The Path Less Traveled
Welcome to my blog! I'm committing this space to my adventures with motorcycles and activities related with them. This will include all sorts of stories about repairing them, going on trips, learning different riding techniques, meeting other riders, etc. In other words, a general dumping ground for whatever strikes me. Hope you enjoy the read.
Labor Day Weekend Loop
What did you do for the holiday weekend? I know the wet weather kept a lot of people in. And for us bike riders? I suspect most skipped taking them out for rides. In our travels over the weekend, motorcycle sightings were few and far between.
My wife and I had made plans awhile back with her sister and brother-in-law to meet up for a ride weekend. In fact, now that I think about it, we discussed it way back in June when we went down to Coos Bay, Oregon, for our nephew's graduation. And here we are, three months later...
So, where did we go? Well, Odessa, Washington, is where they live, so that's where our rides originated from. The above map gives you an idea where we started from and where we rode to on our holiday weekend getaway.
Friday night, we loaded up the bags and hit the road about 5:30. We made pretty decent time over the pass, despite the rain that started in Sultan and didn't let up until just before the top of Stevens Pass. One could tell Autumn is on its way because it was pretty chilly at the top of the pass. Pretty much motivates you to get into Leavenworth as quickly as possible for some hot coffee.
Saturday, after checking the weather, we decided to make tracks for Ellensburg by way of the old Vantage Highway. We grabbed some lunch at Wendy's and fuel for the bikes across the street, then headed south on the Canyon Highway. The weather wasn't the best as a rain storm was moving over the Cascades and up the canyon pretty quick. Even with the rain, I managed a couple dozen pictures before the rain forced my camera back into hiding. I was hoping to capture all the awesome views and the sweeping curves that is Canyon Road.
Here are a few of the pictures I took:
Sunday, we decided to make a run down to Palouse Falls in the hopes that we could stay away from the damned rain. The trip down was great. You could see the thunderstorms well off to the West, but no where near where we were. That wasn't to last, though.
Palouse Falls. What an awesome hole in the ground. Never, ever underestimate the power of running water! (...And the road leading into the falls wasn't too bad, either.)
The last couple photos above are of my brother-in-law and nephew gearing up for the ride back to their place. We grabbed some grub at Zip's Drive In in Ritzville while waiting for a rain burst to pass over.
After breakfast, Monday morning, we got our gear together and headed for home. Now, we could have taken the usual route home, but more than likely we would have run into both rain and traffic. No, we decided to head back over Washington Pass. Besides, I haven't been over the North Cascades Highway yet this year. What a perfect opportunity to take care of that little oversight, right?
We left Odessa and headed north to Wilbur, then northwest to Grand Coulee. SR174 lead us west into Leahy to SR17 and eventually Bridgeport for lunch. We grabbed a grilled ham and cheese at Nell's Drive In then headed for Winthrop via the Methow Valley. One last stop for fuel and we headed up and over Washington Pass.
It really didn't take that long to make the trip home. After some quick calculations, my odometer reports that we put on 1,070 miles over the long weekend. We both had a great time and I wish to thank my brother- and sister-in-law and nephew for letting us spend the weekend with them. Even when we were being chased by what looked like an F4 tornado across the wheat fields of Eastern Washington, I wouldn't have traded it for anything. No, wind, rain, hail, dust, sun... we saw it all, but we had a great time riding with you all!
My wife and I had made plans awhile back with her sister and brother-in-law to meet up for a ride weekend. In fact, now that I think about it, we discussed it way back in June when we went down to Coos Bay, Oregon, for our nephew's graduation. And here we are, three months later...
So, where did we go? Well, Odessa, Washington, is where they live, so that's where our rides originated from. The above map gives you an idea where we started from and where we rode to on our holiday weekend getaway.
Friday night, we loaded up the bags and hit the road about 5:30. We made pretty decent time over the pass, despite the rain that started in Sultan and didn't let up until just before the top of Stevens Pass. One could tell Autumn is on its way because it was pretty chilly at the top of the pass. Pretty much motivates you to get into Leavenworth as quickly as possible for some hot coffee.
Saturday, after checking the weather, we decided to make tracks for Ellensburg by way of the old Vantage Highway. We grabbed some lunch at Wendy's and fuel for the bikes across the street, then headed south on the Canyon Highway. The weather wasn't the best as a rain storm was moving over the Cascades and up the canyon pretty quick. Even with the rain, I managed a couple dozen pictures before the rain forced my camera back into hiding. I was hoping to capture all the awesome views and the sweeping curves that is Canyon Road.
Here are a few of the pictures I took:
Sunday, we decided to make a run down to Palouse Falls in the hopes that we could stay away from the damned rain. The trip down was great. You could see the thunderstorms well off to the West, but no where near where we were. That wasn't to last, though.
Palouse Falls. What an awesome hole in the ground. Never, ever underestimate the power of running water! (...And the road leading into the falls wasn't too bad, either.)
The last couple photos above are of my brother-in-law and nephew gearing up for the ride back to their place. We grabbed some grub at Zip's Drive In in Ritzville while waiting for a rain burst to pass over.
After breakfast, Monday morning, we got our gear together and headed for home. Now, we could have taken the usual route home, but more than likely we would have run into both rain and traffic. No, we decided to head back over Washington Pass. Besides, I haven't been over the North Cascades Highway yet this year. What a perfect opportunity to take care of that little oversight, right?
We left Odessa and headed north to Wilbur, then northwest to Grand Coulee. SR174 lead us west into Leahy to SR17 and eventually Bridgeport for lunch. We grabbed a grilled ham and cheese at Nell's Drive In then headed for Winthrop via the Methow Valley. One last stop for fuel and we headed up and over Washington Pass.
It really didn't take that long to make the trip home. After some quick calculations, my odometer reports that we put on 1,070 miles over the long weekend. We both had a great time and I wish to thank my brother- and sister-in-law and nephew for letting us spend the weekend with them. Even when we were being chased by what looked like an F4 tornado across the wheat fields of Eastern Washington, I wouldn't have traded it for anything. No, wind, rain, hail, dust, sun... we saw it all, but we had a great time riding with you all!
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