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Chris McGowanChris McGowan
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Living in: Veneta, Oregon Read more Veneta, Oregon
  • TravelerUSA 4 Corners
    Day 24

    Last one

    July 8, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 99 °F

    So people are asking for the total miles. I know the app says 11.1 k. I trust my speedometer more and luckily it started at 60,008. So it says 71448. Drumroll
    …

    11,440 miles.

    Probably time for an oil change. Once again, thanks everybody for following and making comments. I hope you’ve enjoyed watching. I might post a picture of the book that I’m going to buy from FindPenguins. It’s been a very fun app and they take your photos and stories and make a book and send it to you. I think it’s like $50. I will probably use this app on future vacations because it was fun and it would be nice to have a hardcopy of a vacation that I don’t have to put together 😂

    The other photo is the welcoming crew at my house. 🐶 🐶    Read more

  • TravelerUSA 4 Corners
    Day 24

    Bellingham WA

    July 8, 2024 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 59 °F

    So I ended up here after the fourth corner as the closest hotel I can get. This will be my last hotel. Tomorrow I’ll head home.

    When I got here, I pulled off the offramp before I went to four corners and I came across Stemma Brewing. It must’ve been calling me because I didn’t know it was there. They had three food trucks out front and I chose a pulled pork slider with blue cheese on top. It was fabulous.

    After the four corners, I went back to my hotel and slept for 2.5 hours. After the nice nap, I went out to Otherlands brewery. This was a much better choice. Steve behind the bar was great and we had really good conversations. The only problem was this place was completely vegetarian. So I had the brussels sprouts. They were fabulous. The curry pierogies sounded good. Had an amazing German style Pilsner. I am not a light beer drinker, but this was great. Lots of flavor. These guys know how to do it, right!    Read more

  • TravelerUSA 4 Corners
    Day 23

    Fourth Corner

    July 7, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 79 °F

    My bike and I did it. We have now touched all four corners and we made it in the 21 day time. I didn’t have to do it in that time, but it really wasn’t pushing it to get it done. This post is only to say I have an accomplished it.Read more

  • TravelerUSA 4 Corners
    Day 23

    Morning

    July 7, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 64 °F

    Just felt that I was up and ready to go this morning. Left out of Spokane at 5 o’clock with the sunrise behind me. Beautiful ride through the grasslands -nobody’s out here. And I found a great little diner and got some pancakes and bacon and some coffee. Chilly out but I know that’s gonna wear off soon.

    Smiling at the riders still asleep across the street who have missed this great hour. They’re going to hit an extra hour of heat today. Also found a snake on the side of the road. Out here saving lives. 😂

    Snake

    https://youtube.com/shorts/Bk-obd4kONM?feature=…    Read more

  • TravelerUSA 4 Corners
    Day 23

    Time Tricks

    July 7, 2024 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 61 °F

    Today I got suckered by the time change. Sometimes I’ll pick a point and look for a hotel to see if they’re affordable. I saw that it was only going to take until 4 o’clock to get to Spokane, which sounded perfect. Well, 4 o’clock rolled around and I still had 60 miles to go. The GPS automatically subtracts time and I do not. Let’s just say that last hour I was really tired of riding and the heat came back.

    I also stopped at kettle House brewing for a quick lunch and at iron goat, which was next to my hotel in Spokane. Food/beer were fine, but couldn’t strike up any really good conversations. People just didn’t seem interested in talking. Kettle House also has a large amphitheater attached to it. Included a listing of the lineup. It’s quite impressive. It looks like the same lineup from Edgefield McMenamins.

    Tomorrow I plan to get to Blaine. It’s only 400 miles.    Read more

  • TravelerUSA 4 Corners
    Day 22

    Loss for America

    July 6, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 55 °F

    The Greasy spoon, the family diner. Finding it harder and harder to find these on this trip. I really enjoy these places because they’re such a great community here. This one is called Char. Like the first part of Charlotte, who is the owner and my waitress. So I was a little early and the only people in the place besides Charlotte were Mike and Lucy enjoying their breakfast. The great thing is that everybody who came in was greeted by name. In order: Marv, Jim, Lorry ,Jerry, and of course Mike the cook.

    Had a good conversation with Jerry and another table about what I was doing. Heard a whole story about the railroad that he worked on for 42 years right there in town. he was always driving train from town to Seattle. Now he does Amtrak for fun, and free, and gives lectures on the building of the railroad line to Seattle.

    As much as I love the consistency of Starbucks coffee everywhere I go, and we can argue that, there’s something about these Hometown diners that are really for community. Charlotte says the rest of the week is all Farmers and people who come in every day. Her birthday was Friday. She also totaled her car last week.

    The other picture of the empty diner is when I started looking this morning I stopped there.(and the casino on the other side of the street. ☹️)    Read more

  • TravelerUSA 4 Corners
    Day 21

    Bison in the road

    July 5, 2024 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 59 °F

    I’m close now. My estimation is two days to finish this and one day to drive home. Bike is still holding together.

    I’m tired 😴. it’s starting to wear on me finally. I get to my destination and just crash. I’ve had a cold now for two days and my throat is killing me. I’ve also got a pretty good cough, party on.

    🦬

    https://youtu.be/ZkEvdxhuDEQ?feature=shared

    All the excitement was this morning. I went to Theodore Roosevelt national Park. Did some of the drive through the park. I was really wanting to see bison, just not this close. So for the video, I’m stopped on the side of the road and they’re kind of marching past me. About 30 to 40 feet away. After that, I turned around and went back across a two-lane bridge to find a bison stopped on the other side, blocking traffic. They were marching along the side of the guard rail outside on the dirt. I sat waiting for that car and bison for about five minutes and then two bison started coming directly behind me down the road. Big boys with big furry heads. I either had to move or try to hope they pass by quietly and I wasn’t thinking that was a great idea. So I fired up my bike and edged up behind that car and started to go around behind the bison in the middle of the road. As soon as I got by the car, the bison started moving off to the side of the road. I passed by within about 10 feet of that guy. But thankfully, he just kept moving. I’m sure it felt different inside a car than on the growling motorcycle.

    Bison Dodging

    https://youtu.be/OriKM7FVgAY?feature=shared

    The only other excitement was the down pour later in the afternoon. I could see a wall of water coming, so I found the first carport I could see and just pulled into it. As I was pulling in a guy named Travis came walking out to have a cigarette smoke. I asked him if I could park in his carport for a few minutes and he said yeah. We hung out for about a half an hour and talked about the neighborhood and this area of the country. He moved here from Florida to get away from, and this is a quote “Florida man and the heat”. 😂 He had been there for three months and he had paid $60,000 for the house and land.    Read more

  • TravelerUSA 4 Corners
    Day 20

    Rain rain go away

    July 4, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 66 °F

    Hit and miss all day with rain. Probably over an hour and a half riding in it. Also lots of hiding, but I still did 450 miles. I did not get to Theodore Roosevelt national Park. I’ll have to do that tomorrow morning. Estimating the remainder of my route and I don’t wanna jinx it but I’m getting close. I estimate I have three more days to hit Blaine, Washington. And then one more day to get home.

    Tonight I find myself in Bismarck, North Dakota- the capital. I’m surprised by how many capitals I’ve been to. Tonight there is a “ symphony spectacular”. This will be opened by a message from the governor and then followed by fireworks.

    Nice festival, but not a lot of people to talk to. It just seemed distant. Turned out to be about 2500 people here. I would’ve called their symphony a community orchestra. They had two singers one was good and the other needed pitch lessons. And their fireworks were very disorganized. They were fine, but there was long gaps between and then there was no finale. Just kind of stopped. Everybody was like, is that it?    Read more

  • TravelerUSA 4 Corners
    Day 19

    Orr, International Falls

    July 3, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 64 °F

    Long day today with a lot happening. Left out of Pembroke, Michigan and did 555 miles today covering Isle Royale visitor center. Pretty sure I can’t claim I’ve been to that park. Then I continued on and stopped in a small town called Orr. Orr is a town of about 500 people and they were having a 3rd of July party today. They had covered booths with food and beer , lots of people walking around. A very small kind of redneck car show that was a lot of fun. I love seeing their creations. It was nice because they weren’t all polished and perfect. And everyone was proud of their car. I have attached a small video of a game that all the children got together to play. Can you guess what they’re doing?

    https://youtube.com/shorts/9HmlzCQSKD8?feature=…

    Met a nice couple, Chuck and Liz, they had lived here their whole lives. They talked about how the lake freezes over 2 feet thick and you need a much bigger saw than most lakes to go ice fishing. They own two snowmobiles. It’s the only way to get around during winter up here. Laughed about how this place only gets three beautiful days a year and this wasn’t one of them. 😂

    Went on to Voyageur national Park and tour their visitor center and then took a small walk through a garden of natural plants and out to the boat ramp and the pier to talk to some people fishing. The guy fishing had three walleye on their stringer and had only been out there for about an hour. One was from Florida, and one was a local. They also had their 14-year-old boy with him. He was very excited to hear that I taught automotive in high school. He loved all things mechanical. This is definitely another park that you have to do by water, although it was very beautiful to sit on a bench and watch it for 20 minutes.

    Onward. Next I went to International Falls, Minnesota. Here I stayed in a really old motel. I was the only person staying in the whole hotel and the person behind the counter was very nice and said it was very safe. They said tomorrow would be full for the Fourth of July. For dinner, I ended up at a fairly hoity-toity distillery called cantilever. I’ve included the menu and a couple drinks. It was a very good restaurant. Made a great Manhattan. The guy sitting next to me is an architect and he was in town working on Affordable homes by repurposing an old brick high school into about 10, 3 bedroom family units. Keeping the old skeleton and reworking the inside. Keeping old chalkboards and built-in cabinetry and installing new modern stuff around it. It was really cool.

    Next to me was a great family, mother, father and son. They were in town from Fargo just on vacation and were headed home today. They had been out fishing with a guy and showed me pictures of 25 inch walleye that the kid had a hard time holding up. They had a great time in this little town.

    Tomorrow. Tomorrow I’m going to try to make it to Theodore Roosevelt national Park in North Dakota. Also puts me on a direct path West heading towards home. My foot peg is still holding on with the repairs I made initially. Still treating it with kid gloves. Otherwise the bike is running. My odometer says I have over 9000 miles on this trip.    Read more

  • TravelerUSA 4 Corners
    Day 18

    Munising, MI

    July 2, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 63 °F

    First off, I want to say that the name of the city sounds like a community choir.

    So did just about 520 miles today to get here. I’m still 2 1/2 hour short of the Isle Royale visitor center so I will have to leave early tomorrow. I plan on going there and then to Voyageurs national park.

    This is a small town of about 4000 people that swells all summer as a tourist location. Which means the hotels are full and expensive. Look it up online and see all the things you can do here out on Lake superior. Today is not a tourist day as it is 60° with 20 mile an hour winds and 35 mile an hour gusts. Annual visitors to this location in 2019 were over 800,000.

    I went to a local restaurant recommended by the hotel called dog patch. Talked to a very nice kid who worked behind the bar and goes to school here at Michigan State. it was a good talk about the season and what goes on in town. The food was just a common burger and beer was from a can, but from a brewery around the corner that was closed today.

    I threw in the pictures of the trees to see if you could see how hard the wind is blowing    Read more

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