| Motorcycle rides and riders in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, British Columbia | |||||||
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05-21-2007, 12:44 PM
| #1 |
| Superbiker   Joined: Mar 2006 From: Free Ballard!! I Ride: Moto Gootsi and Buell | The road not planned for So the fiance told me she was tired of looking at my face, and perhaps I could make myself scarce for a weekend so she could have some "alone" time. I figured it'd be a great excuse to pick up a couple more dams on the Dam Tour. linky here I pulled out my copy of Destination Hwys WA, fired up Streets and Trips and got to planning. I wound up with a route that covered two days an 1170 miles with an overnight in Sand Point ID. I had maps, sub maps, and a turn by turn list with gas stops and references back to maps, all of which helped keep me on the right path. With all of that, a couple missed turns, an out of service ferry, and a strangers advice, all put me on to roads not on my maps or lists. Some of these were the most memorable roads of the trip. Here's the full trip-  I headed over to the eastside via hwy 20 and got a little waterlogged on the way. The weather was nice enough that I dried out pretty quick once on the east side. Heading up 97 to Oroville I stopped to check on a chopper dude by the side of the road. He was waiting for a pack of 100+ riders doing a run up to the border. I saw a few of the early birds when I went through Oroville. Said I was the first rider to stop in an hour or so of waiting.  The bluffs along 97-  My first dam of the trip was on Curlew Lake so I took Chesaw Rd out of Oroville and cut east. (DH-11 for those with the book) With the exception of ~4 miles of gravel and washboard from construction the roads were nice and the scenery excellent. Along Chesaw Rd-   I headed down 21 catching Curlew Dam then headed east again on 20 across Sherman Pass. Heading up to the pass-  I stayed on 20 'til I hit 31 where I headed north through Ione to catch the next dam at Box Canyon. After catching the dam I continued up to the Canadian border so I could check off DH-54. I saw my first bear of the trip along here. I came back down along Sullivan Lake Rd (DH-12). A great road, but the speed limit is only 25.  There wasn't anyone else on the road when I went through, and there aren't any hidey holes for the speed tax collectors so I was able to keep up a pretty good pace. I'd be careful later in the summer tho.Box Canyon Dam-  DH-54 north of Metaline Falls-   The bridge at Ione-  I then rolled on to Sand Point where I planned on spending the night. Turns out I'd just missed the 50's Fest. All of the eateries and shops were playing Elvis or the Beachboys and sporting 50's decor. I got the last room at the Meandering Moose Motel which is on the right as you roll into town on hwy 2. The owner cut me a break on the rate as it was a smoking room and it hadn't been renovated yet. I'd definitely recommend it as a low cost option if you're just looking for a bed for a night or two. It was clean and quiet with a mini-fridge and microwave. The Meandering Moose-  I'd like to take a spin in this-  I headed into town to see if I could find Ivano's (thanks Turtle!) for a bit of dinner. The food there was excellent. I highly recommend the portabella appetizer and the spaghetti bolognese with sausage. I liked it so much I took the leftovers all the way home on my bike and finished it off for dinner Sun night. The hostess saw my riding gear and asked if I was doing the Bull River run. "What's that?" was my clever response. She then clued me in to hwy 56 just across the border in Montana. As I was heading out that direction to pick up my last dam of the trip, I figured I'd just add a loop up 56 to hwy 2 and back down into Sand Point before I headed home on Sun morning. Dumb luck running into her as the scenery along 56 was some of the most stunning of the whole trip. I could've filled my memory card with pics, but I'd still be over there now. Ivano's (tan building)-  hwy 200 along Lake Pend O'reille-   Between the roads and gas prices, I'm considering relocating-  Along 56-   Not sure if it'll fly-  After my little Montana detour, I headed south and west cutting across just north of Spokane on some nicely twisty roads between Blanchard and Chattaroy then along 291 through Tumtum. Nice roads.  Thanks to Streets and Trips I wound up doing a couple miles on gravel after crossing hwy 231. It ended up being a nice interlude dropping down the speed for a couple miles with the smell of pine trees and fresh rain filling my helmet. Streets and Trips thinks I have a dual sport-  Along the way-  Nine Mile Dam's not on the tour, but worth a pic-  I wanted to catch the ferry at Gifford and a run through Wellpinit would put me on DH-24. Wow, what an amazing road. The run from Wellpinit to West End will be playing over in my dreams for weeks to come. If I could run that every day... I caught hwy 25 north to the ferry and met up with some other riders out enjoying the day. Along hwy 25-  Waiting for the ferry-  Loading up-  From Inchellium I cut across the Colville reservation to hwy 21 on Twin Lakes/Bridge Creek Rd. That road would rock if it were better taken care of. As it was it was too sketched out to really open it up on. Lots of poorly patched potholes and sand, left over from the winter I assume. I then took 21 down through Keller with the intent of catching the ferry to Wilbur. Alas, the ferry was out of service. The south run of 21 I've heard so much about will have to wait for another trip. On the up side a local pointed me to Manilla Creek Rd as an alternate route to Grand Coulee. "It's a pretty crazy road." She said. "Paved?" I asked her. "Oh yeah. Just not something we want to take our fifth wheel over." I started to drool a bit.  It was indeed a nice detour. I'm not sure how it would stack up against 21 south from the ferry, but good times were had. Just be sure to watch for cattle in the free range area. Waiting for the ferry that wouldn't come-  From Grand Coulee it was T.W.O. through the long straights then home over Washington Pass. It got pretty soggy, and there was even some wet snow falling right at the top of the pass, but traffic was extremely light and I'll take 20 over 90 any day. Got home about 9:00 and collapsed with a beer on the couch.  The numbers- Days 2 Miles 1293 (~150 unplanned) Hours on the bike 26 (11/15) Tickets 0 Dams 3 Critters in the road- Bears 2 Deer 10 Wild Turkey 1 Cows 6 A little something to leave ya with-  |
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05-21-2007, 12:53 PM
| #4 |
| MotoGP Contender  Joined: Jun 2006 From: Tacoma I Ride: a fine line | Very nice...those are some great roads too. The kind that stick in your memory for a while. You did miss an awesome road from Omak-Nespelum-Keller though. Last edited by R6Limited; 05-21-2007 at 12:55 PM.. |
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05-21-2007, 12:54 PM
| #5 |
| Telemark Rider  Joined: Jan 2006 From: Outer darkness . . . I Ride: Nothing for a while now (tear) | Nice! Great write-up Thomb  I would be interested in getting the excact route from you to do later this summer if I could. |
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05-21-2007, 01:55 PM
| #11 | |||
| Superbiker Joined: Mar 2006 From: Free Ballard!! I Ride: Moto Gootsi and Buell | Thanks for all the good words. 
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05-23-2007, 11:33 AM
| #16 |
| Daytime Adventure Seeker  | Absolutley Amazing! Appreciate you sharing. You got some great pics and sounds like a terrific adventure! Peace, "B" |
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05-23-2007, 12:02 PM
| #18 | ||
| Superbiker Joined: Mar 2006 From: Free Ballard!! I Ride: Moto Gootsi and Buell |
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