.  The best part of this ride was that they just finished oiling the road for chip-sealing.   

I drove easy through that section and made it to the town of Arden and then south on 395 for a few miles to Hwy 231.   What was really crazy was that I came around a curve to see a two humped camel in someone’s pasture along with some llamas.  I almost turned around to take some photos but just felt like getting home so I continued on my elevated pace.

At Reardon I headed west on hwy 20 and the rolling wheat fields are as far as the eye can see.  Some spots were brilliant green which looked nice against the brown dirt.  

 After I took the turn off NW to Electric City I saw a few folks that were riding their bikes in the middle of nowhere.  I waved and kept on going.  It was hot at Electric City and the dam but I got my shot and kept on going.  

 

I was finally on the last stretch heading home, Coulee City, Douglas, Waterville (the police were out in force there) then down the canyon to Oronodo and turning West in Wenatchee.  I was zipping along and caught up to this guy on a black Harley type bike in brown fringe leather jacket and chaps.  I waved and kept going, after roughly 200 miles or a tad more I decided to get gas in Cashmere.  I pulled over and the guy on the Harley pulled in also.  It was hot and I said Hi.  I saw the guy taking off his jacket and he said he was from Manitoba.  He asked about how to avoid Seattle.  I had a map and gave him a few ideas and then just gave him the map.  This guy was a poser big time.  He had a gorgeous bike but no luggage at all, he had never taken a trip before as he was trying to wrap up his jacket and chaps into a roll and time them to the small back pad with a leather strap.  I then got out a nice bungee cord and took it over to him.  I don’t know if he used it but he should have.  He thanked me for the map and help and I wished him luck on his ride over to the coast.

Leavenworth was the usual stop and go, I figured it would be light since it was a Monday but NO.  At the west end of time I see this flashing reader board saying that there was construction ahead and to expect waits of 20 min or more, Oh great!  Sure enough about 15 min up the road and I come around a corner and as far as I can see is stopped cars.  I have not had lunch and it was around 2-3 by now and I was starving.  I just turned off the bike and got out my jerky and water and ate and talked to other folks walking around.  I was unfortunately in an area that had no trees, cliffs on both sides and the sun was beating down on me like a rented mule.  About 1/2 hour later we were moving.  I was slightly impatient and don’t like to do it but decided that I wasn’t going to tolerate people holding up strings of cars so I started spanking them 4-5 at a time.  I must have passed a hundred cars, trucks, boats, rolling condos, etc.  I kept the pace and just spanked and spanked those cars.  At some spots I saw bicyclist heading up the pass, what the heck is that all about?  The further I went the more I saw and I waved and gave them the thumbs up.  Some waved most didn’t but I tried to encourage them.   I remembered that there is a bike ride called the 3 past blast or something like that and I’m sure this was part of that ride. 

I pulled into the house around 4:30 in the afternoon and was happy to be there.  I called my folks and hopped into my truck met my mother who was watching my dog for the weekend.  It was a long day but the family (me & the dog) is back together.  A great trip, 2100+ miles in 3 days and a bunch of dams.  Another dam adventure complete :-)

 

2011 Dam Tour - the big sweep take 1

6-17-11
It was Ohhh dark o'clock, and a semi quiet morning, the moon was almost full (I think it was the day before) and the temp was in the low 50's -  Perfect for riding.  I lucked out with my odometer reading a straight up 104,000 so figuring out how far I'd gone in a day and this trip was going to be easy!  This morning I was going to meet my riding partner Lloyd Gardner for a Dam marathon of sorts.  We have both signed up for the 2011 Dam Tour and were out to snag some dams this weekend. Our meeting stop was the rest area right off I-5 near the Everett Mall roughly 10 miles from my house at 4 AM.  I rolled in about 3:58 and we were outta there about 4:04.  The best part about leaving so darn early is that traffic was minimal throughout the  Pugetopolis region (Everett-Seattle-Tacoma-Olympia).

I had spent a small fortune on new HyperPro shocks and wasn't really happy with them but was glad to feel that they were now nice and smooth as I floated over the control/expansion joints on the south side of Seattle (old Rainier Brewery area).  Usually I'm beat to death down there but this morning it was smooth as glass (must be the extra weight of the saddle bags and gear I was carrying).  The next thing I knew we were breezing through Tacoma and as we passed through the Nisqually delta towards Olympia we hit the lowest temp of the day ~38-39 depending on whose gauge you looked at.

The sun had risen and we got off at Woodland, WA exit to get some gas.  Lloyd was anxious to get our first victim, the "Swift Dam" about 36 miles east of the freeway so we blew off getting some breakfast.  The ride was quite beautiful but also very difficult on the eyes as we were heading into the sun and the shadows cast from the trees caused all sorts of tricks on the eyes so we had to drive carefully to the dam. 

The parking lot was not very good for a "great" photo but we both took acceptable shots and punched the next victim into our GPS's (Silverton dam - which is NE of Salem, OR).

The quickest route was to head back out to the freeway, somehow we were routed down to Battle Ground, WA where we hit McD's for a quick breakfast then out to I-5 and south.  Both Lloyd and I agreed that taking I-205 was to slow when going through Portland for any trip so I was surprised when Lloyd took the lead and got us off the freeway after the 5-205 split.  We ended up driving east through Vancouver WA to I-205.  Lloyd mentioned he talked with Dennis York (another friend who lives there) and Dennis said this was a quicker way to the dam.  (I think it might have been shorter but not quicker.)  We ended up driving through the country side and a bunch of small town areas with a bunch of stop lights.  At one corner in the middle of nowhere there was a beautiful field of goldenrod type flowers.

I stopped for a few photos then caught up with Lloyd a few min later.  I felt we were in the back roads of the county as we were taking rights, lefts, going over hill and dale to finally get to the Silverton Dam.  This earth dam was nice, not very big but good enough to hold in a bunch of water for boaters.

The 3rd victim was Fall Creek Dam down near Eugene, OR.

By the time we reached Eugene it was early afternoon and a gas station was high on the priority list.  I was leading and took an exit that took us west a few miles - dang it! We found gas and right next door was a Carl's Jr so we filled our bellies and headed east for roughly 25 miles till we hit this monster of a dam.  Just shy of the dam was a covered bridge which I stopped at after our dam photos to take a couple of shots.

By now we both were starting to get HOT and at our stop for photos we took our liners out of our jackets and I ended up taking off my polar fleece pants so I was now riding in my insulated riding pants and gym shorts, it was so nice to cool off.  Now back to being in the middle of nowhere country side enjoying seeing some new sites.

The 4th dam of the day was Whistlers Bend dam about 1/2 hour east of Roseburg, OR.

Driving down I-5 from Eugene I all of a sudden see my dash shelf flopping up and down.  A closer inspection revealed that I had lost my right screw holding it in.  I held it with my hand for a while then gave up and kept riding.  When we were within a 1/4 mile of the dam the road turned to dirt.  We kicked a bunch of dust and as luck would have it there was no place to park the bikes for our photos.  Both of us managed and we met back out at the black top.  I told Lloyd I needed to do a little surgery on the bike and he suggested somewhere there was shade as it was now in the upper 80's.  After riding a mile or so I saw a driveway and did a U-turn.  Lloyd kept going and I yanked out the tool kit, stole a screw from a place that was not critical and fixed my shelf.  I turned the bike around and found Lloyd down closer the highway.

The final dam of the day was near my old stomping grounds of Gramps Pass, OR and west of there is Selmac Dam.

When we got to Grants Pass I looked at my odometer and found that a typical drive down (Everett - Grants Pass) takes about 7-7.5 hrs and it's ~440 miles our diversions cost us many more hours and an additional 180+ miles.  We blasted down and snagged the dam (another with terrible parking) and zipped back to GP for a stop at Subway for dinner.  We discussed where we wanted to stay and decided to head towards Redding, CA a few more hours down the road.

Mt Shasta looked pretty incredible in different shades of pink on the snow as the sun was going down.  The temps were still up there but with the sun going down riding was more tolerable.  I was leading and as we approached Redding Lloyd passed me and was motioning something.  Although I could not really see his hands in the darkness I knew he needed gas so I followed him into a Shell station and we both filled up.  About a mile or so down the road we found an inexpensive Motel (Lloyd is the king of finding inexpensive lodging ;-).  We unloaded into our rooms and hit the hay as another early morning departure would soon be upon us.  Today's mileage was roughly 850.

6-18-11
Another early day on the bike had us zipping down I-5 for a little while then Lloyd took over and got us off on some farm roads headed east towards Chico. The sun was starting to rise over the mountains and the sunrise was spectacular.

I again stopped and took a few photos and jammed on up to where Lloyd had pulled off to wait.  Since it was still very early we had no problems zipping through all the small towns on our way to Auburn, CA which is right off I-80.  It seems we arrived at a gas station early in the morning, got gas, zipped over to McD's again for breakfast right before a bus showed up then headed on towards Hell Hole dam.

HH Dam is about 60 miles from the freeway and the first 10-15 miles were fine but the road quickly degenerated to a Goat//Sheep trail.  The road had pot holes all over, was nice and curvy but not good for any kind of speed riding on a bike.  My Valentine 1 was powering off and on it seemed every other minute because of these potholes so I finally turned it off.  We went way down to the river and back up to the top of the hills.  At one point I asked a local if we were on the right road and he said yes and that he hoped we could get to the dam as there was snow covering the road a few weeks ago when he tried to get there.

After about 2.5 hrs we saw the lake and stopped for a bathroom break and photo op.  I saw some neat little lizards, cool trees and a great view.

 After getting our obligatory shot at the dam with our number on the bike we headed back to the freeway.  Neither of us were to jazzed about the road but I punched in the next dam and quickest route and it took us a different way out.  Of course at the the first opportunity the GPS wanted us to head down a dirt road and we both agreed to stick to the pavement which eventually brought us out to French Meadows Dam where a construction crew was working and were quite surprised to see 2 large motorcycles wanting to go through.

They stopped and let us pass over the bridge and on the other side of the bridge was a fantastic (compared to the sheep trail) paved road which we made good time getting back to Auburn and the freeway area.  On our way I was leading and just smoking along when I passed something in the middle of the road and slammed on the brakes.  It was a giant (well to me) 3.5' long King Snake which was black with white bands around the body.  Since I'm terrified of snakes I decided I'd just stay on the bike a safe distance away and watch it head off the road into the brush. This time the 60+ miles only took us 1 hr and 50 min so we saved 40 min which we filled the tanks of the bikes one more time and swung over to KFC for the big meal of the day.  As luck would have it we got in right before another 2 tour buses stopped with all sorts of folks from Japan.

Back out to I-80 and east to Reno.  My Valentine 1 was still acting up as we continued to head north, grrrr...  The road was concrete and had lots of ruts but everyone was screaming up to Reno where road construction was causing havoc.  (While still in CA I was leading and was really tired.  I didn't realize how tired I was but must have been closing my eyes a few times here and there, at one point I kind of flashed a bit and was moving towards the right jersey barrier, let me tell you both Lloyd and I were wide awake after that close encounter - dang!)  We didn't have to deal with much of that but we did get to enjoy a hearty wind coming from the NW.  It was so strong that EVERY flag we saw was standing out and standing proud.  Up 395 towards Susanville, CA we went battling the wind.  As we were passing by Honey lake I noticed my GPS mentioning that we wouldn't be going to Susanville after all but it wanted us to head north right past the lake.  Thank goodness there was a rest area so we stopped and conferred.  I checked the plumbing and Lloyd checked his GPS for petrol as that was high on the list right now.  

Lloyd lead to the next gas station which turned out to be in the small community of Standish. Gas was the cheapest we'd found it so far this trip at 4.25.9 per gallon - gack!  As we pulled into the station there were 2 pretty spankin new BMW R1200GS's with all the trimmings, metal saddle bags, dry bags strapped on topm and all sorts of other farkles on them.  I went to talk with one that just finished gassing up but he gave me the "I can't hear because I have headphones in" routine or was being snobbish, whatever...    After we finished fueling I asked Lloyd which way we were headed and he pointed the route.  I then asked which way the posers went on their shinny new GS's and he pointed the same direction.  I then said, "Lets hunt down some GS's" and off we went.  If you've ever ridden or driven on Hwy 395 north of Standish or south of Alturas you know there is a whole lot of open space where you can let your rig really stretch it's legs.  I finally tried a different power cord and the Valentine 1still didn't want to work so I just took it off all together and decided we'd just have to go at a speed close to the limit (can you believe it?).  

About 40 miles north of our gas stop I noticed a bright yellow/greenish moving spot up ahead and slowly I determine it was our Posers from San Diego on their new bikes.  We slowly reeled them in and I was chuckling in my helmet as these guys were behind about 3 other vehicles, a big 18 wheeler  and another car.  Helloooooo...   You guys are in the middle on NOWHERE and puttin along behind a bunch of rigs.  Well I didn't even slow down, my throttle lock  had been set for miles and I just flipped on the turn signal and went on by the entire lot.   Lloyd must have been chuckling in his helmet as well and he just followed suit like a couple of fighter pilot making a few banked turns together.    The Posers decided to pass everyone but slowly fell back out of sight.

We got to Alturas and filled up at the highest price gas on the trip at $4.29.9.  At the station we met a nice guy on a beautiful Harley that was just riding around and enjoying life.  The posers passed by and we headed west to the next victim - Gerber Dam in southern Oregon.

I never saw the sign for Oregon but we had arrived in Malin Oregon a nice small farming community and I was starting to get cold as the sun was slowly starting to go down and the winds were still pulling the chill right off my bones.  I stopped and told Lloyd that I wanted to stop and put on my jacket liners and he moaned something about 30 or so miles to the dam so we headed off.  I followed my GPS and he followed his.  I went right up main street and he went into the neighborhood, at the other end of town I waited for him (I could have put my liner on in that amount of time ha, ha) but he showed up shortly and off we went.  

The entire valley of Bonanza OR is just beautiful.  Many farms, one I saw had a home built of rock (2 stories tall with a killer entry way with columns and all).  The sun was low on the horizon and the colors of the green fields were perfect for picture taking, the streams were the bluest of blues,  but we were on a mission and were late enough as it was so we continued to the dam.  Up and over a small ridge where some of the turns were truly 15 mph turns.  Over the top I saw a small pond with a few Sand Hill Cranes and made a mental note to stop on our way out and take a few photos.  

Finally we arrived at the campground area and could see where the dam was but weren't quite sure how to get there so I led out to a point hoping the dirt road would take us back around but all we saw was a dead snake.  I didn't know if it was a rattler or what so I took a photo for reference.

A quick turn around and we got to the real campground where we took some dam photos.

We had the dinner of champions (some jerky and whatever else we had), drank some water, used the facilities, put our liners on and decided we needed to make some time.  It was getting towards dusk and we wanted to make it to Bend which was another 3 or so hours so we really had to make some time.  I lit outta the campground with Lloyd on my 6 and we flew up to the spot where I wanted to shoot the Sand Hill Cranes but they were gone, then over the hill to the awesome valley view for another couple of shots.

As luck would have it coming towards us was Phil O'Connor from Bellingham, WA who was snagging this as his last dam.  We wanted to stop and say Hi but both he and us were on a mission and time was not on our sides so a quick wave was it.  The next stop was Klamath Falls to get some gas and then north on Hwy 97.   I wanted to really make some time but since this was a more heavily traveled road and my V1 was out of commish we had to chill out and stick to a reasonable speed and the sun was setting but still gave off a lot of light.  I lead with my high beams and extra lights for a while and then stopped at a rest area to see how Lloyd was doing.  He lead for a while and since there wasn't much traffic I came up next to him so we could both use our brights and really light up the area as some spots had a ton of deer on the sides of the roads.  When we'd come up to some traffic I'd drop back and let Lloyd lead and repeat.  After a while I think Lloyd got a tad uncomfortable with it and decided to let me lead.   

As we approached La Pine we hit rain - oh fun - NOT!  This lasted for a few miles and we were shortly to Bend where Lloyd suggested we fill up so we were good for the morning.  It was after 11 PM now and we stopped at a gas station all lit up got ready and no service.  What the heck???  We kept going and every station we saw was shut down so we decided to find a Motel.  I let the King lead and he found us a nice little motel at a reasonable price.  A quick unload and shower and the next thing I know it's 12:30 AM and we planned on getting up at 4:14 AM gack!  Oh well..........

Day 2 and roughly 890 miles tomorrow would be another day.  ;-)

6-19-11

Ahhh  The final day of our trek.  We left the motel around 4:30 and hit our 1 dam of the dam (North Unit). 

It was still quite dark but we managed to get our shots and were off towards Prineville for our final dam of the ride.  Neither of us cared to ride into the sun but that's the way it is.  We flew into Prineville, and a few miles on the east side came to the final victim of the weekend Ochoco dam.

The moon was still out and it was a beautiful morning.  We grabbed our shots and headed back to Prineville for some gas and a granola bar then it was time to head for home.  I wanted to get home before 2 PM so I could get the puppy out of hock and Lloyd wanted to get home before noon which was fine with me.  Up 97 we went to Madras then NW on 26 towards Portland.  Everything was going well until we hit the Mt Hood area and elevation.  Rain, clouds, fog, viability was really poor so we just dealt with it and drove slow.  When we got to the town of Gresham the clouds were higher and the rain stopped but still a dark gray day.  We zipped down I-84 to I-205 and north we went up to Woodland for gas and a quick bite at the gas station.  

Now as I started to get some gas a young lady (tried to pick me up which never happens ;-)  OK, she started talking with me and come to find out she had been riding with us for a while (I don't know how far) but she left the little town of Tumalo (near Bend) this morning also.  She was headed to Issaquah and us to Everett, She took off and we did shortly there after.  I've never seen Lloyd "Parnelli Jones" Gardner ride like this before as he led from here on home.  The I(ndy)-5(hundred) was total CHAOS this morning, people were driving like crazy and Lloyd was weaving in and out and putting them to shame.  As we approached Seattle the signs were letting us know that the 520 floating bridge was closed in both directions and I figured traffic was bad and that he was calling his wife for info.  We ended up skirting the city by going around I-405 and up to home.  Near Everett Mall I gave him a final wave as he exited and I carried on home.  (We did get home before noon - for me it was 11:55 AM)

Once home I didn't even unload the bike except for my GPS.  I tossed stuff on the table, got out of my riding gear and zipped up to get the pup and all was well.  

Here is a link to the Spot tracker page.  I forgot to turn it on the last day - doh

Another successful trip.

Day 1 ~850 miles

Day 2 ~890

Day 3 ~560

The total on my odometer was 2136

Gas $168.77

Food $29.54

Lodging $79.55

Dog spa treatment ;-)  $80

Next time we'll try to make a little more time for stops and not do as many miles per day as that was a tad excessive.  Of course when you have 2 ironbutt riders going places who knows where they will go or end up.