Lake Chelan

Day: 50
Destination: Lake Chelan, Washington
Route: Highway 90 west; Highway 2; Highway 155 to Grand Coulee Dam; Highway 174 to Brewster;  then
Highway 97; then 97 Alt route to Lake Chelan
Miles Ridden: 214     Total Miles: 11,300

Points of Interest:

• Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area
• Grand Coulee Dam
• Lake Chelan

A beautiful morning...a little oil added to the motorcycles...a shopping trip at the dealership in Coeur D'Arlene, and off we went to Spokan, Washington to meet with Mike and plan today's adventure.

We met him at the Longhorn BBQ on Highway 2 and quickly we formed our plan for the day. We began traveling west on Highway 2, and for the next 35 miles we rode a two lane country road through some beautiful farmland. Miles of green fields, including fields of wheat, on both sides of the road. Then we hit what could only be described as "high plains desert" where the greens turn to brown, and where the fields of wheat turned to scrub brush. We arrived at Grand Coulee Dam, one of the eight "wonders of the world," and spent some time in the visitors' center. We also met with a nice couple who were on a motorcycle trip from the Midwest. We then continued through the desert through Bridgeport, a small town where virtually every business was abandoned. In addition, we noticed that almost every restaurant we saw (opened or closed) was a Mexican restaurant, and all the people we saw were Hispanic.

We moved on towards Brewster.  As we began moving up in elevation, we began to see vineyards and orchards. We soon realized that Brewster was a center of agriculture (orchards and vineyards mostly), with an agriculture processing center which was alive and well. As we rode through the town, we noticed that virtually everyone was Hispanic. We continued on towards our intended destination, Lake Chelan. We were very surprised, however, to find that Chelan is a resort town, with a beautiful lake surrounded by four and five star hotels. We found a hotel, found a good dinner, and called it a night. Tomorrow...the "FIFTH CORNER!"

Coeur D'Arlene

Day: 49
Destination: Coeur D'Arlene, ID
Route: Highway 95
Miles Ridden: 64     Total Miles: 11,186

Points of Interest:

• Downtown Coeur D'Arlene, ID
• Lake Coeur D'Arlene, ID
• Coeur D'Arlene Resort Golf Course
• Iron Horse Saloon

As proof that you can, from time to time, do it all, today was a low mileage, great fun day. The morning was warm, clear, sunny, and the sky was a deep blue with hardly a cloud. We have returned to shirt sleeves only, and the long range weather forecast is clear, warm weather with no rain. We took the time to clean and polish the bikes, and made arrangements to meet with Mike tomorrow morning. Mike had separated from us yesterday to visit with family members in Moscow, Idaho. We arrived early, checked into a hotel, and then drove to the Coeur D'Arlene Resort Golf Course for a round of golf. We were paired with a husband and wife from Sacramento, who were very pleasant. The round of golf could have been better, but the course and its surroundings were fantastic. The lake was beautiful, and the staff at the course, including our caddie, Jason, were great. This truly is one of the country's best golf courses. After playing golf, we had a bite to eat, and mossied on over to the Iron Horse Saloon for a cocktail or two. A great day.

Sandpoint

Day: 48
Destination: Sandpoint, Idaho
Route: Highway 508 over the Purcell Mountains; Highway 2 west; Highway 95 south
Miles Ridden: 181      Total Miles: 11,122

Points of Interest:

• Purcell Mountains
• Yaak River
• Dirty Shame Saloon

We sadly said goodbye to the Hideout and Jim and Christine Gibson. We also said goodbye to Gary, who left at a very rude 3:00 a.m. for the airport and home. We also said our goodbyes to the Stevens and Oakleys, and began our trip to Sandpoint, Idaho. We still struggled with potential rain and actual wind as we slowly inched up the Purcell Mountains. The summit is 6,418 feet, and we were reminded periodically that this mountain range is the natural habitat of Grizzly and Black bears. Needless to say, we did not dilly dally when we took our rest breaks. We saw some amazing views from the mountaintop, and on the way down the mountain we saw the Yaak River with its rapids and waterfalls. We got wet a time or two, but the threat of rain really remained just a threat. We found an oasis, the Dirty Shame Saloon, on the way down the mountain and spent a while there and walking the grounds nearby.

We ducked around a thunderstorm, and stopped at the Moyie River and the bridge which crosses this incredible gorge. After taking a couple pics, we continued to Sandpoint, Idaho. We met up with Mike and Lori Palmer, some friends from Ralph's days on the police department. It was very nice spending some time with them at their new home, which sets above Lake Ponderay. The view from their front porch, looking over the lake almost the size of Lake Tahoe, is outstanding. What a great, peaceful setting. After 33 years on the police department, they have the right to live in peace and quiet. We spent a couple hours swapping stories and lies from the "good old days," talking about America's economic problems and the ongoing political crisis in America, and catching up with other old friends.

Eureka, Day 2

Day 47
Destination: Golf & Fireworks ONLY
Route: None
Miles Ridden: None    Total Miles: Same as yesterday

After having a great breakfast, Larry and Chris Stevens picked us up to play golf at the Wilderness Country Club. We had two groups set up to play: Ralph, Bud and Gary, & Larry, Chris, Marty Oakley, and his lovely wife, Leigh. Black clouds hung low over the course, but we were committed to play golf, and so we did, and a great round of golf it was. The golf god took care of us, too, and did not rain on us. Wilderness is a fairly new course (3 years), but is a great course to play. The greens were very nice, and we truly enjoyed ourselves. It was obvious after only a couple holes that the PGA will have to wait for us, but Gary managed to get a par, and Ralph and Bud birdied the 18th. Since we played an "eightsome" the last few holes, we had plenty of witnesses.

After golf, we returned to the hideout where we enjoyed a great meal. We then marched down to the enormous lake as Jim and Bud treated the rest of us to a great fireworks show over the lake. Montana is not like California. They actually have fireworks, not the pretend, "safe" fireworks forced upon the over taxed Californians. Montana also has true "safe and sane" gun laws, since their laws are sane, and keep the good Montana citizens safe from those who wish to do mischief. Amazing, but Montana has very little serious crime, and its citizens routinely leave their homes and vehicles unlocked. Humm... A coincidence? California does everything possible to limit gun ownership rights, yet the crime rate, especially serious crime, keeps rising. Another coincidence?

Eureka

Day: 46
Destination: Eureka, Montana
Route: Highway 2
Miles Ridden: 483    Total Miles: 10,941

Points of Interest:

• Farmland and open space of Montana
• Lake Bowdoin
• Cut Bank, Montana
• Blackfeet Bison Reserve
• Lewis and Clark National Forest
• Glacier National Park
• Historic Eureka, Montana
• Kootenai National Forest
• The Hideout

Last night we experienced heavy wind, rain, lightening and thunder. We hoped that the storm would roll by, and that we would have clear skies today. Oh well, you can't have everything. We woke up with wind and heavy, black clouds hanging over our route. We decided to put on an unusual number of miles, and get to our intended destination, Eureka, Montana early to enjoy some time with Jim and Christine Gibson. With the wind and rain, we did not know whether we could travel the 483 miles in one day. But try we would.

We left at 6:30 a.m. bundled up for the cold and rain. The first 50 miles was nice, as we saw the plains, farms, and open space. As we continued across Montana, we rode alongside wide open spaces, ranches, farmland, but not as many lakes and streams. We also saw antelope, deer and elk. Montana is a beautiful state, and it is easy to see why it is called the "Big Sky" state. The sky is truly enormous, and as the black clouds began to clear, we saw light blue skies with massive white and silver clouds. It began to warm, and the ride began to get better. That proved to be short lived, since the cold and rain returned as we traveled west. We eventually got to the Blackfeet Bison Reserve, and saw hundreds of buffalo ("bison") running free. We then rode through the Lewis and Clark National Forest, and then into Glacier National Park. Although it got very cold, and very wet, the beauty of these parks is simply unsurpassed. The ride was simply great, despite the weather.

We made our way to Eureka, and to the "Hideout." The "Hideout" is the fantastic home of Jim and Christine, the location of which shall remain a secret. But a large, beautiful log home with a private lake would be our "home" for the next two days, thanks to the hospitality of our hosts.

Glasgow

Day: 45
Destination: Glasgow, Montana
Route: Highway 2
Miles Ridden: 286    Total Miles: 10,458

Points of Interest:

• Rolling hills and valleys of Montana

For the second day in a row, we were able to ride without jackets. It was a very nice short sleeve day, with little wind, about 75 in the morning and about 90 in the afternoon. A little warmer than yesterday, where it hit about 85 degrees. We were fortunate that the conditions were good, since our new friend Rodney tried to poison us with martinis last night. Today's ride took us through two Indian reservations, and gave us some great views of the valleys below. Mostly farmland and prairies with native grasses, lakes and streams. A very nice day. We stopped early today, since the towns west are small and it was not likely we would find a hotel. Tomorrow, we'll put on about 400 miles, but the weather is expected to be very nice.

Minot

Day:
Destination: Minot, ND
Route: Highway 1 west; Highway 220 south to Grand Forks; Highway 2 west
Miles Ridden: 297   Total Miles: 10,172

Points of Interest:

• Farmland in Minnesota and North Dakota
• Monument in Rugby, North Dakota

The ride from Thief River Falls, MN to Minot, ND was very, very nice. The fifty miles to Grand Forks was on a two lane highway with farmland as far as you could see in all directions. We dealt with a 40 mph+ cross wind most of the fifty miles which batted us around quite a bit. The people had planted hundreds of tall trees at various points which acted as a wind break, but when a truck would go by from the opposite direction, the air around the truck would suck you towards the truck, and then push you away from the truck as it passed. The trip was great because of the lakes, yellow fields of saffron, thousands of acres of grain, white farm houses and silos, and barns generally painted red. When we crossed the bridge into North Dakota, we hit a little traffic, then over 200 miles on a 2 lane road with virtually no traffic. Before long, black rain clouds developed, and we could see rain to our south. We followed along side the rain clouds for probably 100 miles without getting any rain. The storm brought wind again, which was setting on the ground moving from south to north. As it crossed the fields, it created the "waves of grain" where the sheen from the grain would change color and look like the waves of the ocean as the wind passed. It brought back the words from our Nation's song, and was quite majestic. We stopped at a monument in Rugby, ND, which identified the geographic center of North America. The rain hit us very briefly just before we got to Minot for the night.