Here are the last of our pictures. Hope you enjoy them :)
http://picasaweb.google.com/kwirebaugh/PNWDay3402#slideshow/5495687904652590226
Monday, July 19, 2010
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Day 4 - We made it home!
We woke up in Baker City and started calling everyplace we could find to get a new tire. However, nothing was open on a Sunday except for Napa Auto Parts. We rode over on Steve's bike and bought a tire repair kit and an air compressor. Steve proceeded to do a nice patch job on my tire and we filled it up with air. We decided to go out for breakfast, check my tire again to see if it was holding air, call around again to see if any places were open later and then make a decision on what to do. After eating there still wasn't anything open but my tire was holding air perfectly, so we decided to make our way the 340 miles back to Portland. We stopped every 40 to 60 miles to check my tire along the way and it never lost any air. What a tire trooper!
Aside from the tire, the ride was beautiful as we headed West toward the Cascade mountains. We made it in to Madras, OR and stopped for some Dairy Queen. Yum! With only 120 miles to go to get home, we put on warmer coats to go through the mountains and headed out. The first 60 miles of the ride were crazy windy with 26 miles of it going though open range and canyon twisties. The side winds were pushing my wheels out and I was leaning hard in to the wind to stay upright. At this point I completely forgot about my tire and was just trying to make it through the wind. Finally, we made it to the trees of Mt. Hood and they blocked the side winds. We finished up the ride and rolled home around 8. Thank you tire for making it so far with a plugged hole!
Now we're home, boots are off and we're relaxing. Another fun ride is over for me, but Steve still has to ride back to Illinois. We'll make sure to check his tires before he goes :)
Aside from the tire, the ride was beautiful as we headed West toward the Cascade mountains. We made it in to Madras, OR and stopped for some Dairy Queen. Yum! With only 120 miles to go to get home, we put on warmer coats to go through the mountains and headed out. The first 60 miles of the ride were crazy windy with 26 miles of it going though open range and canyon twisties. The side winds were pushing my wheels out and I was leaning hard in to the wind to stay upright. At this point I completely forgot about my tire and was just trying to make it through the wind. Finally, we made it to the trees of Mt. Hood and they blocked the side winds. We finished up the ride and rolled home around 8. Thank you tire for making it so far with a plugged hole!
Now we're home, boots are off and we're relaxing. Another fun ride is over for me, but Steve still has to ride back to Illinois. We'll make sure to check his tires before he goes :)
Day 4 - Limping home
Okay, no places are open on Sunday for a new tire. Steve patched it for me
and it appears to be holding air, so we're going to try and get back to
Portland. We'll take it nice and easy, will keep you posted..
and it appears to be holding air, so we're going to try and get back to
Portland. We'll take it nice and easy, will keep you posted..
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Day 3 - Moses Lake, WA to Baker City, OR
Our day started out perfect. The sun was shining and the temps were pleasant as we rolled out at 8:30am. We traveled south and east through Washington farm land, and it was a nice morning scene with all of the huge irrigation systems sprinkling the crops. We stopped for lunch in Pomeroy, WA before turning south toward the Oregon border. The landscape changed from farm land to desert to rolling hills to mountains throughout our day. We stopped in Enterprise, OR for a break in the shade of the little city park before we motored down to do the Hells Canyon drive.
The road in to Hells Canyon was super fun and twisty but the pavement was pretty crummy so we were dodging gravel and pot holes for a good part of it. We rode 50 miles in to the overlook and stopped to take in the scenic canyon. It was quite a view and we were enjoying the break when the park ranger came up and informed us that the rest of the road that we were going to take to Baker City was washed out and we'd have to go back the way we came. Ugh! We hopped on the bikes and rode the 50 miles back out to Joseph and then decided we'd ride another 114 miles to go the long way round to Baker City. We were burning daylight so we high tailed it west toward La Grande where we then turned South. We stopped at a rest area for a quick break and that's when Steve noticed that I had a nail in my rear tire. Double ugh! He followed behind me the next 30 miles until we made it to our hotel for the night. Now we have to spend tomorrow trying to find a place to fix my tire on a Sunday so that we can make it back to Portland. What a bummer. I hope it works out...will keep you posted.
The road in to Hells Canyon was super fun and twisty but the pavement was pretty crummy so we were dodging gravel and pot holes for a good part of it. We rode 50 miles in to the overlook and stopped to take in the scenic canyon. It was quite a view and we were enjoying the break when the park ranger came up and informed us that the rest of the road that we were going to take to Baker City was washed out and we'd have to go back the way we came. Ugh! We hopped on the bikes and rode the 50 miles back out to Joseph and then decided we'd ride another 114 miles to go the long way round to Baker City. We were burning daylight so we high tailed it west toward La Grande where we then turned South. We stopped at a rest area for a quick break and that's when Steve noticed that I had a nail in my rear tire. Double ugh! He followed behind me the next 30 miles until we made it to our hotel for the night. Now we have to spend tomorrow trying to find a place to fix my tire on a Sunday so that we can make it back to Portland. What a bummer. I hope it works out...will keep you posted.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Day 2 - Port Townsend, WA to Moses Lake, WA
Today started with a fun ride on the Port Townsend-Keystone ferry over to Whidbey Island. We parked our bikes in the ferry line and went and grabbed some breakfast and coffee. Got back just in time to load on to the ferry and proceeded to chat with another nice biker couple from Minnesota as we rode across the bay. It was cloudy and windy but a beautiful crossing anyway. Once we were rolling on Whidbey Island the sun eventually popped out and we headed East in to the North Cascades National Park. Wow! What an absolutely amazing ride through the mountains, climbing and descending the elevations, winding in and out. The mountains went from lush and tree filled to craggy rock faces as we got further East. The temps really started to heat up so we stopped in Winthrop, WA for a break and some ice cream. I had Huckleberry Heaven and Steve had Butterscotch Fudge. Mmmm, that hit the spot :) Winthrop is a busy little tourist town that has an old western type feel. Very cute. Before we headed back out, I stripped off all of my extra layers for the rest of the ride as it was now in the high 80's.
Our next stop was the Grand Coulee Dam. We stopped at the visitors center to soak up some a/c and learn a little about the dam. We tried playing "Roll on Columbia, Roll on" on the provided xylophone but....we really stunk. Figured we better move on....
Had a little dinner a the Sage Inn restaurant and then carried on the 75 more miles to Moses Lake. That last stretch took us through the Coulee Corridor which was following the river through the gorge. Buttes lined both sides of the route and the fields were filled with fragrant sage. The only bummer on this part is that it was pretty windy and I could feel the gusts catching my bike and trying to send me sideways. Apparently, Steve didn't notice a thing on his big ol' bike...but my little guy was all over! I pushed through it though, and we rolled in to Moses Lake around 7:30pm. Now we're resting comfortably in our motel, working away at catching up on our blog duties. I'll post pics and maybe some video in a bit.
Good night!
Our next stop was the Grand Coulee Dam. We stopped at the visitors center to soak up some a/c and learn a little about the dam. We tried playing "Roll on Columbia, Roll on" on the provided xylophone but....we really stunk. Figured we better move on....
Had a little dinner a the Sage Inn restaurant and then carried on the 75 more miles to Moses Lake. That last stretch took us through the Coulee Corridor which was following the river through the gorge. Buttes lined both sides of the route and the fields were filled with fragrant sage. The only bummer on this part is that it was pretty windy and I could feel the gusts catching my bike and trying to send me sideways. Apparently, Steve didn't notice a thing on his big ol' bike...but my little guy was all over! I pushed through it though, and we rolled in to Moses Lake around 7:30pm. Now we're resting comfortably in our motel, working away at catching up on our blog duties. I'll post pics and maybe some video in a bit.
Good night!
Day 1 - Portland, OR to Port Townsend, WA
We woke up and started the day with sunshine and 60 degrees as we left Portland. Took the main highway out of town to shoot up in to Washington before we could catch a state hwy over toward the coast. As we began heading West the temps dropped significantly and the marine layer blocked out all of the sun. Brrrr! It was chilly! We bundled up with whatever we had and carried on until we hit Hwy 101 and began heading North. We stopped for a much needed "warm up" and lunch in Raymond, WA. Found a place called the Corner Cafe which had friendly service and nice hot coffee and soup. Perfect! We checked the radar and it told us that in 30 minutes the clouds would magically part and it would get sunny. We took off and right on time, guess what? The clouds parted and it got sunny! It was still chilly but the sun helped keep us comfortably warm the rest of the way.
We saw beautiful places as we traveled up the coast...Lake Quinalt, Hoh Rainforest, Kalaloch beach...such pretty scenery. And hey, did any of you happen to catch our little side trip on the GPS tracker map? When we made it to Forks and stopped for gas, we were shocked to discover that the GPS showed us in Alaska going 215mph! Pretty cool, huh?
We finally rolled in to the Valley View Motel at 8pm. This place is a series of 5 little cabins on a small farm in Port Townsend. We checked in but there was no-wifi and we had some electronic issues to deal with so we didn't get any blog updating done. All in all a good first day, although any of you who are my friends on Facebook, I can now tell you that sitting in my office chair most definitely does NOT equate to being ready to ride my bike that far. Ouch!
We saw beautiful places as we traveled up the coast...Lake Quinalt, Hoh Rainforest, Kalaloch beach...such pretty scenery. And hey, did any of you happen to catch our little side trip on the GPS tracker map? When we made it to Forks and stopped for gas, we were shocked to discover that the GPS showed us in Alaska going 215mph! Pretty cool, huh?
We finally rolled in to the Valley View Motel at 8pm. This place is a series of 5 little cabins on a small farm in Port Townsend. We checked in but there was no-wifi and we had some electronic issues to deal with so we didn't get any blog updating done. All in all a good first day, although any of you who are my friends on Facebook, I can now tell you that sitting in my office chair most definitely does NOT equate to being ready to ride my bike that far. Ouch!
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