Relaxed morning, did not leve until 8am, bankers hours. I stopped at the Walmart to look for chain lube which they apparently carry, but no joy. I did pick up some bright orange duct tape. I figured out the first week that I could reduce the helmet noise by blocking he area around the mirrors. Air funnels past the mirror mounts righ to either side of the helmet. So, being my fathers some, and being an "R&D guy", it duct tapes triangle on the morrors, and voila, no more helmet noise (certainy less) and I now sport some high visibilty bling on the front. Not pretty, but effective.
The hydro dam guy last night said I have to go to Levenworth so see the Bavarian themed town, which I had heard of when we rode the Empire builder from Portland to Minneapolis. It was kinda on the way so I took off up Rt2, hal thinking that if the road was not too busy, and pretty, I would stay on. It was pretty, but also busy.
Levenworth is indeed Bavarian themed. All the signs, store fronts, even the McDonalds and Subways were decked out with Bavarian signage. Looks like a good place to take your spouse for a weekend.
I headed back Rt 2 and turned south on Rt 97. This is a beauty, no traffic and relaxed. I took this all the way to Ellensburg. I stopped for gas and noticed a pack of motorcycle riders huddled in the parking lot so I stopped to ask them about routes. It turned out to be 10 women who all flew to Seattle, rented motorcycles (mostly BMW, but an Indian, a Harley or two). and they were touring arount the Pacific Northwest. They had a tour leader who immediately pointing out how I had packed my bike with the Giant Loop bag, and quizzed me on what all I was carrying with me. Now they were having a good time! So the tour leader gave some great tips that lead me all over for the rest of the day.
The first gem was a little Rt 821 which goes through Ellensburg Canyon. Beautiful road, dry with a little irrigation going on but mostly public land with a wide river and lots of public access spots. There are a lot of boats that drift down the river with fisherman in them so not sure what they are trying to catch. The Hydro guy last night said salmon is the big fish around here, so I suppose salmon.
After Rt 821 I took Rt 12 west which is a little busy but going the speed limit or less means you always have a wide open road in front of you and the cars behind pass whenever a passing lane comes along.
At Randle I took Rt 131, which quickly becomes a tiny Forest Service road, paved but rough, and it goes 100 miles or so around the back side of Mt St Helens. This is the other road the trip leader woman tipped me off to. As I climbed, the temperature dropped to around 43F (it was 49 degrees yesterday..) and it started to rain (of course). The up side was, there was nobody on that road other than one or two Forest Service trucks parked alongside the road, so I had the entire 100 miles of 15 mph turns, frost heaved, cold patched road to myself. It took a while because my average speed was way down there.
It was 5:30 by the time I popped out the other end and those 2 hardboiled eggs and yogurt were long since gone. So cheap motel with a dog barking next door but a good restaurant next door with beer and taco salad. Oh and the bonus is Elvis and Jack Benny both ate here sometime between 1955 and when they died.
The bike used a little oil the last couple days so I gotta watch that...
23,968 on the odometer tonight.
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