The Drunk-horse tour of Idaho, Oregon and Washington - Day 2

I slept quite well, which doesn't normally happen in hotels. So I was quite happy. My back had been sore as hell last night, mostly because I carried too much stuff in my back pack, which didn't fit between me and all the stuff on the bike. I'd repacked a few things and was hoping for a better day.

I'm must be a masochist because after breakfast at the Best Western I got all my stuff packed and headed back out on the interstate.

In case you haven't been Yakima and Kennewick are not exactly the 'jewels of Washington state'. More like the armpit. Or the as...... never mind, you get the idea.

So off I went. The wind was blowing, the bike was loaded and I just kept my head down for a few hour. There was dual sporting ahead after all, and I couldn't wait to get at it.

Once the interstate split from Hwy 12 things eventually got a bit smaller and I was enjoying the riding more.

And I like the emptiness:




I did make sure I rode the spiral highway north of Lewiston, and I rode the P1 going into Orofino, so there was a bit of fun to be had toward the end of the day. The temps were not to bad (mid 80's) and the KLR was running well.

I once again stayed at the Konkolville motel. Clean rooms and affordable. I wanted to make Orofino a bit of a base of operations for a couple of days.

After a dip in the pool I went out for good Mexican food and supplies (gator aid and powerbars for the riding and a six pack of Henry Weinhard's for the post ride enjoyment).

The real riding starts tomorrow and the good bits contain many more photos :)

Ride report: The Drunk-horse tour of Idaho, Oregon and Washington - Prep & Day 1

The Prep:

For a while this year it looked like I wouldn't be able to go on a trip.

First, the whole 'buying a place' thing got in the way (one of the reasons why there have been no blog updates).

Then, some other stuff happened that no-one really cares about, so I'll try not to bore you with it.

Finally, Jerry's getting married and can't get away, Tony's too busy selling real estate to ride and my Dad is coming to town when I was going to ride at the end of August.

So on Tuesday, Aug 4th, I booked two weeks off starting the next Monday and decided I better go on a bit of a trip. I had no idea where and started looking at ride reports on adventure rider to see what looked appealing. Finally I settled on Idaho. And ordered a GPS with express shipping to get it to me by Friday afternoon

One of the reasons was pretty simple, Tony and I had a good time there last year when we went and rode from Idaho into Montana via forest service (i.e. gravel) roads.

The bike was pretty much ready to go, all it needed was a new chain which wasn't a big deal. I'd had the sub-frame bolts upgraded, the rear tire was new, valves had been checked, oil changed... well you get the idea.

Packing proved a bit challenging as it I packed the day after Jerry's stag and wasn't at my best. I decided to pack a tent as I thought camping would be fun while out on the bike. Of course, I was too hung over to actually load the bike to see how things fit and I was in way too much of a rush to leave to actually take the stuff for a ride. After all, how hard could it be? Right?!

Day 1:

After the dry spell and heat wave of late July I woke up on Aug 10th to rain. Yup. In August.

So after having a coffee and some breakfast I headed down with all my gear. And there was lots of it.

The saddle bags were packed with camera gear, rain gear & first aid. One dry bag contained my cloths. Another 53 litre dry bag contained tools, shop manual, tent, thermal rest, a book, spare tubes, hatchet & shovel, sandals, sneakers ... well it was quite full. And then there were two XXL zip lock bags, each large enough to fit a decent sized ... well I'm not sure what, but they were damn big. 2 feet by 2 feet or something. One held my sleeping bag, the other another themarest for camping (I like to be comfortable, K?!)

And there was no way all that would fit on the bike. So I'm out in the rain, swearing, still sweating because I was getting a bit stressed and not able to take everything. I finally run back up and toss the 2nd XXL ziplock with the extra thermarest back into my condo and get on the bike.

A smart man would have taken a few photos knowing he was going to write a ride report. I took no photos.

As I was about to get going the rain stopped, though the clouds were still very dark (you need to take my word for it, after all I just explained that I took no photos). A smart man would have still put on the rain gear. I made sure it was nicely packed in the right saddle bag.

No problems at the border due to Nexus allowing me to bypass the 30 - 60 minute lineup.

And off I went.

Normally I like to go across the Cascades highway, but with the weather I decided a straight shot south followed by a crossing at Stevens Pass then onto Yakima for the night.

Well sure enough it rained on I-5. And by the time I pulled over I was damn cold and wet. Even the extra hot latte at Starbucks (support corporate America!) I wasn't feeling that great. But I got the rain gear on and was a bit more comfortable after.

Finally, after crossing over the pass I stopped and got out of my rain gear (now only wet on the inside as it turns into a bit of a sauna). And I even managed to remember to take a photo.

This is what the bike looks like loaded:



There will be more photos (many, many more) later showing the bike and it's load ;)

After this a pretty uneventful day. The Yakima Canyon was beautiful as always.





Although there's no dual sporting to be had anywhere:


I got into Yakima and finally found a room at the Best Western, had dinner at a truck stop and wondered how some people stay employed.

End of Day 1.

BBQ

I only took the 35mm f1.8 lens and even then I didn't take very many pictures.

Trevor


Someone doesn't like having her picture taken ;)


Therefor it's important to be sneaky


Horace didn't seem to mind the camera


Gio was fashionably 3 hours late (apparently 8 hours late is really late)


I can't believe I have two shots of Horace that turned out and none from his wife ...


All in all it was a fun Saturday night.

Bjorn

The walk

If you search on the 'photowalk' label, you find that this is one of my preferred methods of taking photos. Why? I'm not sure. But after a while you just start to look at the world differently. It's often relaxing, almost as if you're a bit apart from those around you. And quite peaceful.

Sometimes it is just a different way to look at that which you see every day.

Another side of Kits:




Hues








Smoke break


Cruising


I'm thinking of putting together a bit of an exterior set




Gone fishin'


I'm not sure if I like this one yet or not


This fellow passed over head




Others were also engaged in a bit of photography


To get a better experience please have a look at the slideshow

Broadway for dinner

We walked to Broadway to find some food and I decided it had been way too long since I've taken a digital camera to see right way what I've shot.

Solo


Give it back


Spiral


From the outside looking out


Hollywood box office


White picket fence


Never

Film

I've been shooting a lot of film lately. As a matter of fact, I don't think I've picked up the digital DSLR in quite some time.

Sh*t happens.

Some shots. :)

Distressed


Intersections


"Ball" players


Shrub blobs


That Time


More to develop (and hopefully not screw up) and more to shoot :)

Dual Sporting around Squamish

What an excellent day today.

I met up with a few folks from DualsportBC. Initially we were going to ride up around Cat Lake, north of Squamish, but when we were chatting at the morning meet we thought we'd start by checking out what was going on above Brittania beach.

We scooted up past the first gate with no problem and saw some folks working logging equipment. I chatted with one of the guys and he said there's no problem with us riding through. Cool guy.

Don, on the 1983 Honda, had broken a bolt on his head and was leaking a fair bit of oil onto the engine and exhaust. Luckily Don had brought some extra oil along.

Here you can see the fog that "Ol' Smokie" was creating.


We found snow all too soon and turned back to go to the old mining facility.

Some of us took the tougher shortcut (it's to the left above the bikes).


The old equipment was very cool.




The hole in front of Simon went down ... to where we do not know, we were not set up for spelunking ;)


Some equipment from 1904


We took a fair number of photos


Rural Decay


Too bad there was no beautiful scenery


At the site of the old dam


We always waited at all trail forks & gathered everyone up.


Sign said no entry. Which was no problem as we were exiting ;)


On the way down we ran into a downhill skateboard race that had been set up. But we put on a show on the way down the hill once the skateboarders were off the course.

Don and ... well I forgot the name of the guy riding the KTM, went home. Don posted up a message and he made it home safe despite the engine issue.

Simon, Jiri and I went north to Squamish, gassed up and then went to see if we could ride through to the top of Indian Arm.

Getting around the gate & blocks was a bit tricky, but with 3 guys, determination and no fear of banging and scraping the bikes it was no problem :)

This road was a fair bit tougher. I'd noticed earlier that my shifter was coming lose and I didn't want to be in the back country and have parts falling off.

So when we stopped for a bit of a break I decided to fix it. Turned out that my footpeg was falling off as well. So more loctite all around.





All too soon, snow and lots of it.






Again, if only we'd had some scenery to enjoy.


A couple of shots of Jiri's bike in the snow that he asked for :)




After a fair bit of muscling the bikes we made it back to one of the cross roads and explored up a different mountain.
The path got rough pretty quick, once again, no view to speak of sadly.


Simon went ahead a bit but was back within minutes. I took a few photos of how deep the ditches were that we were crossing at times.


Here I stood inside the ditch.


We cruised back down to the main gravel road and Jiri was tired and turned back toward Vancouver.

So, then there were two. Simon and I decided to go along the main road to check things out. After an hour of riding, some dead ends and a minor "off" for Simon on a steep rocky brush covered descent, we got back to ... snow.


By now it was 3.45 pm and we'd been on the go since 9 am.


We were both getting tired and decided not to try and force the snow issue. Once again we were wishing for some views or something. Bloody BC and it's lack of scenery.


The ride out was not that eventful, we always made sure we kept in touch every few minutes. Here we are back at Hwy 99 under the Chief.


We were both tired and had an amazing day. Great dualsporting and all so close to Vancouver. We'll be back in the area once the snow is gone to get all the way through to Indian Arm.

One final shot.


You can see the slide show here
Hope you had a great day!