Day 3 - John Day, OR to Burien, WA

Today was projected to be the longest riding day of our 3 day trip and once again we weren't disappointed. We met before 7am and noted it was good to have had a good night's sleep in a warm bed. It makes hitting the pavement for a long day so much easier.

Heading west through John Day on US26, it was a literal ghost town. The sidewalks were really rolled up. We were filled with anticipation of some great riding through the John Day Fossil Beds country which is some of the best riding in the Pacific NW.

The variety of geologic formations are simply stunning. On more than one occasion we commented that some of the formations belonged in Utah, but here they are in Oregon.


These few pictures don't even begin to do creation's beauty justice.

At OR19, we headed north to Kimberly, Spray, and Fossil where we found a mastadon.



Leaving Fossil, on another amazing stretch of road (OR218) and we stopped around 10:30am for breakfast in Antelope. This was an excellent choice! After breakfast we spotted an old church which we walked over to it and photographed it. It dated back to 1897! Antelope has an interesting history and is worth googling it.




One thing that was amazing us today was the scarcity of cars on the road on this holiday weekend. At times we rode for an hour without seeing another vehicle. On this day very few cars passed us and we passed only a few who lingered too much for our taste.

Leaving Antelope we headed for Maupin and took a break at the city park which is located on the shores of the Deshutes River. We watched rafts launch and took care of personal business.



A fellow from Bellingham approached us with a compliment about how quiet our motorcycles were. We enjoyed some pleasant conversation (which happens very frequently when I'm riding and come to a stop) and he ends up suggesting a route that we consider taking. We say, "What the heck, let's do it!". It was a very pleasant ride down the Deshutes River for about 7.5 miles to Sherar's Bridge. Arriving at Sherar's Bridge, I commented over the CB to Neil that I've been here before. Back in 2003 my wife and I came in from another direction and it was a real treat then and as much so now. You'll see in the photos that this is a cut in a lava flow that accelerates the Deshutes River through it. The Indians have fishing perches out over the river and it's very spectacular. Again, google Sherars Bridge Oregon and you can learn more about it.

Old Meets New!

After taking a few pictures, we headed up OR216 to find the little town of Dufur. We did a quick drive through and it was a quiet day in Dufur. US197 took us north to The Dalles where we took one of the few free bridges across the Columbia River. We rode south along the Columbia with some pretty strong wind gusts to Bingen where we re-fueled at the Texaco. Wanting to get out of the wind, we headed north on WA141 for Trout Lake and the opportunity for Neil to ride WA141 and FS23/90 for the first time. Along FS23 there's a nice lookout for Mt. Adams where we stopped for some pictures.



The rest of FS23 was very twisty with some frost heaves and joined up with FS90 which had a good surface for a while before turning to a gravelly pitted road for about 3/4 of a mile which we navigated easily. Just before the intersection with FS25 we took a rest stop at the Eagle's Cliff general store. It was then a nice ride up FS25 with a brief sobering moment when we encountered a tow truck and a number of sheriff vehicles at a corner. They were recovering some vehicle that went over a small cliff.

Leaving FS25 and Woods Creek Road, we changed our plans and headed west on US12 to Morton for another fuel stop and a small dinner. We were having so much fun it was now 6pm and we had at least a couple more hours of riding in the dark. Dinner at the Plaza Jalisco was great as judged by the evidence of what was left of a shredded beef taco salad.



We then headed north on WA7 to 161. At one point a deer jumped out in front of Neil and as I passed the point, I spotted another deer where the first one came from. Further on, Neil noted that my left headlight went out and we decided to take a short break at the South Hill Mall area where I changed the headlight bulb in about 10 minutes. What a difference the headlight change made! It was then a nice ride through the congestion (the first of the trip since Ellensburg on day 1) and up WA512/WA167/I405/WA518 to my home (actually Neil peeled off on I-5 for his home as my bedroom door wasn't open for him :) ).

It was a great three days enjoying riding together through some great roads and scenery. I would encourage you to find a riding partner and just get out and ride. There are so many rides and so little time. This last picture epitomizes what we riders long for: twisty rides, especially in our rear view mirrors because it means we just rode them.




Daily Statistics:

Daily Mileage: 455 miles (longest day)
Total Miles: 1212 (may not agree to daily tally)
Game Spotted: Quite a few deer (one relatively close call); one large Mastadon

Day 2 - Lewiston, ID to John Day, OR

Wow was today a full day! And we were in for a few surprizes! This day's initial blog will initially only have a few pictures but I'll add them later.



We departed the motel in Lewiston, ID shortly before 7am and headed back into Washington. We turned south in Clarkston for Asotin along WA129. After climbing out of Asotin ( a fun twisty road), the temperatures were in the high 40's. I needed to add my Gerbings so we made a quick stop. It wouldn't be the last stop for clothing adjustments. The ride down Rattlesnake Canyon was tremendous with very little traffic. The ride back up on the Oregon side was equally nice. We rode a bit farther and Neil then decided he needed his full complement of Gerbings so we made another stop. It was then a nice ride down OR 3 to Enterprize and then to Joseph, OR where we refueled around 9am. One of the service station persons struck up a conversation with us and complimented us on our choice of bikes and was especially enamoured with the electric clothing. We then headed east on the Imnaha highway with a turn south on FS39 on our way to the Hells Canyon Overlook.



FS39 is one of those magical roads that's really well surfaced, in the middle of nowhere or very close to it, and virtually absent of traffic on this Sunday morning of my 63rd birthday. We carved the curves and eventually showed up at the overlook. Not much had changed except that of my favorite stumps had deteriorated and blew over. We enjoyed some fig newtons and took in the sights. While there was nobody else there initially, but by the time we left, the parking lot was very full. In fact a Triumph Sport Touring bike showed up and it was the same bike we had seen the previous day at the Cle Elum cafe. We enjoyed a brief conversation with this couple. Then Neil had a little incident with his reverse switch sticking, but that was soon remedied and we were on our way south on FS39 again.

We ended up following a very large Dodge pickup for about 20 miles because we couldn't get around him. Finally we did and enjoyed more of the twisties by ourselves. We connected with OR 86 and headed west into Halfway where we sought out some lunch. It seems that the rodeo was going on in Halfway and there was only one restaurant open (Stockmans) and it was closing at 2pm. The Hells Canyon burger was terrific! We then headed for OR86 again and rode that up over the hill towards Baker City. It got extremely windy and we had pretty severe side winds during that leg. At Baker City we headed north to LaGrande on I-84 for our next refueling stop and we buffeted by more winds on that leg as well. It was very tiring riding.

Leaving LaGrande, OR, we headed a few miles north to the OR244 exit where we were rewarded with some extensive gravel riding due to the reconstruction of the offramp. This was navigated with ease and soon we were heading west on OR244. It was full of nice sweepers along the river and we passed a muzzle loading encampment. Not long after that, we came to NF51 which was a new road for me. We headed south on this VERY nice road and took a break for more clothing adjustments (read that it was cold at around 42 degrees and we were at 5,000 feet and greater in altitude).

There was a section of NF51 that became very rough but eventually it ended at NF52 which had a better surface. NF52 led us to NF73 and then to the old mining town of Granite and then Sumpter. Sumpter was having a 3 day flea market and things were closing up as we got there. But the real treat was being able to see, photograph, and board the gold dredge. We probably spent 20 minutes on the dredge trying to visualize what it would have been like to work on it. According the the history placard, this dredge mined a cubic yard of gold in its work history which is about 9 tons. Convert that to ounces and you'll have some feel for the significance of this dredge. For those who haven't seen a dredge, it's essentially a large floating piece of machinery that uses the buckets shown below to scrape up the rock material and deposit it in the dredge where the gold is removed and the tailing are deposited out the back. Essentially the dredge digs it's own hole!



Leaving Sumpter, we headed for OR7 which would take us to US26 and into John Day where we projected we'd be spending the evening (assuming there's no rodeo, etc. that would use up the available rooms). Arriving in town we spotted the Little Pine Inn (866-575-2100) and pulled in. The desk clerk was very friendly, quoted a favorable rate, and we had lodging for the evening. I would recommend staying here. He recommended the OUTPOST for dinner. While unpacking the bikes another biker , Ben, on a very nice HONDA crotch rocket engaged us in conversation. He was from Lewiston and had left this morning as well although he didn't take the circuitus route that we did. Ben was very pleasant to talk with and we enjoyed our time with him. Dinner was next and it was just okay. The ribeye steaks were a bit tough even when cooked medium rare.

Walking back to the motel, the city streets were pretty quiet with most of action taking place at the Dairy Queen. We agreed to leave at 7am again in the morning and put in another long day. Today's riding was simply spectacular. There were lots of twisties, great scenery. The only downsides were the wind in the one 100 mile section, and the low temperatures.

ODOMETER: 397 miles
Game Spotted: A dozen or so deer in several different groups; lots of free range cattle on the road (NF51)
Non-Riding Highlight: Sumpter Dredge

Day 1 - Burien to Lewiston, ID

It's been a long while since my friend Neil and I have ridden on a long ride together. In fact the last really long rides we took were in 2005 when we rode from Nebraska to home and then from home on our "Carving Canyons" ride through the desert SW (6,000 miles). That blog is found at http://journals.aol.com/tim4gw. Neil planned a trip up to visit friends in Seattle so I suggested that we take a 3 day, 1000 mile ride via Clarkston, WA; Joseph, OR; FS39 and the Hells Canyon Overlook, down through the John Day Hill Country and back to Seattle via the east side of Mt. St. Helens. So we agreed on a proposed route and on Saturday, August 30, 2008 we departed at 8am from where Neil was staying in Tukwila.

It was a superslab ride over I90 heading east until we got off the interstate at Cle Elum for gasoline and a little refreshment at the Cle Elum Bakery. It was fabulous! We then took old US10 into Ellensburg, WA. We remembered that the rodeo was being held there, but thought that there would be detour signs around the parade. WRONG! After asking a traffic control officer, we were directed to an eastbound route out of town towards the Ginko Petrified forest and the Vantage bridge. Again, it was a delightful ride with very little traffic and we pulled into a service station in Vantage for a little break. A fellow immediately came up to us to talk about the bikes and Carlos, from Salvador told us of.his dream to own and ride a motorcycle, but his wife would have nothing of it. We shared our experiences with him to encourage him in his dream and he took our picture. After we mentioned that we were considering a ride in Costa Rica, he also encouraged us to do that ride.


Given that it was getting close to noon we decided to head for Mattawa for a little lunch. We found a great little place called El Grullo. We enjoyed a Mexican soda along with our meal and headed east on 24SW which became the Muse Road, and then we turned south on the Schoolaney Road (neither of us had been on that road and it was terrific) to the Hendricks Road where we turned left (east), That road eventually became WA 260 which led us to WA261 where we turned right and headed for US12. Along WA 261, we stopped at Lyons Ferry Park for a break and enjoyed laying on the lawn in the sun taking in the view of a place where Lewis & Clark had been in the early 1800's.

We then saddled up again and headed for Clarkston via US12.



On the way into town we spotted a sign for $34.95 rooms at the Econolodge so we made a beeline for that motel with a stop for gas. At check-in we learned that the $34.95 rooms were only available under certain conditions and we were quoted a much higher rate. After some hemming and hawing, the proprietor made us a deal for $39.95 each for ground floor rooms. Score!

We unpacked and headed to find some dinner which we did at a Shari's. Before our meal was served, my wife called and said she was on a "shopping trip." That spelled danger, so I asked where. She said she started in North Bend, and then found herself in Spokane, and finally was in Colfax (just 50 miles north of Men, watch out for shopper wives like this! Neil had breakfast and I had a salad.me). (No pictures; you'll have to trust us on this!) Then we treated ourselves by riding the Old Spiral Highway which is on the north bank of the Snake River just outside of the east side of Lewiston. It's the former US195 highway and is full of twists and turns. It's a motorcyclist's nirvana. Neil led us going up and I led us going down. It was simply fabulous and a good cap to our riding day. Neil commented that we didn't do too bad for a couple of old goats on 900 pound bikes. He also said I wasn't the rider he left behind a year and half ago. Thanks for the compliment. It's all in the training that I've had via Puget Sound Safety's Advanced Street Skills class. (www.pugetsoundsafety.com).

We returned to the motel and a couple had just ridden in from Bonney Lake on their Harley Davidson. We had a good chat with them and urged them to ride the Old Spiral Highway. Neil and I agreed to meet with a helmet time of 7am and see where the adventure tomorrow would take us.

Some trip statistics for the day:

Odometer: 350 miles
Moving Average Speed: 49.2mph
Game Spotted: None