Friday, June 10, 2011

Wrap up & stats

Many thanks to the people who put us up along the way (you know who you are) and to the folks who helped out with things at home in our absence.

Special thanks to Trish for all the pictures.

Later today I may break out the power washer and see if I can get the top layer of bugs off the bike.
  • Days start to finish 14
  • 10 days of riding
  • A total of 2,952 miles from Amboy, IL to Oregon City, OR.
  • Average miles per day 295
  • Longest ride from St Louis, MO to Lincoln, NE,  475 miles
  • Shortest ride from Buffalo, WY to Cody, WY 190 miles (the pass day)
  • States visited in order, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington & Oregon
  • Photographs taken 5,706
  • Money spent (I don't even want to think about it)
  • Wet riding days 2
  • Dry & sunny riding days 8
  • Gallons of fuel, 75 (approx)


Out of Spokane and homeward bound!


 The weather cleared up as we confronted the vast farmland that is western Washington. Not much to see until we got into Pasco were I spotted some of our truck drivers (hi Boris) and we waved. The ride home was uneventful except for the only road rage incident of the entire voyage (the other guy) We stopped at The Deschutes park near Biggs and took a nice break by the river.





Local Flooding

A rest stop in Washington near Ritzville I think

Must have been a storm at the coast . . .

Hair by Helmut







Near Boardman, OR

The mighty Columbia river


Made of???



The Columbia near Arlington, OR

 A break at Deschutes park


After the rest I felt the need for some diversion and took a canyon that looked twisty, I was not disappointed.The Fulton Canyon road 2 miles from Biggs Junction off the Biggs-Rufus Highway.
WAAAA!

Waaaa!


The Dalles, OR



Old Columbia River Highway


On the road again.

Spent a couple of lovely days with some friends in Hamilton, MT. in the valley below the Bitter root mountains. Spent much of the time on the couch reading and eating cookies and letting my wife visit.
Had some weather predicted for Tuesday so we decided to hang out until Wednesday to see if it was better (it wasn't) then we rode up to Missoula and on towards Idaho.
My friend in Spokane wanted to meet us so he rode out and met us at the 50,000 silver dollar restaurant/gas stop/ tourist trap. When he arrived, we had some warm food and got on the road to Spokane. The rain was light and intermittent until we got into Spokane where we drove through a heavy T-storm.
We spent an enjoyable evening catching up and got to meet his lovely new wife.



The story is that this is a "castle" built for a horse. Apparently a man said if any horse won some race that he would build him a castle, it did and he did. It has since been converted to a house & stable but is located right behind where we stayed. Some people have too much money.







At a ranch below Missoula. The little ones were playing hard and were really cute. We had to backtrack looking for Trish's glove and decided that as long as we were back here to take pictures.


River is called the Clark Fork which drains into the Columbia. All the rivers where RAGING.



Alternative lifestyle from the parking lot of the 50,000 dollar rest stop.



On into Idaho


Idaho Border

That guy was following me . . .