Toy Run Dec 4th 2010

Today I went on the Olympia Toy Run. The thermometer on my garage read 32 degrees (no ice, but just barely). My leathers felt good on the freeway today as the wind was a bit brisk.

The Toy Run is a yearly event which benefits the Salvation Army. The price to enter the event is a donated toy for under-privledged kids. I just brought $10 (an option for those of us with an aversion to the mall).

My neighbor Kevin and I went, but first we had to stop for breakfast at the Sunset Grill in Gig Harbor (I forgot to take a picture of the place). We figured all the restaurants near the event in Lacy would be full (we were right).

We arrived at the starting point about 10:30 and joined the ranks. There were many people stationed at every turn waving us in to the proper places. By the time everyone had arrived there were well over 11,000 bikes there. They packed us in like sardines. This is the first event I had ever been to with that much iron.

All sorts of people came.

This guy almost got eaten by a wolf (I wasn’t aware we had to be on the look-out for those things here).

There were bikes from hell to breakfast. This is just one small corner of the parking lot (there were several parking lots).

The Seattle Cossicks were there. I had never seen them before.

They did some of the usual things you would expect to see.

They also did some "not so usual things" too.

All of those guys have OLD Harleys from the 30s and 40s. I mean hand shifters, foot clutches and kick starters. They were pretty fun to watch.

See:

And this...

After the performance, we got on our bikes and headed out on “The Toy Run.” It was only about 5 miles long and ended in Olympia. The streets were lined with thousends of people watching and the event was escorted by the Lacy and Olympia Police Departments. The “parade” snaked along at about 20 miles an hour. Every one was well behaved.

When we got to the end, we found Santa (I hadn't expected to see him for weeks).

Here is a shot of the two best looking guys there.

When I got home I found I had only gone about 83 miles today. Short, but fun none the less.

Day 3

Today we went to a few different wine cellars. I only have a shot of a couple of them here. This one is Claar Cellars. Its on the "Rattle Snake Trail" in Yakima valley.

They had a sign there referring to the Fruit Loop (wineries) which my wife thought was funny. "Fruit Loop" to her is a goofy person. She made me take a picture of it.

We went in here and got a half a case of this and that...

Then we came to this place. The guy was very informative. We got some more wine here too... (our 4th place).
His place was full of antiques like this Baby Ruth box. See... it WAS only 5 cents way back when. And they were huge too. That was back when it was impossible to eat 25 cents worth of candy all at one time.

Of course no trip to Yakima is complete without a stop at a fruit stand. We loaded up on that stuff too.

Here is a shot of Carol trying to decide between this and that. A HUGE task for her. We could have just thrown a rope around the whole business.

After we got all of our stuff (a trunk full) we headed back over to the west side. Rain greeted us (I want to move somewhere else, I think). Anyway we unloaded our car and found we had 30 bottles of assorted wines from various places.

When we got home to Gig Harbor we stopped in at the grocery store and got some steaks. Our son got the BBQ out and we had a grand dinner... then there were only 29 bottles left (funny how that works).

All in all we had a pretty good time over in Eastern WA. The weather was really nice, traffic was light, things were relaxed. We will do it again soon.

That's about all for this trip.

Sept 4th - 5th: Day 1 &2

Carol and I decided to go on a trip for the weekend. We tossed around ideas of the Oregon Coast, Mt St Helens, Port Angelas, etc. We decided to go to Eastern WA and see Grand Coulee Dam.

I know my "wheel spinning adventures" are usually only 2 wheels, this time we took these wheels.

We started out trip backwards, so to speak. We were heading east so we pointed the car west and a bit north. Then we got a cup of coffee and ...

boarded the ferry at Southworth.We took I-5 only long enough to get to Hwy 2. We went up over Stevens Pass and rolled into Leavenworth where we had lunch.

I took a picture of the Tumwater Inn (Where we ate) but it did not turn out for some reason. After lunch we drove to Wenatchee to find a place to stay. Every place in town was full due to the holiday weekend. We tried East Wenatchee. No luck there either. We kept going.

Soon we came to Waterville

and checked into the only Hotel in town. They had only one more room left too. It's nuts travelling on a holiday weekend.

The place was full of antiques.

There were even antiques parked outside of the place. Our room was on the second floor and the bathroom was down the hall. Remember places like that? It was actually a bit fun to stay there. $59. Can't beat that with a stick.

I remember running old tractors, but this one was before my time.

After we dumped our bags in the room we went down the street for some dinner. The bar/grill was also full on antiques. I had "the special" - BBQ chicken, beans and cole slaw. Not bad either.

The next morning we headed out to go and see the dam. After about 30 some years of wanting to go, I finally have seen Grand Coulee Dam. Here it is (you can see it here right away!).

I would have come over here years ago, but Carol generally HATES Eastern Washington due to the heat. Fortunately not much of that over here this weekend.

We went inside the visitor center and looked at this and that. Then we drove up the hill a bit and checked out the tour headquarters.

We just missed one tour and the next one wasn't for another hour or so. Carol didn't want to go real bad anyway so we just kept on going.

Here is an overview of Lake Roosevelt and the dam on the way out of town. The lake is 151 miles long. That's a lot of water to hold back.

We decided to take more back roads so we went west then south. We had already seen Banks Lake on the way up. This way took us past Lake Lenore instead.

The picture doesn't really do this justice. It was a pretty place, I thought.


We went past the Gorge at Gorge and I decided to go and see the place. I have been by the place many times on the freeway, but I have never actually seen it. It turned out there was an event there so we got close, but did not see the amphitheater. There were cars from hell to breakfast and they wanted to charge us for parking. We turned around in the driveway of a winery.

Then we decided to go have a look at that winery, but even that was FULL of people from the Gorge. When I say "full" I mean the place was packed and a line stretched out the door and onto the lawn. We bagged it.

We went south along the Columbia River until we got to between Beverly and Mattawa where we found another winery (there are lots of them around here). We stopped in there: Gingko Forest Winery. I forgot to take a picture of the place.

Wine tasting is OK, but after a few belts they all start to taste the same (to me). I got a case of this and that then we drove into Yakima.

The Red Lion was handy and close to the freeway so we booked a room. Of course we had to eat again, so we went to the Olive Garden. Carol likes that place.

After dinner we went back to the room and started to figure out what to do tomorrow (this is such a labor intensive project). You will hear more about that tomorrow....

Day 27 - Washington - Home again

Today I left Coeur D'Alene right around 7. A few miles down the road I entered Washington. The sign was on the left, not the right. There are a lot of things on the left in this state.

I got onto Hwy 2 and stayed there most of the day. When I got to this sign I thought about going toward Grand Coulee. I have been wanting to see it for a long time. One day I will make it there (dammit).

Hwy 2 took me right around the southern tip of Banks Lake. Looks like a great place to catch fish.

I could see the Cascades from East Wenatchee. It would be the last mountains I would cross on this trip.

I got to Leavenworth just before noon. I wanted to go a couple hundred miles before breakfast but it turned into lunch instead.

I stopped at the Tumwater Inn. I stopped at that particular place mostly because that is where I found some parking. It is still tourist season over there. Lots of people poking around the shops and eateries.

I had something called a "schnitchel sandwich" and a dark beer. It was pretty darn good.

I left the restaurant after being there nearly an hour. I got back on Hwy 2 and headed for Stevens Pass. Just on the west side of the pass, I ran into rain. Typical Western Washington weather. I took this shot through the windshield. This is how bikers see in the rain. We don't have windshield wipers.... Spray from car wheels really makes it hard to see. (give us a brake, will'ya?).

I got onto Hwy 522 then I-405. The rain stopped about then. I made my way to the docks in Seattle and hopped a ferry to Bremmerton.

I called home from the ferry to let the bride know I was about an hour away.

After 27 days, 8326.9 miles, 54 tanks of fuel and 492 pictures (not all of them made the blog) I arrived home.

I had been in 24 different States and also Washington DC, crossed numerous mountain ranges, been in rain, hail, thunderstorms, wind, tornado warning areas, sunshine, fog, heat, cold and inbetween.

I travelled on Interstate Freeways, US and State Highways, toll roads, turnpikes, county roads, gravel roads and muddy construction zones.

I got to see some real great scenery, visit some important historical places, landmarks, monuments and museums. I met a lot of people, some nice some not so nice. I contacted lots of friends, relatives, and people I care about all over the place.

If I missed anything along the way, I have no idea what it might be. Before I left on my adventyure, I touched bases with several guys I know who came from various parts of the U.S. I asked them if they knew of good places to see and visit. Because of those guys I altered my path a few times and took in things I otherwise would have passed right by some of them. Those things enriched my adventure a whole lot:
The Eisenhower Tunnel, Blueridge Parkway, Williamsburg, Jamestown Colony, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, and Jackson Hole, WY are some of those places.

Would I do this again? You bet! There is nothing better than touring the U.S. on a bike. It's hard to put into words, exactly. If you have never been on a bike, then I doubt I could sum this all up for to to make any kind of sense at all. Those of you who know about bikes and what they do to your soul, then I need say no more.

Once again, I feel fortunate to have been able to go on this magnificent adventure. It's something I will have with me the rest of my life.

Some folks have kept up with this blog (they tell me). I hope you enjoyed reading about my follies.

Tomorrow, I polish the bike (again).

Day 26 - Glacier National Park

Today the weather was great. I rode most of the day in just my tee shirt.

I took I-15 to Hwy 2 then Hwy 89 to the park. I had to stop for these guys along the way.


They got out somehow. Most likely jumped that short fence. They were fun to watch. I also passed a group of Antelope this morning but I didn't get a chance to get the camera in time. Those things can move!

I was in the park after about 1 1/2 hours on the road.

This is a shot of Lake St Mary. It's right inside the east entrance. This is just for starters. If I remember right we (my dad's family) camped here and took a boat tour on this lake. It was a fun time - and about 45 years ago.


This is Goat Lake. The island is Wild Goose Island.

Here is a video of it (if this works)

This is a shot along the way up to Logan Pass. Coming from the east, there is a short rise to the pass, then most of the Going to the Sun Highway is downhill.



There were lots of mountains and a view that wouldn't quit.

This is the Visitor Center at the top of Logan Pass. I didn't go in. Traffic was backed up due to construction in places and I wanted to get past about 40 motor homes driven by guys that had died last year sometime.

Here is a view of the mountains starting down from Logan Pass. Pretty as a picture, aint it?

If that wasn't enough, here is another one.

One lane- one way travel with about a 10 minute wait between each (just in places). There was bare gravel and they had watered it down so there is mud all over my bike. It's a real joy.

After coming down I ended up in West Glacier. This is where I was last year when they closed the road. This year I did it backwards, so to speak. I ate lunch here today. That was about 1:30 or so.

I stayed on Hwy 2 all the way across Montana. I came to the Kootenai River Falls Park. According to the sign "Kootenai" was the name of the indian tribe that lived here.

A sign said there was a swinging bridge and a falls at the end of a trail. I figured it would be a nice break from the bike for awhile. The hike was about a mile (uphill both ways).

Here is the bridge:

I doubt I would ever get my wife on this thing....

But it did offer a good view of the river from the middle of it.

Down the path aways I came to the falls.

Here is another shot of it. It was kinda wide and in two pieces.

Take a look at the video. I would hate to be going along in a canoe or something and run into this by accident.

About 70 miles past the park, I hit the Idaho line again. Third time.

I went into Idaho just above Bonner's Ferry and dropped down through Sand Point and into Coeur D'Alene. Since it was nearly 8:00 PM I decided to stay the night here. I'm not far from home now.

Today was a full, fun day with great riding weather! I had to soak my eye balls after all of the scenery.

I have 7,959.6 miles on this trip now. About 400 more to go, give or take.