I headed out on an early sprinkly Friday morning for RMC to meet Gary Paul who was to be my riding partner for this trip along with Tug who we would meet at Hawks Prairie. We were concerned about the weather going over White Pass, so we elected to ride around via I-5 & Portland. How do you spell riding 250 miles in varying degrees of rain? Answer: Our route. The rain was heaviest between the Toutle River and Woodland where we refueled.
In order to miss the WA14 construction I routed us via I-84 where we finally rode out of most of the rain by Cascade Locks. We re-crossed the Columbia River at Hood River, rode up WA 14 to Dallesport where I found a photo location at the end of the pavement near the sewage treatment facility.
I then routed us along Hoctor Road through a nice Wind Farm to old WA8.
I've always liked these next two scenes:
Continuing on we reached our night's destination in Pendleton. The following day we did a 350 mile ride that I had laid out for the group I was riding with. If you would like to view pictures of that ride, go to the following link:
http://preview.tinyurl.com/28wwo6x Essentially it was a ride that left Pendleton headed south on US395, west on OR74/207 (nice technical twisties) to Condon, south on OR19 via Fossil and Spray to US26 and west to John Day. Then we rode north on US395 back to Pendleton.
Today, Sunday, Gary and I decided to tag the Mill Creek Dam in Walla Walla since it was only 40 miles away. I had originally considered running to the Swan Falls dam and then picking up the two eastern Oregon Dams on the way back, but because of the very variable weather conditions, decided to cut my ride short and just get the Mill Creek Dam.
It was a nice ride there and the setting for the dam is so close to civilization. It, however, was very, very windy and I had to tape my Damtour placard to the windshield.
Leaving Walla Walla, we selected a route up WA24 along the east side of the Columbia River.
Lunch was in Mattawa at La Parrilla where Gary Paul gave it a 2 thumbs up (he's a Mexican food fan).
Here's a picture of the Vantage Bridge where it wasn't even windy.
The rest of the ride over Snoqualmie Pass was a mixture of wet & dry (mostly dry).
It was a nice 3 days of riding 1,085 miles. 5 Dams down and 15 to go.
I love it when a plan comes together. But it's even more challenging when the plan comes apart. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Today the plan was to snag Cowlitz Falls, French Canyon, and The Dalles if everything worked out. The plan was to have a few others join me, but they dropped out and one of my riding friends, Bob, stuck with the plan and met me at 9:30am this morning at my place. We reviewed the routing and took off with a general plan to head from Burien to Orting, along Lake Kapowsin and down to Morton for a fuel/rest stop. Leaving the 167 freeway and getting on the secondary roads was so refreshing. As we approached Lake Kapowsin, we tucked in behind a group of 4 bikes and rode with them all the way to the Chevron Station where we refueled and got a chance to chat about our respective rides.
Here's our bikes (clean - that was about to change):
They were impressed about the Dam Tour and what we had planned to do.
Soon that group was off and a V-Strom owner pulled up and immediately wanted to chat. It turned out he was returning from Portland to Issaquah.
I shared some routing suggestions with him and we chatted about the merits of the 60CSx GPS he was using and talked Dam Tour. It was soon time to saddle up and head up the road to the Cowlitz Falls Dam. I asked Bob if he minded riding on gravel roads and he said, "No problem, I'm following you." (Keep in mind Bob rides a black GL1800). Off we head and quickly reach the turnoff at Kosmos Road which turns into the Champion Haul Road (both of which are paved and nice riding).
I stopped to take some pictures of Riffe Lake
And a picture looking upriver:
We headed on to the bridge at Tianopam where a number of people were fishing from the foot bridge. It's at that point that the road turned to hard pack gravel and potholes. No problemo for me. For Bob, however, he got the dust as we rode the roughly 3 miles to the dam. Arriving there, we took the documentary photographs.
Here's a little outflow:
On the way in I saw a potential connector road (Conlay Road, again it was gravel). No problem (ha, ha for me). Bob once again was eating dust even though he lagged behind a fair distance. About 1/2 way along this road a small dark brown deer came out in the road in front of me and darted back. It was to be the only game I saw the whole day.
Arriving at the other side of the dam on pavement, I took the documentary picture.
I also noted that there was a water loading device that was drizzling water, so I rode the bike under it to see if I could get some of the water off of the faux tank area so I wouldn't grind dust scratches into the paint. (Vanity, I know; but it's my ride). Here's a photo of Bob getting the treatment.
Leaving the paved (north side of the Cowlitz Falls dam), the Falls and Kiona Roads are delectably fun to ride. Soon we were on US12 headed east and we were behind another Wing (Candy Black Cherry) which we followed through Packwood and then passed him and rode up White Pass and took a break and some photos.
Soon our new friend on the CBC bike pulled up and wanted to chat. It turns out he's 77 and had just rode from Yakima over to I-5 for lunch and was returning. We chatted a bit and then headed on US12 eastbound.
It was a beautiful day of riding down the pass and along Rimrock Lake. Here are some pictures taken on the fly.
I did note that there is a nice dam there and I need to return and find the access point.
Along the Tieton River:
A little farther east are these magnificent volcanic formations that I admire every time I ride through here.
Soon we were in Naches and took our routing to French Canyon Dam which was paved except for the last 1/2 mile of gravel.
I then obtained the documentation for my 3rd dam (2nd of the day).
And off we head for what we think will be our 3rd dam of the day (The Dalles). Bob has the idea that we should stop at a carwash and rid our bikes of the dust (especially Bob's black one).
And here comes the then . . .
Then just after leaving the car wash, suddenly my FI light comes on and my speedometer starts fluctuating wildly before going to zero. I tried resetting the FI light, with no effect. I can see that all of my other instrumentation is functioning normally including my voltage. So I make the decision to head for the HONDA dealer in Yakima on 1st Street and see if they might be able to help. I'm pretty certain it has something to do with using the pressure washer (even though we used the low pressure settings). Arriving at the dealer, they were closed. But I decide to stop and do a little online research which confirmed my suspicions (either my speed sensor has gone bad or there is a connector problem). I decided to call off The Dalles Dam attempt and simply head for home via the Canyon Road (tough duty I know) and Snoqualmie Pass.
Leaving Yakima where the temperatures were in the mid 80's, the speedometer suddenly starts working although the FI light stays on. We ride up the Canyon Road (simply marvelous) and make a fuel stop at the Conoco just south of I90. I like the Flying J emblem.
I read the FI code (11) and then shut the bike off. I was planning to disconnect the battery and do a hard reset of the computer but decide not to. I restart the bike and there's no FI light!! Good news. But we are committed to this route, so we ride on home up and over Snoqualmie Pass. Right at the summit the temperatures plunge from mid 60's to 54 in about 1/4 mile. Brrrr.
Arriving back in Seattle, Bob and I said our goodbyes and I made a terriyaki run as my wife is singing in a choral performance tonight. Arriving at home, the trip meter reads 370 (s)miles. It was a great two dam day.
I should add that I rode the day in my Kilimanjaro Air vented jacket with my LDComfort shirt and shorts and Tourmaster Convertible pants. I was totally comfortable in the temperatures which ranged from 54 to 85 degrees.
If you want to see more pictures from the day, they can be found at:
http://timmer.smugmug.com/Other/2010/12129038_UypK8#868111429_5Vvr7
