Days 16 and 17 - Heading home

The last 2 days of our journey would be a final push through the desert with an overnight stop at Brad's Mom's house.  I was a little nervous because I had become sick on our first day out when temperatures hit 108.

We said our goodbyes to guys from The Ride Central and head south on I-15 through Las Vegas.  One of the best parts of the ride between So. Utah and Las Vegas in the Virgin River Canyons you go though in the north west tip of Arizona.

We hit some wind heading across, stopped at Las Vegas Harley to pick up a shirt for a gift/donation to an active service man. 

The winds seemed to subside slightly as we moved across the desert and the traffic for a Sunday was not too bad between Las Vegas, NV and Apple Valley, CA.   I was wearing a cooling vest and happy to see the "World's Tallest Thermometer" was only reading 102 degrees when we hit Baker, CA. It was much cooler then it had been only a couple of days ago and even though it did make it to 106, it was only for a short period and we managed to make it to Brad's Mom's with out trouble.

Monday around 11am we headed for home the wind was kicking up pretty bad and we didn't want the hassle of extreme wind.  We were too late though.  As we neared El Mirage park near Atalanto, CA we thought we saw a fire but instead it turned out to be a huge sand storm.  Luckily we seemed to skirt the major sand storm areas and only got sand blasted a bit. 

Finally home we have been mostly just vegging out and catching up on things.  I have to work in the morning so recovering from the trip will have to wait for the weekend.  I'll probably post some final thoughts on the trip in a day or two.  In the mean time I've finished uploading pictures to our album at http://picasaweb.google.com/BradnBev/Vacation2009.

Day 15 - Riding with Friends

We met up with our friends from The Ride Central...BillK, Airborne (Don), and Marcss. The day looked to be a really good one so after a hearty breakfast we headed out on what was supposed to be a 260 mile ride.

First we rode through Zion National Park.  The ride through the park is only about 13 miles but the views are pretty awesome. 

About 1/2 way though the park we road though the Zion-Mt. Carmel Tunnel a 1.1 mile tunnel in the side of one of the sandstone mountians which in July 1930 was the longest tunnel in the U.S.

There is a section of the park you must take a shuttle to access by vehicle.  This time around we did not stop and take the shuttle in though.

From Zion we headed toward Bryce Canyon National Park The ride took us through several interesting areas including Red Canyon.

Bryce Cayon National park is basically a single road that travels about 25 miles in and 25 miles back.  Right after we entered we stopped at the visitor center and some of us discussed going to the end of the road and then stopping at the sights on the way back since they would be on the opposite side of the road.

Don (Airborne) evidently didn't hear the plan and thought we weren't stopping for anything.   =P  and tried to slow me down...hehehe.   We did get to see several stops from the end of the road to the great Bryce Canyon Amphitheater.  In the second picture to the right.

After Bryce Canyon we rode toward Escalante, Utah thriugh an area called the Grand Staircase.  We stopped for lunch at a great little place called the Escalante Frosty Shop and bakery because they had a sign that said they had the "best hamburger in Utah".  Now since most of us really had not had another burger in Utah we really can't say...but I will say the burger was pretty darn good and the buns are made fresh daily. The owner was very nice also.

There is not much of an available loop to ride so we headed back the way we came.  We did take a detour over a 10,400 ft mountian to Cedar City, Utah befor returning to the hotel near Zion.

All in all it was a great day.  The weather was perfect and the scenery was awesome.   The ride turned out to be 360 miles instead of 260 miles...but who's counting?

The Guys have plans for Sunday that sounded fun but we need to head for home.

Day 14 - Rest Day/ Off to Zion National park

Day 14 was another day of rest..we did little more then hang out for most of the day and watch a movie...that was just awesome! 

Early in the evening we said our goodbyes.   I had to get the picture of the brothers, Kevin and Brad,  before we left. 

We only had 68 miles to travel to get to our hotel and meet the folks from The Ride Central. The change in scenery from our earlier travels was drastic though.   This is our second time to visit Zion National Park. 

I can't decide if I like the scenery from earlier in the trip or this better...the picture here is the scenery on Hwy 9 as you approch Zion.

Day 13 - A day of rest and fun

After pretty much continually riding for 12 days it was nice to have a day of rest.  Our plan ws to get up and clean the bikes a bit but we just couldn't muster the strength.  We were going to go for a ride with Brad's brother but even though it sounded like fun we never made it to the bikes.

Brad's brother had another toy that also looked fun, a Polaris Ranger which is basically a 4x4 golf cart on steriods! We climbed in and headed for his brother's back yard (he lives against the mountians).  Riding around was a lot of fun, that thing sure can climb!   The views from the area were great.

Afterwards we just hung out some more.  Brad's brother just couldn't leave the mud on my bike alone though ....This is a sight I never thought I would see....heheheh

More of relaxation for Day 14...then we'll be heading out in the evening to the a meet and greet with The Ride Central folks near Zion National park and a ride on Saturday.

Day 12 - Evanston, Wy to Cedar City, Utah

Again today we were mostly in travel mode. Still a day ahead we headed for Brad's Brother's in Cedar City, Utah.  Of course we can never ride in a straight line so our trip included a ride on a National Scenic Byway called  the Nebo Loop Scenic Byway. As a bonus after talking with the BWB Members in Evanston Wy and Utah we decided to take 150 - the Mirror Lake Scenic Byway.

The Mirror Lake Scenic Byway extended from Wyoming to Utah and ran up into the mountians.  The road actually hit heights around 10, 400 feet and afforded a few little views of early fall colors.  We actually stopped at Mirror Lake but the surface was a bit choppy so we didn't see a mirror effect but the lake beautiful none the less.

We were very glad we were urged to take the route it was definitely a better ride then the Highways.

Even after we left the scenic byway there were several nice twists and turns getting into Provo, Utah where we had lunch.

After Provo we headed down I-15 for about 10 miles to hit the Nebo Loop Scenic Byway.  Another really beautiful venture into the Utah mountians.  To find the loop from the north you travel through a small town to the end of a residential street and turn onto a questionable road.  We were wondering if we were actaully on the right road.  But from there the ride gets nothing but better.  The road is slow but the views are awesome.  I will say though, you will need to do some cow patty landmine navigation and watch for the actual cows while you are at it!

Finally we just hit I-15 and headed south.  Looks like Utah is doing some experimenting with speed limits.  twice we were running speeds of 80 mph...legally!

We did hit a bit of thunder on the way but no rain.   We were glad to be somewhere we were going to relax at for a few days.

Day 11 - Grand Teton, NP to Evanston, Wy

Due to the construction on the road between the Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks we decided to head south a day early. Day 11 became a travel day between Grand Teton NP an Evanston, WY.  

As we left Jackson Lake Lodge it was a whole 45 degrees, we turned south toward the Grand Teton NP Loop spending a few minutes on the Jenny Lake Loop.  Grand Teton NP is a very small National Park so it the whole ride through the park turned out to be fairly quick.

Shortly after we passed through Jackson, Wy  we found ourselves riding through mostly High dessert plains.  What I found interesting wsa that we never seemed to drop below 6000 ft.  I suppose this is only interesting to someone that lives near sea level and sees 2500 feet as the potential snowline...hehehe.

We mostly saw cows, and a few pronghorn with a background of rugged moutians.  We also saw a lot of snow drift fence along the road.

About 1/2 way to Evanston, Wy we stopped to get gas at Daniel Jct (the picture of the sign above the door is that gas station).  Brad went in to buy a burrito and while paying lost the keys to his bike.    I had an extra key for his bike but his single key fob would have been lost  so we went looking. One of the counter girls helped too.  After about a 1/2 an hour we finally found them right on the rug by the cash register (black on blak).  Whew!

Finally back on the road we headed for an early arrival in Evanston.  In fact I blogged the previous 2 days fron there but never did get to this day.

That evening we were set to meet a BWB motorcycle forum member named GeezerGlideWyo (bev and geezerglidewyo giving the BWB salute in the picture).  We were pleased to have dinner and drinks with him, his wife and another riding friend.  Seems everyone in the area mentioned the Mirror Lake Scenic Byway....so we sat down that night and added it to our route to Cedar City, Utah which was our next destination.






As usual I've uploaded more pictures to our web album at http://picasaweb.google.com/BradnBev/Vacation2009.

Day 10 – Exploring South Western Yellowstone

In the morning we took our time getting out of bed. Heck this was the first 2 night stay anywhere and we were a bit exhausted. Besides it had rained a bit over night and we wanted that road to dry up some before attempting another crossing. So we went to see the view of the Grand Teton for which this hotel is famous…it was not disappointing!

After a stupidly expensive, park food breakfast, yuck, we went back to the room and inspected the mud on the bikes. Every car around us was up to the door handles in mud from that road. We had lucked out and gone through at a time when the mud only made it half way up my lowers. (My chaps and boots had a bit too).

About 10 am we decided to hit it. The weather was predicted to have a 40% chance of rain in the evening and we wanted to make it back before the rain due to the road construction. The road construction area was still a bit wet and muddy but for the most part had dried out enough to make it back across with one very nasty area. Succeeding in that crossing we headed off to see Old Faithful.

When we arrived at Old Faithful we found we were only minutes away from the next predicted eruption time. We had just enough time to take a picture of the meandering Buffalo that decided to walk across the area and got the crowd excited, and get seated for the show.

Funny thing was Bumblebee Geyser just off to the left of Old Faithful, a geyser that goes off only once a day randomly started to go off. Its eruption is higher and longer then Old Faithful. No more then a minute later Old Faithful went off! We were watching 2 shows at the same time. I guess we were just lucky to get there when we did. It was quite a show!

After Old Faithful we headed north on the Southwest portion of the Grand Loop road and followed some scenic side roads. I think my favorite was the one to Firehole Lake. We saw some very neat features on that route and met some very nice folks from Ohio. Just riding around we were able to see several more geysers both large and small, a few more bison, and a very pesky raven.

Due to a park road closure and the sheer size of Yellowstone we decided that we did not have time to go back to the features we had missed the precious day. (another 50 – 100 miles round trip) so we started to head back to the hotel. Stopping at a few more water falls but moving ever south to beat the rain we found the last crossing of the construction zone dry and much easier to manage. Tough I did see the truck used to water the road and keep the dust down…it made my heart skip a beat.

The rest of our evening was filled with doing laundry, having dinner, and uploading some pictures. Since the Hotel only has internet access in the main lodge area I just didn’t get enough time to write and upload the blogs for the last few days. I did spend my evening finishing up writing them though.

We decided that with construction resuming on that 6 mile stretch of icky road and with promised long delays due to that construction it was time to head south away from Yellowstone. Hopefully we will get back one day to finish the tour but for now it is better we move on.

A side note: During the ride back from Yellowstone to Jackson Lake we crossed the Continental Divide 3 times which got me thinking. I figured by the end of our trip we will have crossed the Divide at least 10 times and maybe up to 12 times! Seems I’m going to have to get my map out at some point and figure it out….

Day 09 - Red Lodge, MT to Jackson Lake Lodge, Grand Teton NP

Listening to the news we were a little worried as we pulled out in the morning. The forecast was for scattered thunder storms and we were planning to ride over Bear Tooth Highway Pass at 10,947 feet, and I had heard the road was under some heavy construction…Turned out the weather gods were with us and with the construction halted for the holiday weekend we ended up having a fantastic ride over.

The views from the road up were so spectacular you could hardly your eyes on the road to make the next 20 mph turn up the switch backs. About 15 – 20 Miles from Red Lodge there an overlook that affords all the views you were trying to see while craning your neck and trying not to ride off the edge… =P

As we neared the top we found ourselves leaving Montana and venturing into Wyoming. There was
construction at the top but the construction areas, mostly dirt and thin asphalt were hard packed and dry. The view from the top was worth any inconvenience! Glaciated mountain tops, crystal clear pools of glacier water, and miles of spectacular scenery to either side made me wish we had more time to spend maybe exploring a little. But this was just the beginning of our day.

As we descended the switch back mountain road turned into one with comfortable sweeping corners that was actually quite fun to ride. We found a small waterfall at the side if the road and stopped for a quick picture. Just before the road entered Yellowstone we found ourselves winding just slightly back in Montana for a few miles but that would not last long.

We entered Yellowstone at the North East Gate where we had been warned of more construction but they had all but lined the black top in this area so there was nothing of note.

Not long after entering we got our first glimpse of herds of Bison off in the distance. The vast plains by the gate are inviting to many herds but we were a little late in the day to see more then just the Bison and a small group of Pronghorn.

Our first stop in the park would be the northern falls of the park then on to Mammoth Hot Springs .

A few Bison thought we were going to fast so they decided to take traffic matters into their own hands. The first never did get out of the way so much as he moved over slightly and let us pass. 2 more later were spooked by a large delivery truck and went rambling off the road in a panic.

After the Bison we thought the bikes needed a quick cleaning so we found and afternoon storm complete with hail. It was really not that bad since the weather was somewhat warm, I had my rain jacket on, and it only lasted maybe 3 -4 minutes.

Stopping at Mammoth Hot Springs was our first experience with the geothermal aspect of the park. It was really amazing to see how the heated water, bacteria, and minerals interacted to create a weird and wonderful landscape. I thing what struck me most was the way it seemed to be consuming the area around it. A fine twig of plant lands in the water and it is covered in what looks like crystals in no time. Tree tops (dead) of trees once 30 feet high stick out of the area maybe 4 – 6 feet.

We then ventured down to Norris Geyser Basin where we took a short tour of some smaller geysers like Showboat which erupts in rapid succession (though can have a huge eruption every 4 – 6 years). We also saw one that erupts when it feels like it…it was not erupting for us. There was a longer walk there but it was getting late, the skies were looking more ominous, and we wanted to get to the hotel so we headed toward the hotel.

On the way to the hotel below the park we passed Virginia Cascades, Yellowstone Lake, and several features and water falls we would not get back too on this trip, because to the south we found more construction and that would impede or trip some.

Just below the southern gate we found ourselves in a light rain. It appeared from the skies that we had managed to miss a larger rain that had pushed through earlier. Getting dark from the clouds as well as the waning evening sun we found ourselves on 6 miles of dirt, mud, and gravel.

The road construction had been halted for the holiday weekend but the road was not in prime motorcycle riding condition by any stretch of the imagination. What might have been an OK but rough road dry was a slimy mess for our crossing. Nothing like feeling a 900 lb bike fish tailing along in the mud and gravel, its enough to make you chant “OH CRAP, OH CRAP” in a stronger language over and over. To me it was right down scary…even Brad was not feeling great about needing to cross it to get back into the park the next day. Our feeling was if it’s going to rain we would skip the rest of the park completely rather then brave that road wet again.

Arriving at Jackson Lake Lodge we were right down exhausted from our ride out of the park. We found the restaurant(s) had a quick meal, which was the usual expensive crappy park food, and headed to bed.

Day 08 - Great Falls, Montana to Red Lodge, Montana

We left Great Falls, Montana this morning with little thought of seeing much more then the rolling farmland we had seen the previous day. Boy, were we wrong!

We did start the day with the rolling farm land but within only about 20 miles we unexpectedly dropped into what I could only think of as a big crack in the earth. Instead of going up or having the hills rise above us we rode down into a valley with the flat plains above.

We saw a sign

for an overlook at Sluice Boxes State Park which gave a view of a deep an lovely canyon. After getting back on the road the number of conifers increased and we found ourselves not on the straight plains roads but rather winding through beautiful forests and hills beside a tumbling river.

Reaching Interstate 90 which cuts through the southern portion of the state we found ourselves in a mix of plains and mountains. At one point we traveled though a fire along the highway (sorry no pictures).

Turning south on MT 78 toward Red Lodge, Montana and our stop for the night we rode happily on a winding road with a view of the Bear Tooth Mountains over which we plan to travel tomorrow.

The view with the clouds and the sun peaking through was awesome.

Arriving in Red Lodge we met up with a friend we met online a year ago. He had planned on riding out to the Shasta Rally last year but was stopped by snow on the passes near his home. It was great to be able to ride near him and finally meet! We had a good visit and good food then parted for the evening.


 

Tonight I booked the Yodeler Motel with a European style steam bath in the room…I thought it would be interesting? But turned out I couldn’t breath well and had to shut it off…sigh. Oh well…

Day 07 - Waterton National Park, Canada to Great Falls, Montana

Where to start! Is it’s been a busy couple of days with soooo many things to share. I’ve uploaded a load of new pictures to http://picasaweb.google.com/BradnBev/Vacation2009. I had to split this into 2 blogs so be sure to read Day 06 if you missed it!

Starting the day out at the Prince of Wales Hotel we hid in the covers a bit not wanting to get out of bed. The view was great, the bed was comfy and after riding for 6 days straigt we were understandably a bit in need of just vacationing...even for just an hour.

After finally getting going I was standing by the window looking over at the far shore when I saw something out in the water just a bit...I was thinking bear but it was way too big. It moved back up on shore and we were able to determine it was a moose! It decided it wanted to be on our side of the lake so it just swam across and it did it in short order. (Fun Fact: Brad saw a sign that says a moose can swim 6 mph across a body of water) Soon we found it was a female moose and was just below our room. She was scared off by the folks on the lower level but it was our first moose sighting.

Leaving Waterton Lakes National Parks, Canada we headed for the US border and into Montana. Our first destination for the day would be Glacier National Park.

The eastern entrance to the park was chilly, windy, and initially threatened by clouds. But all of that soon cleared as we started moving in to the park. Since we are on bikes we can’t really read the map, so sometimes we would be past a stop before we would see the sign. So though we could see the sight form the road picture some opportunities were definitely missed.

After stopping to see Jackson Glacier we headed to the west side of the park where there was a lot of construction on the 1000 foot down hill decent. We hit every thing from small patches of gravel to large sections of dirt and a bit of mud but, all in all, the ride on “Going to the Sun Road” was both beautiful and memorable.

We thought about re-riding the “Going to the Sun Road” from west to east and stopping at the places we missed but with the construction we thought better of it and headed east via US 2 which follows the bottom of the park, not the same view but scenic.

We entered Browning, Montana in the Blackfeet Nation right as the school buses began running. So we stopped several times for the children to cross the street. Once out of town the road opened up to long stretches of open rolling hills and plains.

I almost scared Brad to death by coming to a quick halt (something I rarely do) so I could stop and view some statues signifying the Blackfeet Nation. I had seen some up by Browning but missed them so I was glad for a second set. Taking a closer look we were amazed to find out the statues were made from old car parts…they were really neat to look at in person.

The road in to Great Falls was long and straight then turned to some nice winding sections and back to long and straight. We got in earlier then expected….


Tomorrow is a “Travel” day. No major stops or sights as we head to Red Lodge, Montana and prepare to head over Beartooth Pass and into Yellowstone.

Days 06 – Nelson, BC, Canada to Waterton National Park, Alberta Canada

We started off the day with a bit of clouds hanging over head. I looked out the window of the hotel at what was the funniest view from a “lake view” room I think I have ever had, and saw clouds looming on the horizon. The Canadian version of The Weather Channel was saying the rain was really going to stay a bit farther west for the most part and we should be heading into clear weather.

When we got on the bikes to ride out to the ferry we got a few drops of rain but it looked like it was clearing as we were waiting for the ferry.

The Ferry ride was really great. The only other ferry I had been on with the bike was a little 3 car ferry in Newport Beach a year or so ago, I remember having to hold up the bike. I was excited to be taking the bike on a bigger ferry. The ride across was beautiful. A kind gentleman explained how to pronounce Kootenay, a little about the ferry, her captain, and the lake. It turns out the Kootenay Ferry is the longest inland water ferry crossing in North America. The ferry is also used twice a week to feed the shrimp, which feed the land locked salmon, which feed the Kokanee (which he described as a very large trout that live very deep in the lake).
Once on the other side we were pleasantly surprised to find a nice winding road that followed the lake down to Creston, BC, Canada. At that time we had to leave the Selkirk International Loop (http://www.selkirkloop.org/) which we had joined in Idaho.

Thinking our day was going to be nothing but good going forward we headed across southern Canada toward Waterton Lakes National Park (the Canadian side of Glacier National Park) in Alberta, Canada. About half way to Cranbrook, BC, Canada I turned 20,000 miles on the bike. 

We stopped in the town of Cranbrook for gas and to visit the Harley Dealer. While getting gas we saw the rain coming in…sure enough we got a quick down pour while in the dealer. We talked to a couple of guys that had come from the direction we were headed and they said it was all good that way. As you can see from the picture that was not exactly true…It rained for about 1 ½ hours…it was decently warm and we were wearing proper clothing so we were undaunted.

As we crossed into Alberta, Canada the scenery on the 3 was spectacular. Then as we neared Waterton Lakes the scenery turned to low rolling farm land with strong winds. The large electric generating windmills makes me think that those winds are very common in that area.

Arriving at Waterton Lakes National Park the Prince of Wales Hotel was everything I had read. Our room was on the 5th floor. The elevator was very small and only went to the 4th floor, when we came in with our bags the gentleman that ran the elevator was off giving a tour so we toted them up ALL 5 floors…boy are we out of shape! The room was roomier then I expected and the bed and linens were awesome since we have been spending the night at not so elegant hotels.

The real reason for all the $$ and hassle of getting this room was right out side the window. The view was awesome. The windows are not huge but there was a door that led to the balcony, also known as the fire escape. We sat there marveling for a bit and taking picture after picture. Then the wind started…it was very strong and even just opening the door to get back in the room could be a challenge!

We decided it was time to eat and tried the main dining room. Nothing like having gourmet food in biker gear! The windows were larger and we were able to watch the sunset wile we dined.

Thought the wind howled all night, I guess we were used to it from home winds, and managed a really good nights sleep.

Day 05 - Ritzville, WA to Nelson, BC, Canada

Today was planned to be a somewhat short day so we slept in and rolled out around 10 am.

First place we rolled through was Spokane, Wa.  We stopped by the local Harley Dealer only to find that thier inventory was frozen and they could not sell or do anything. We encountered thier another dealership in the same state in Kennewick.  Evidaently there is another also owned by the same owner in another city and one of them will be closed.  Guess the big Harley buying boom is over....Dealships seem to be dropping like flies...

We did modify our trip just a bit to roll into Idaho to visit Lone Wolf HD (Figured they would have nice shirts..Then we got back on track by taking ID State Hwy North to WA Hwy 20 and WA Hwy 31to the Canadian Border.

Begining on WA Hwy 20 we were traveling on a Scenic Byway called the International Selkirk Loop.  Scenic is definately the word for it.  It follows a river and meanders ever upward into Canada.  Once there the loop continues by talking a ferry across a lake then downward back into Idaho.  We will be riding only a portion of the downward portion of the loop since we will turn off and travel across more of Canada to get to the Northern portion of Glacier NP (Called Waterton NP in Canada.

We entered Canada just below Nelson, British Columba. Stopping at the Best Western in Nelson (which had the best parking) I was very happy when the lady at the counter said I would get a lake view room!  Then a bit disappointed when it turned out the lake view is a sliver of the lake through houses and cables.

We did find Nelson to be a quaint town.  It seems it is popular to sit outside in what sort of look like sidewalk cafes.  But the sidewalk is between the setting area and the eatery...a little odd but it was a nice place to sit and enjoy some local foods and culture. 

Tomorrow we head to Waterton NP (Glacier NP).  It's about 300 miles...we've decided to get an early start so we can get there at a decently early hour. We will definately not have internet connection tomorrow night.  So I'll get back to blogging in a few days....  Type at you later!!

Note: as with yesterday I have upload some new pictures to http://picasaweb.google.com/BradnBev/Vacation2009

Days 03 and 04 on the road...

Last night I just didn't wan to pay the $$ for the internet while staying in our swank Motel 6 room. So here I sit trying to catch up on the blog before we are out of contact for several days in Canada and National Parks.

The good news is I did get to stop by a Fred Myer (a interesting mix of Grocery, apparel, and home stuff like home electronics) and I found a card reader that would work with the work laptop so I can add pictures now! I’ve also uploaded more pictures to our Picasa albums….just go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/BradnBev/Vacation2009

Day 03 - Crescent City, CA to Portland, OR

I was awakened in at the Best Western in Crescent City, CA by the fog horns droning at a bout 5 am but managed to nod back off until 6:30…it was overcast and a bit drizzly. After a quick breakfast we were on the road. It was still in the lower 50’s and drizzling when we left.

After crossing over the Oregon Border we didn’t see the sun until after 10 AM it was almost getting depressing!

There were times we would look toward the ocean and see nothing but white fog, but at other times we saw just a glimpse of what I have to believe was gorgeous coastline.

Undaunted by the fog we headed ever north.  As the sun started to clear the glimpses of coastline and our souround road was opening up....we were very glad to be on the coast of Oregon.

We left the coast as Lincoln City to cut across to Portland.  We would miss the coast...it was impressive enough for us to long to live there a bit but we had more to see and friends to meet.

Due to some road construction we ended up arriving in Portland a bit later then we expected.

We checked into the Portland Motel 6 and met our friends Jen and Dynabagger (JD) at a local brewery and dinner spot.  We got to try new beers, new types of pizza and had a great time!




Day 04 - Portland, OR to Ritzville, WA

We started the day with a good breakfast and ride with our friends.  Did I mention Jen and JD own a Cafe?  The best one in Portland!  It's called the Morning Star Cafe.  Best gravy I have ever tasted as a cafe.  We stopped there for Breakfast and had some fun...

Don't panic! Brad was takin gthe picture and Jen was keeping a good eye while thier friend Scott just shook thier head and smiled.  It was all in fun.

After breakfast it was time to head to the Columbia River Gorge.  It got a little wet on the way but everyone held in there through it.

I am tell you now, that if you have never been there it is definately a place you need to put on your list!   It was simply an amazing ride with beautiful sights! and some awesome water falls.

We spent some time taking it in but alas we had to part after lunch and head NE toward our end point of Ritzville, Wa.

We crossed the Columbia river finding ourselves on the Lewis and Clark Highway (14).  That too was a beautiful ride.  What I think was so surprising is the abrupt change from lush green forest to High Desert. It was a striking difference.

We were also amazed by the sheer number of wind/kite surfers on the river.  It was like hundreds of little water bugs running around the top of the water.  I had heard it was quite windy but never expected that.

With the scenery change the weather changed to dry and hot.  We stopped for a quick ice cream at a McDonald's in Kennewick, WA then pushed through to our destination....from high desert plateaus and Cliffs to golden rolling hills dotted by hugh farms. 

We stopped in Ritzville, WA smack dab in the middle of those rolling hills not sure what we would find.  The Best Westren here is top notch, the taco place next door not bad, and there is gas on the corner.  And we were able to get our laundry done. BUT the best part was this:

Ok folks  I need to hit the sack!  We head into Canada tomorrow so I am unsure what if any connection I will have through Friday Night...especially in the National Park on Thursday..I'll get back to blogging as soon as I can....See you in a couple of days!