Eastern Washington Trip

Pre-Ride:

When I tore the bike apart for my usual "Pre Big Ride" Inspection it all looked perfect except for a coolant leak from the water pump. I'm thinking "don't do this too me" and looked closer at the leak and it came from the water pump drain bolt. I hadn't replaced it after a few coolant flushes and thankfully I had the part on hand for this exact moment ;) After 20 minutes I was coolant leak free and much less stressed about the trip. I also did a dry run pack of the bike and realized a preload adjustment was desperately needed. All my gear weighed around 40lbs (amazing how fast the weight can increase) and the rear was almost dragging on the ground. A few clicks of the rear and 1 on the front and we were golden. This will be the longest and first time camping with the bike so I was a tiny bit stressed, yet very excited. The weather forecast was also stressing me a bit..... rain, but we'll see as we get closer to my departure date. I'm thinking of getting some waterproof gloves on the way out of town if the forecast comes true. The weak link of my riding setup is my gloves because they're not waterproof. My stitch and alpinestar boots are flawless in the wet so these gloves may be in order to make the trip that much more enjoyable ;)

The Trip: (posted ride report from PNWVFR list)

DT and I hooked up @8:30 at the Starbucks in Bothell across from the Home Depot....and it was a bit damp. It was fricken pouring but we were counting on the the dry forecast over WA pass. We kicked back some caffeine and decided to enter the wet to get over the mountains ASAP. I bought some Joe Rocket Hard Drive gloves for this trip in anticipation of dampness (they sucked, writeup on those will be coming). We slabbed up 5 to Burlington and hit the always wonderful 20, the ol' faithful North Cascades Highway. We hit some place outside of Marblemount and it had been pouring for about 2 hours, the gloves were cashed yet I was nice and dry everywhere else (I had a small crotch circle from my pants but otherwise I was totally dry thanks to Aerostitch). We stopped in at a little diner to warm up and take a break...well worth it. We got back on the road full and warm and there was no white durango in Marblemount, must have thought no speeding squid bikers today eh. The trip up to to WA pass was non-eventful and very wet...yet once we made it over the site of blue skies appeared. We were like prairie dogs looking at the sky off in the distance...and it was a godsend because we were minutes from turning around if no sun appeared. We got down into the valley and the smell of smoke hit us...oh yea the big Okanogan fire was still going. Right as the smell hit off to the north we could see a helicopter full and on it's way to hit the fire. To our right side there was enormous tent city and tons of fire personnel for the fire fighting effort, very impressive. We continued on the Winthrop for the next gas and break, sunny skies and 75 degrees...yyyyeeeeeeaaaahhhhhaaaaaawwww !!!! Our plan was to roll all the way down 20 to the end....and we almost did. If anyone hasn't done 20 between Twisp and Okanogan...what a treat. It was more fun than hell over the Loup Loup summit (Can you believe 4000 ft) nice twisties in a canyon environment reminded me of parts of CA, it was worth the trip ;) We rolled up 97 to Tonasket where we reconvened with 20 and rolled on into Republic,WA the turnoff to 21 or we would continue. We stopped at a really cool log cabin at a gas station to take a breather and plan our attack as we had 2.5 hours of light left and needed to find a campground plus dinner soon. The weird thing is the place was full of cops, local fuzz, the county sheriff, and a trooper that rolled by 3 times scoping out his next quota enhancement. We talked to a local and decided to roll down 21 to catch a ferry across the Columbia where there was a campground on the other side.....and the adventure continues. 21 was fun and it was the first time I've seen a sign that says "free roaming livestock" and was it ever free roaming. There were fricken cows on ll over the place including the road. I came around a corner to an uninvited guest in the road, a quick honk scared it but we soon came upon the long distance running cows. The cows were just running on the side of the road while we cruised behind and honked laughing histarically..a down home VFR roundup !!!! The ferry was at the 54 mile mark of 21 and it was the end of the road literally. The road ended at the water literally so we hopped on with a school bus and hopped across the Columbia to our campsite. Cool little ferry and really cool area. It happened to be Lake Roosevelt National Park and for our $10 entry fee we had our campsite. We setup camp and realized that we were starving and had a 15 mile ride to Wilbur for the nearest grub. We also learned that the road is quite twisty and that the deer population had multiplied quite well in recent years. No problem, we took it easy and pounded out the 15 with half of it on a steep ascent with true 15-30 turns and then you crest the hill to a vast plain of wheat and a solitary strip of asphalt as far as the eye can see....very cool and I'll have pics up on Drainfade.com soon. We finally made it to Wilbur and dined at the only late night (after 7pm) restaurant in town. We rolled back to camp in pitch black back the same fun road and then the adventure continues. The wind kicked up real well, luckily our weight kept the tent from blowing into the water by dawn. We also had many early morning wild visitors as we headed back to Wilbur for a nice grease filled breakfast. The road to Wilbur was the best on the way to breakfast, the groove was beginning to come back but my upper body weakness really showed me that I need to workout to get where I used to be. After breakfast we detoured for a quick visit to Coulee Dam and Dry Falls which were very cool...unbelievable scenery like our own Grand Canyon !!! We took Hwy 2 back and the drone wasn't as bad I thought, it's a step above slab before Waterville with many triple digit stretches and high speed sweepers through some of the low canyons along the way. We made it back in record time and enjoyed every minute of it. If you haven't explored that part of Eastern WA I highly recommend it, we might make it a yearly event ;)

Pictures of the trip