Day 6

I slept like a baby listening to the waves roll onto the beach all night. My body was still on central time so I got up early. The camp was packed and I was on the road before 7am. Today's travel would take me to Oregon wine county, then Portland for lunch and on to my destination of John Day Oregon.

On the map I found a road that looked like it went close to where I was going. The road not having a name on the map should have been a hint. It was a little back country road that went from Blaine, OR to Carlton, OR. I hoped the road went through but I my doubts increased as the tarmac went to dirt and gravel.


I took my chances and continued on up the pass. At the top I was rewarded with this.




I ran down the back side of the pass and into Oregon wine country.
I wanted to stop Sokol Blosser, the vineyard's of one of my favorite wines. I found it on my GPS and it took me right to their front door. I can't find their Pinot Noir anymore in Minnesota so I had some shipped home. They told me they don't ship the Pinot because the demand regionally sells them out each year. I remember when this stuff was the best value at about $10 a bottle but that sure has changed. :( Here are some shots of the Vinyard.






I had a lunch date in downtown Portland with a friend from college. It was a very nice to see Sean again and catch up about family and friends.



After lunch I had a 275 mile trip to John Day. Along the way I stopped and ran up Mount Hood to the . It was a beautiful old lodge that was built as a WPA project during the Great Depression.




The trip to John Day, Oregon was pretty uneventful except the radar detector was lit up quit a bit due to the heavy enforcement areas along the route. It also got quit hot through some valley's with the thermometer on the bike hitting 101 degrees. I saw this tree full of shoes along the road and had to turn around and get a pic.


I pulled into John Day that evening and set up camp at the county fairgrounds. Here is my view out from the camping area of the local wildlife.


After I got my camp set up I went to dinner with other members of the BMWST.com forums that were also camping. After dinner I got to meet some other great members sitting around the campfire. I am definitly the am on the younger end of the demographic of those riding BMW's but they come from all walks of life and had great story's to tell.

Day 5

Sorry it's taken so long to continue the blog but I ran out of wireless at the campgrounds or the places I did stay that had it I didn't have time to write in the blog.

Day five started out with me driving to downtown Seattle early to hop a Ferry over the Bremerton and start my journey south from there. I really didn't need to take a ferry, I just wanted to. It did give me the best views of downtown Seattle and of the area. Unfortunatly I just missed the ferry and had to wait for the next one.....

(click on the pictures to expand them.....they aren't totally fitting in the blog.)









I started heading south out of Bremerton Washington. In one of the small towns I ran across a car wash. It was a nice little break. Now with a clean motorcycle I was off. I wanted to get a ways into Oregon but was already behind schedule because of the missed ferry and the extra time getting my bike washed. i took highway 101 south into Oregon.

To get into Oregon there is about a mile long bridge at Astoria Oregon.


I made the mistake of trying to cross this thing midday of the Sunday after the Fouth of July. Everyone was crossing back from the holiday weekend was on the bridge for about an hour. Once across I stopped and had a bowl of chowder and tried to find out where I wanted to go. All I knew was I wanted to see the Oregon coast and camp as close to it as possible. I picked out a few camping options from the AAA books I had and set off not really knowing where I'd end up.

I got about 30 miles down the road and my check oil symbol came on. This is a finicky thing and does sometimes come on even when I can see oil half way up the sightglass. I needed gas anyways so I pulled into a station. This is when I ran into Oregons archaic gas laws. They are required to pump your gas for you..no self serv....What a PITA. I was low on oil so of course the little oil cap removal tool is under the back seat so I had to remove all my strapped on crap to get at it. I added a bit of oil and was off down the coast.

I stopped at the first scenic overlook I came too. Parked next to this couple enjoying the scenery and a PBR.....









Continured on down the coast and saw a sign for "The 3 Capes Scenic Drive" and deceided to follow the signs.  It brought me to a road that followed the coast and when wasn't along the coast was canopied over with trees.  A brilliant road for sure.  






There was a state park campground on this scenic drive so I pulled in and got a site for the night. It was a great place to camp. The sites were in an old growth forest but just steps from the beach. I slept like a baby hearing the waves roll onto the beach all night.








I ate dinner that night in the quaint little town of Oceanside.  Nice meal overlooking the beach.

Day 4

My internal clock is still on Central time so I am waking up about 5:00am local. It is nice to be able to get on the road each day between 6-6:30. Makes for nice relaxing evenings because I have travelled most of my miles early in the morning. I hit hiway 2 again with a loose destination of Seattle. While making good time I saw the sign for the Grand Coulee Dam so I just had to see it. It was about 25 miles north of hiway 2 and I sped up there. Quit an impressive structure and they say it is the largest concrete structure in north america.




I had the option of heading north to take the northern route across Washington which I was told is the most scenic but I chose instead to head back to Hiway 2. I am glad I did. The Canyon run along a resevoir was incredable. Shear rock towering above me on my left and a deep water resevior on my right with lonnnngggg high speed sweepers.  I love the way this bike handles :)

This highway is such a nice way to see the country because of the diversity along the way.  In Eastern WA it was straight but with nice rolling hills.  Wheat fields and grazing pastures on each side of the road.  At the western end it abruptly drops from about 2700feet to 700 feet in a great canyon run.  It brings you into the columbia valley where you see all kinds fo fruit trees especially cherrys and apples.  

I had to stop in the town of leavonworth because there is a leavonworth Minnesota.  Leavonworth MN is where my paternal grandparents are buried along with at least one uncle.  It is a real tourist trap but is really pretty.  Its made to look like a bavarian town and does a good job of mimicking the architecture.
Also of note just south of Leavonworth Minnesota there is a park that used to be the farmsite of my greatuncle. Here is a pic








On through the Cascades which were beautiful. Lots of elevation changes. I stopped at a little roadside shop and talked with some new found friends....



I hit a bit of rain through the mountains but nothing severe. Just a good steady rain. I cruised through Seattle and tried to find a cheap hotel but none were to be found. Even the Fleabags were all about $80. I found a KOA in Kent and camped for the night. It was more of a RV park but they had about 10 camping sites. Unfortunatly while there I lost my Wedding band. By the time I noticed it it was dark and it was not to be found. That was a fun phone call to make to Marilyn.... :(

Day 3

After a few beers with Ron and Ed, I went to bed at around 11pm. It was really nice out when I went to bed but Day Three started out really cold. I didn't get much sleep because the temp. dropped dramatically overnight. I finally couldn't take it anymore so I got up and stumbled to the showers at about 4:30am to warm up. Needless to say I had them all to myself. Note to self....always locate showers and bathrooms day before so you aren't searching for them next morning....2nd note to self, remember to bring towel along to the shower so you don't have to trudge back down to campsite in darkness to retrieve it.

Here is the view I woke up to this morning.


I packed up, said goodbye to Ron and Ed, and hit the Going-to-the-sun road a little after 6am. The going to the sun road is an amazing road that climbs up the mountain and back down. I don't have too many pictures of the trip as its mostly a little 2 land road with few places to pull over....unless you like to drop a few thousand feet. I did mount the camera to the bike and put it on video mode so I do have over an hours worth of video. The great thing about running the road that early is you have it virtually to yourself. The road only totally opened a few days before I ran it becasue there was still a great deal of snow and they are doing a bit of construction.

Here are a few pics..










Here is a Video of the drive on the Going to the Sun Road.



I ate breakfast at the west entrance to the park and left for Washington. I took a nice easy ride after two long days in the saddle. I stopped a couple of times. The first was when I was past Kalispel, saw a sign for the Lang Creek Brewery so I had to check that out. It was back on a private gravel road about 2 miles.



Great little place. Got a tour from the assistant brewer who had just moved up from Florida with his wife about 2 months ago. She was also there along with their lab mix named "Dog P". Got 2 small samples of their wheat and stout. While tasting had a brief down pour of rain. I stuck to highway 2 into Washington. I pulled over in a small town in Montana and comandeerd a picnic table in the pavillion for about an hours nap. While taking my nappy wappy it started to rain again. Good luck being under shelter each time it rained. It was a pretty scenic ride and was pleasantly suprised by how nice northern Idaho was.


I ended up in Spokane for the night, grabbed a hotel room, and ordered a pizza. I was pretty tired after not sleeping well and getting up so darn early......

To be cont......