Heading for Dangerous Water

Day 4. A day of contrasts.

Met 6 Canadian motorcyclists at breakfast this morning. They had the pleasure of following last night's storm system to Lolo so got to ride in the rain for several hours. All riding KTM dual sport bikes except for one a bike I haven't heard of before. Two of the guys were doing an oil change on one of the KTMs as it was still in its break in period. Seems that the bike he started with had an issue early in the trip and the KTM dealer where they stopped to get it fixed couldn't get the part needed to fix his bike for three days, so he traded his broken motorcycle for a new one on the showroom floor. They started in Calgary, will ride mostly around Idaho but will end up in Denver where they have a truck and trailer waiting to take them home.

My ride started in the cool misty mountain air that quickly turned to thick fog. Fortunately the fog lifted after a few miles and I had the road for the first 100 miles to myself. The road was in great shape but still wet from the previous night's rain. The forest was very dense and the road probably only saw the sun during mid day and depending on the time of year probably not at all. The mountain twisty's were fun. The road followed a river all the way to Lewiston where I was greeted by the lovely smell from the pulp mill.

Turning north and crossing into Washington the landscape quickly changed from forested mountains to rolling hills completely covered by recently harvested wheat fields. I couldn't believe that wheat could be grown and harvested as the hills seemed too steep to safely operate combines without tipping over. The road was fun with lots of sweepers. Later in the afternoon the landscape flattened out and wheat yielded to corn, alfalfa and onions. Further down the road brought apple and peach orchards along with grapes.

I've been a bit spoiled these last few days. Since leaving Laramie Friday morning I've enjoyed having the roads mostly to myself, one of the benefits of riding blue highways and secondary roads. This afternoon, as the landscape flattened out and the road straightened out the traffic started building until I was in stop and go traffic here in Wenatchee.

Short day tomorrow.Read more