Seattle

[Rob L]

What was I thinking? How about a trip to see some friends in Seattle? I live just outside of Chicago in NW Indiana. Why not start out with a Saddlesore 1000? there isn't much to see between Chicago and the Rocky mountains anyway, right

Put new tires on my trusty RT, documented the ride, collected lots of gas receipts along the way and ended up in Fort Collins, CO on Sunday evening June 4th.

I met Joel Funk, a member of this board for dinner and he graciously signed my end of ride document. Thanks Joel I am sending in the paperwork today

 

Monday morning I got lost in the mountains somewhere above Fort Collins, but eventually found my way to Estes Park.

and Rocky Mountain NP

Yup, still a bit of snow up there! I didn't need this though!

 

I continued through the park and swung north headed for Wyoming and the Tetons on Tuesday morning.

 

 

Here I am in WY, just a shadow of myself

 

Then on to Yellowstone and old Faithful

 

This was actually a good time of year to travel Yellowstone. School wasn't out for most kids yet, and there were very few motorhomes to contend with.

 

The next day I headed across Idaho through Challis and Stanley through the Sawtooth Mountains. I followed the Salmon and Payette Rivers. The rivers were definetly flowing!

 

This group of well lubricated rafters was going to attempt to ride through these class 5 rapids! They never made it. They gave up after one of their members was thrown from the raft upstream.

 

Good thing

I continued into Oregon and blasted up I-84 to Pendleton. the next day I crossed into Washington and rode Rt 14 along the Columbia River Gorge. The first sign I saw said no services for 67 miles

I did find a place for a late breakfast...M & J bar where the food was great and the smoking section is made from an old conestoga wagon!

 

I headed north again through Carson, WA. This was a very deserted mountain road that led to Mount St. Helen. I could see the mountain from the river gorge, but rain and clouds obscured the view when I got close. My plan was to follow Rt 25 north to Mt. Ranier, but the road was still closed due to snow! I inquired at a local campground and found that I would have to make a 150 mile detour to I-5 and then north to Rt. 12 to visit Ranier

Snow??

Deep snow!

again I found the road north, Rt. 123 closed by a landslide and I made another long detour to I-5.

 

I must have been quite a sight as I picked Barb up at Seatac the evening! I was wearing my riding suit and carrying a tankbag through the airport

We traveled I-5 north 45 miles to Arlington, WA where we spent the weekend with Ron & Beth. They recently moved to the area from Indiana.

That's Barb on the left with Ron and Beth. They showed us the city and took us up to Deception Pass where the fog was too thick to see much.

Barb and I left on Monday morning and traveled through the North Cascades NP, the alps of the USA is what the sign said! I can't argue. we made our way back toward Indiana after a brief trip through Glacier NP. Again the Going to the Sun road was still closed by snow and we could not see the best part of the park. We headed East over the Cotinental divide for the last time ( I had crossed the divide 9 times already!)

and made our way home.

This was a great trip. The mountains are always the high point. Traffic through Minneapolis and Chicago are definetly the low points. This is a beautiful country

[George Brown]

Rob, It looks like you had a really great trip. Great photos.

[Dances_With_Wiener_Dogs]

Agreed...lovely photos! The weather in the NW is always unpredictable, but the rain and fog tends to keep everything green. Seattle is called the Emerald City for a reason!

[Joel]

Thanks Joel

 

My pleasure!

 

What a trip!

 

I hope your "detour" to Estes Park via my vague directions was OK. There are worse places to get lost.

[wilsons]

Your so mean. Filling my head with envy. I'm jealous

 

Glad you had a good trip

 

Can't wait to do one myself!

[Warren_H]

Great report. I grew up about 30 miles south of you.