Madras Oregon

Long day in the saddle, 9 hours but only 350 miles. It took forever to get through Seattle and all it's suburbs. I felt claustrophobic because after riding on the open ocean where you could see horizon to horizon having trees lining the road it felt like riding down a narrow hallway. Entering Mount Rainier National Park and ascending Chinook pass the haze started building and the smell of smoke filled the air. After reaching the summit and crossing into Wenatchee National Forest the smoke obscured the valley below but finally cleared as I got to Natchez where the smokie smell was replaced by the smell of apples and plums as they were being harvested.

I crossed into Oregon as I crossed over the Columbia River and foolishly passed the gas stations there as the bike was telling me I had over 100 miles to go on the tank. Northern Oregon looked a lot like western Washington with the Hugh wheat fields. Also, there is almost no towns in this part of Oregon but I found gas with about 30 miles left in the tank. Gotta stop doing that!Read more