The upper left corner...

I'm going to ride to CONUS's upper left corner, Blaine, Washington.

I think I've discovered how to push Bev's buttons.....  I whined enough about not going on a ride lately that she went into the computer and booked lodging reservations for an 11 day ride! All I have to do is..........go.  (I think that was the point)  :)

I stop for the first two nights in Reno...it seemed like much longer........

Looking out my window in the day light...

.....and same view after dark.

Then I make my way to Bend for a couple nights stay, then back on the road to catch a ferry in Port Townsend, Washington.

A picture of one of Oregon's mountains....not sure which one.  What a beautiful ride it was from Reno to  Bend to Port Townsend.

I'm lined up and waiting to board the ferry from Port Townsend to Whidbey Island, when I meet the owner of this 70s era BMW. He has owned it for 25 years....

What a beauty, eh?

Then onto the ferry..

Arriving on Whidbey I ride the extraordinarily beautiful Chuckanut Drive....maybe the most scenic road in America! Actually while I tarried in Blaine, I rode the Chuckanut three times and thoroughly enjoyed each time!

(This is at the end of Chuckanut Drive going north)

I get to my lodging in Blaine and the next day go to the Peace Park on the border. 

This ummm... Art is at the border crossing...

Peace Park, unfortunately the Peace Arch was completely covered with plastic while they do a face lift...

A garden in the Peace Park

While I was hanging out in Blaine a bunch of classic cars began cruising up and down the road that my lodging is on. Almost all the cars were immaculately done and it was a real treat to see them!

Blaine is where I make a U-turn and head southeast-ish for home. So after three relaxing days at the Upper left corner...  I reverse my route down to Whidbey Isle to catch the ferry to Port Townsend.

As I continue on to the ferry the fog keeps getting a little worse along the way. I stop for this picture, then back on the bike to the ferry place.  

When I arrive, as I slowly ride into the ferry parking lot,  one of the workers runs... RUNS to the entry shack to take my money and tells me the ferry is waiting for me to board. As soon as I ride onto the ferry deck the boat leaves the dock and I look into my mirror and see a LOT of water right behind me as I move farther onto the ferry parking deck. 

I was glad they waited for me as the next one was and hour and a half later....

I haven't had the opportunity to visit a rain forest yet, so I take this opportunity to stop in at the Olympia National Park and see a rain forest with my own peepers....  What an awesome place!

Another check off the list!

And after a restful overnight stay in Seaside, Oregon I make my way to Vale, Oregon for the last overnight stop on this trip.

The next day I kept on moving east when I decided to pull into a Chevron in Nyssa, Oregon for gas and food.  

While getting me a sammich and a cuppa I meet Leo. Leo is 82 years old and - in days gone by - had ridden BMWs and KLRs all over the US. We had a super conversation as he told me some great road stories of his traveling days!

You sure meet some great people while on road trips!

On my way home I decided to stop and see Shoshone Falls, near....you guessed it...... Shoshone, Idaho. 

It was an ordeal to find the falls. I had asked several folks for directions, but I guess I didn't listen well enough and it seemed like I got lost worse each time, then I trusted my GPS and it took me to the wrong side of the canyon, across from the falls and into a private subdivision with no viewpoint. 

Finally I called Bev and stuck my phone between my helmet and my ear so that she could watch my 'blip' on her google map as she  talked me into the Falls Park, and I was at long last able to see the falls! 

Whew!!!!

The obligatory selfie....

 

From the falls I had 232 miles to get home, it was 3:30pm so I just hit "Home" on the GPS, "fastest route" and slabbed it home, arriving around 7:30

So that's it. 3012 miles with a bunch of that along the coast on absolutely spectacular roads. Chuckanut is a MUST see, and the rest of 101 is almost as nice. 

If you go there, plan on twice as much time for Rose Smelling as normal.

"Today I rode from dry lake beds to mountain tops, 

from desert to the shining sea.

And ere I sleep I thank thee Lord

for creating this land for me."

Southern Utah Cruise

Elvecia has a meetup page and had posted a planned ride to southern Utah and I signed up.

As a rule I very very seldom do a group ride, but for some reason this one jumped out at me. As it turned out only three bikes, four people were able to go so it wasn't quite a 'group'.

Blogger.com has changed their format and I'm not really getting along with the new program yet, so most of these pictures are not in correct order....oh well. We had a great time!

Dana in front of the famous Sinclair building.

Dana at Cedar Breaks

And Elvecia at Cedar Breaks.

 

We make a gas and goody stop in Salina

Our hotel in Panguitch.

We saw 4 of these huge trucks going past our hotel.

We ride the Burr Trail - Elvecia

And Dana

There is a very nice, short hike on the Burr.

We then ride Utah's famous SR 12 and stop at the Kiva Koffeehouse for a treat.

3 of us got a peach, pear, and apricot smoothie......wow! Delicious!

And Sunday morning we ride for home. 

But first, breakfast at the Capital Reef Cafe where we run into this guy, Eddy from Georgia. He and I have a super conversation about riding....He is doing an extensive tour of the lower 48 instead of his planned ride to Alaska - canceled due to the covid crap.

We stop at The Butch Cassidy hideout Cafe for a wonderful breakfast. When we come out, this couple had run out of gas...luckily I have my spare gas cans on the back of the bike and in a few minutes they were on their way.

Thanks to Elvecia, Dana and Beverly for sharing their pictures.

We had a very nice 3 day ride! Thanks Elvecia for setting this thing up!

690 miles for us and a great way to spend the weekend.

Cruising to the coast in a cage

Beverly, our daughter Kaybi along with her children Luke and Kimber and I decide to take a trip to the coast....actually we were going to Oro Valley, Arizona but a wildfire there changed our plans. Kaybi's hubby, Michael would have gone with us but he is busy serving his country in the sand box.

So...to the coast we went.

Our coast lodging called us when we were about halfway to Pendleton and informed us that they had water problems and we could not be admitted until Tuesday (one day behind schedule) no biggie, we stayed an extra day in Pendleton and had a good time.

We walked across town to do some site-seeing...

While in Pendleton, we took the "Underground tour" there and learned a lot about the early days in this interesting town.

We walked through an underground bar, meat shop, jail, ice cream shop, opium den, speakeasy and more. 

Then the tour went into the towns most famous bordello. We also walked through that fine establishment.  

The Madam there, Stella Darby (1928 - 1967).......

........who was quite a philanthropist and not only took good care of her employees, but did many fine deeds for the poorer folk in the town. For example, during an economic hard time, she bought meat and using her car transported it to town and gave it to those who could not afford such luxury every Friday for three years, never missing a single Friday.

After the tour Luke and I enjoyed a gelato shake...

Then we finally made it to the coast.

 Kimber thought the swans looked fun so we went into the water...I chose a kayak.

A few minutes before we rent our boats, this family hurries back to the dock with a sinking peddle boat....they made it before sinking - Barely!

Lucky for us we had no such problems.

On Saturday we started for home, but we still have some site-seeing to do - we had planned on the way home to stop at the Evergreen Aerospace Museum 2 hours away from our condo, and we arrived just at opening time.

Luke and Kimber take the simulator for a ride...

Then Poppy decides he needs a turn....

Take off....

Start of barrel roll...

Middle of barrel roll....

And, well..... after the barrel rolls, I tried a loop - but I was too low and going to fast so I crashed.

Luckily Luke and I walked away from us hitting the ground at over 1200 mph!  :) Whew!!

Another highlight at this museum is Howard Hughes'  Spruce Goose!

We all oohed and ahhhhed over the Spruce Goose for a good long while.

 

Luke and Kimber in a F-111 cockpit.

And Luke checking out a Vietnam war era chopper.

After the Evergreen Aerospace Museum we continued on to Bend, Oregon to overnight.

The next day was a loooong day in the car. But we finally made it home happy, TIRED and feeling blessed to have such a fun week in this beautiful U.S.A.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs0fxy8rHo8&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR2Nw8z3eqgcHXEP4N-YfJjkYwHEaRMBlySKpHXEhZwuCZ4UeZ3eM2dlu5g