2017 West Coast - Freeway, River road, and Falls
Sometimes all you can do is take the route your on, then sit back and see where you end up.
I'm not sure what relevance the above sentence is to todays adventure, but i liked it so I'm leaving it in... LOL!
Leaving the motel we stopped at the gas station, which was right next door, for fuel for the bike and air for the tires. The left trailer tire has a slow leak, and needs to be filled every 2 days. The bike tires always need to be checked and topped off at 42 psi. This station charged me $1 for air. The trailer tire filled ok. However, the nozzle only let air out of my rear tire. Bummer! We had to gently cruise to another station. This one worked, but here i had to pay $1.50.
We left Ritzville and headed south to Kennewick. This road was a limited access highway that ran through flat plains. When i think of the state of Washington I envision lush green forests. These dry plains were more like Nebraska.
South of Knnewick we picked up HWY 14. 14 runs along the Columbia River on the Washington side of the border with Oregon. Entering the road there was a sign that read 'No service for 86 miles'. Sure glad we just toped off the gas tank! 86 miles with no service meant no towns to slow down for. But this is a major agricultural area with plenty of semi trucks that struggled up hill and flew down the other side. I would pass a truck only to see it in my rear view mirror charging at me. And objects in the rear view mirror are closer than they really are.
HWY 14 was a great road that started off fairly flat with mild hills. As we progressed, the hills got steeper and the corners got tighter. But as the day wore on, the wind got stronger and gustier. The coolest part of the road was the scenary. Especially seeing Mt Hood in the distance. Mt Hood reminded me of the Lonely Mountain from the book 'The Hobbit'.
After we passed through Stevenson, we hit road construction that delayed us a bit. Then we came up to the 'Bridge of the gods', that took us into Oregon. The bridge was metal grated, and really high (140 feet), which subjected us to the wind. Metal gratedd bridges are slippery enough without wind. Crossing it was truly the scariest part of the day.
Once in Oregon we scooted down I 84 until HWY 30 broke off from it. HWY 30 is an old scenic highway. Its narrow, with lots of curves, and usually with a steep drop off on the North side. But the road is also the gateway to scenic vistas, hiking trails and three water falls; Horse Tail Falls, Multnomah Falls and Bridal Vail falls. We lucked out and found a parking place at Horse Tail and Bridal Vail and got out for a look see. We had no joy at Multnomah, with the trailer being a hinderence.
After seeing the falls, it was 330 pm and we hadn't eaten lunch. So we stopped for pizza. We scarfed it down. Then we headed to our motel.
As i have down each night, I washed the bike down. I really just take off the layer of bugs that accumulated during the day. LoriAnn and i also did a load of laundry.
We added Oregon to accomplishments today... yay! We also went over 2000 miles on the trip.
We had signal most of the day, so if anyone was following the track you may have seen it real time.
I'm not sure what relevance the above sentence is to todays adventure, but i liked it so I'm leaving it in... LOL!
Leaving the motel we stopped at the gas station, which was right next door, for fuel for the bike and air for the tires. The left trailer tire has a slow leak, and needs to be filled every 2 days. The bike tires always need to be checked and topped off at 42 psi. This station charged me $1 for air. The trailer tire filled ok. However, the nozzle only let air out of my rear tire. Bummer! We had to gently cruise to another station. This one worked, but here i had to pay $1.50.
We left Ritzville and headed south to Kennewick. This road was a limited access highway that ran through flat plains. When i think of the state of Washington I envision lush green forests. These dry plains were more like Nebraska.
South of Knnewick we picked up HWY 14. 14 runs along the Columbia River on the Washington side of the border with Oregon. Entering the road there was a sign that read 'No service for 86 miles'. Sure glad we just toped off the gas tank! 86 miles with no service meant no towns to slow down for. But this is a major agricultural area with plenty of semi trucks that struggled up hill and flew down the other side. I would pass a truck only to see it in my rear view mirror charging at me. And objects in the rear view mirror are closer than they really are.
HWY 14 was a great road that started off fairly flat with mild hills. As we progressed, the hills got steeper and the corners got tighter. But as the day wore on, the wind got stronger and gustier. The coolest part of the road was the scenary. Especially seeing Mt Hood in the distance. Mt Hood reminded me of the Lonely Mountain from the book 'The Hobbit'.
Once in Oregon we scooted down I 84 until HWY 30 broke off from it. HWY 30 is an old scenic highway. Its narrow, with lots of curves, and usually with a steep drop off on the North side. But the road is also the gateway to scenic vistas, hiking trails and three water falls; Horse Tail Falls, Multnomah Falls and Bridal Vail falls. We lucked out and found a parking place at Horse Tail and Bridal Vail and got out for a look see. We had no joy at Multnomah, with the trailer being a hinderence.
Horsetail
Bridal Vail
After seeing the falls, it was 330 pm and we hadn't eaten lunch. So we stopped for pizza. We scarfed it down. Then we headed to our motel.
As i have down each night, I washed the bike down. I really just take off the layer of bugs that accumulated during the day. LoriAnn and i also did a load of laundry.
We added Oregon to accomplishments today... yay! We also went over 2000 miles on the trip.
We had signal most of the day, so if anyone was following the track you may have seen it real time.
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