Where in the West are SLOVFR and Reg71

My sister always called me "brother" because my dad had the same name so her mother would say "go get brother". Anyway, to her that was my name so she still calls me that. She asked when her daughter was born if she could tell her I was "uncle Brother". I said "No prob." The niece still hasn't quite figured it out. Sometimes she thinks I am her brother but she's only 4 and that's just the age where you start working out all those relative terms I think.

 

yeah I have glanced at my notes a few times. just trying to formulate it into something... been pretty busy around here, too...

 

Ah, the time is here... I have been working on this one for a couple days. There were a lot more pics than I remembered. I'll put a lot in the chapter but there are others left out I'm sure...

Come one, come all. Time to enter into Reggie's World. Grab your brew and sit down, this ride may take a while...

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Chapter 4 - Journey


The sun breaks. RW is beating on the door saying, “It’s time to go boys before his feet touch the carpet.” I stumble down the stairs and into the kitchen mewling for coffee. Thankfully RW already has it going and hands Brian and myself cups albeit I’m pretty sure they were stolen from a child’s tea set. RW for those who don’t know is not a coffee drinker and as such has no idea of the capacity for coffee ingestion of the average coffee drinker. My being a nurse and adhering to my strict regimen of only drinking coffee and beer for my current Homer Simpson fitness plan has my drinking capacity nearing 20 cups a day give or take. Brian is probably somewhere right there, at least on this trip. Recall the café at Crater Lake where he usurped the urn from the foreign kid who was rolling napkins while were fiending for java.

gearing up at RWs


We skip breakfast as RVFR is patiently waiting for us at his house. By patiently I mean calling every 5th minute to see if we are rolling yet as he is ready to hit the mountains. He’s been waiting for this trip as long as I have and I can hear the eagerness in his voice as he gently welcomes us, “Hurry the hell up!”

following RW from Port Orchard over to Olympia



We head out from Port Orchard after gearing up a bit to shield us from the harsh Washington elements. It’s a bit foggy but RW reassures us that it’s shaping up to be a beautiful day. Apparently this fog is comparable to our marine layer down here that burns off daily to make for mighty fine weather.

On the way to Jay's


We head out to RVFRs place back in Olympia with only a slight detour by Brian for which I send the lady highway trooper back to search while we wait on the side of the highway for him. RW has forgotten the cardinal rule of leading riders, ride like you are in a group, not solo. (Don’t worry RW, I get in trouble for this rule constantly .) Anyway, Brian somehow finds us again and we continue on to Jay (RVFR)’s place. Hulk Jr is there decked out in his leather and ready to roll. We all brought do rags in honor of Jay so we could get a do rag pic. You tell the excitement is building for him as it is for us. We are starting to wake up and get excited for the day to come. This is the destination that started this journey for me two years ago.

bikes lined up at Jay's


It is difficult to gauge how a person met online will strike you when you actually meet. You have a general idea of how you think they are, but sometimes a ‘virtual’ personality seems different that an ‘actual’ personality. My idea of Jay’s personality was spot on. RW I had met a year earlier and on that journey it was immediately like we had known each other for a while. The feeling was the same with Jay. We visited for a few minutes while Jay helped me get my bar end reattached. After a few pics (which have been posted earlier), we headed out to meet another couple of guys just starting on their journeys who are going to share the road with us for a bit today.

we did a lot of this




Jay and RW will have to fill in on what roads we took to get started but we eventually make it to a little stop with fuel and a subway. By this time, I am ready to eat the southbound end of a northbound mule so I order up a sandwich and eat sitting there on a bench in the parking lot while Jay keeps Kodak in business. (or he would if we hadn’t already gone digital anyway. Hunger assuaged I’m ready to hit the road. The other guys we had picked up headed on out as they had a ways to go and knew that we were doing the tourist thing a bit today.

Picture of Jay doing the other thing he loves


After discussing which direction to go RW and RVFR take off and Brian and I follow. WE don’t know exactly where we went, but we do know we finally got to ride in some wonderful roads in WA. Up to this point, we had been mostly on the main highways and we were ready to scream obscenities into our helmets if we didn’t get to cut loose soon. Well, cut loose we did. We ran some sections of road crookeder than a politician and all the while having scenery that tried to pry your eyes off the path. And a few places that were likely to jar the teeth right out of your head if you didn’t keep your mouth shut. It was nice to finally get to cruise on some of the roads that Jay and Rick have been baiting us with for the last couple years. They are a couple of stand-up guys and fun to hang out with.

parked somewhere near a dam (I don't remember the name)


We stopped at a dam first and there are several pics already posted so I probably won’t put up any more. The views were pretty astonishing and the traffic was light once we got out of town. Before that, though, there was a lot of this.



They showed us Mt. St. Helens from the blasted side and from the good side. We ran some awesome roads and I even got my knee down for a bit on a nice sweeping left hander. Given a day or so to familiarize myself with the road, I could have quite a time up there. It’s too bad they are closed off for a good portion of the year due to this white stuff that they send us pictures of. I think they call it sow or snow or some such. It looks like the stuff we keep up at the ski resorts for when we get tired of riding and want to go snowboarding.



After blasting down a couple really great roads and letting the two aspiring DeMilles work on their videography, we stopped on a downhill section in a line as per suggestion of the Hulkster. After about 10 minutes of coaching, he got us all lined up for this shot:


While we were waiting for the shots from multiple angles, I started feeling the forest. Something about the quiet and those trees standing sentinel over our bikes while we scurried along underneath no more noticed by our sentinels than ants are by us. Upon remounting, I didn’t restart my bike. Instead I coasted down the hill hands free and listened to the song of the wind rushing through my helmet while I held my arms out and gazed into the sky. I know it sounds like a weird thing to do, but it felt right.



Reg on a ledge


Setting up for video


Creek where RW and I stopped for him to set up vid gear


Brian and RW joining Jay and myself at a scenic overlook


We had a blast and got lots of pics and saw even more that we were unable to photo. Our quartet bellowed a sixteen cylinder chorus to our mountainous spectators while we danced our own kind of ballet. At times we moved as if all our bikes were connected. It was like poetry on wheels.

We ended up taking a stop in a town called Cougar, I think, for fuel. Both the petro and the stomach needed a little something. We all got some form of caffeine in us to reawaken the savage beasts inside before the trip to our respective destinations. Brian and I had many miles left to go as we were heading along the Columbia River Gorge on the other side (the WA side) and then all the way to Stonehenge. We split off from the guys and headed back out on some of the super nice roads we had been riding.





By this time it was getting on into the afternoon and we just were relaxing and taking in the scenery rather than slicing the road up and scaring the passers by. We headed back on such and such road then south to catch Hwy 14 East along the Columbia River.

Here we are at the end of the road leaving the mountains getting ready to hug the river on hwy 14. Note the terrain change in the pictures from this morning to this evening. All the pictures are taken the same day in WA and some only minutes apart. I found it pretty interesting.



Tunnels


Hwy 14e


Reg on Hwy 14e


It was a very nice ride where we had rock on the left and tunnels right through said rock in several places and a beautiful river along our right. The windsurfers were out in full force trying to tame the winds on the river while dodging the tugboats. All the while you can see Mt. Hood in the background standing guard over northern Oregon. We’ll go visit him closer up later in this journey.





After quite some time we make it to an overlook where a very nice pedestrian stops and tells us some of the history of a little town called Wishram that is nestled in a little crook in the rocks below the overlook. She tells us there is a bar and grill and that the burgers aren’t bad. We decide to give it a shot after we visit Stonehenge. We bid her good day and keep moving as we are nearing the end of the day and many miles are under us with still a few to go.

On overlook near Wishram




Stonehenge in Washington was created as a veteran’s memorial according to the literature and is built to scale of the original. It is apparently made of concrete that has been textured to look like stone. It is pretty neat but we don’t hang out there long. I am quite sure that the original is much more awe-inspiring in this case, but the knockoff is at least easier to see at this point in our journey. If you asked me, “Should I go see it?” Well, that depends, if you are close then by all means, do. If you are planning a trip just to go see it, I’d say you’d be disappointed is my guess. It is interesting to see from the perspective as a monument to veterans, though.

Stonehenge





Now, back to Wishram. Not a moment too soon as we are getting a bit hungry. We make the left turn that will wind us down into the valley where the town rests while Brian keeps his eyes peeled for the ancient native writing on the rock walls as we cruise by. I notice it. It’s very interesting with strange symbols like and indecipherable messages like “Bobby loves Missy” in bright colors and with the previous target of Bobby’s affection X’d out and probably looking forlorn in some forgotten corner of the “quaint” little Wishram. Now I realize that people being people we define things differently. As such, I generally give people plenty of leeway. Well, there wasn’t enough leeway in my definition to make this town into quaint unless by quaint you mean it as in the movie “Deliverance”. We work our way down into the town where it gets darker presumably because the tall cliffs block the sun but more likely because the Gods no longer smile favorably on this forgotten pit of despair. There is an “authentic” old train that is the town’s other star attraction (besides the glyphs which we are still contemplating). Upon finding it caged up like Hannibal we decide that pictures of the bikes in front of barbed wire and chain link with our word that, indeed, there is a train behind all that would fall a little flat compared to the other snaps we have from today. Upon reflection, I think the road to Wishram should be spiral to mirror the downward spiral that your soul takes upon the journey into the town that time willingly forgot, abandoned, and unfortunately didn’t put a padlock on.



Anyway, we park our bike in front of the “bar and grill”. Apparently we are going to stick with loose definitions while in Wishram because it’s more of a cinderblock building built into a hole (literally) where all 10 residents congregate in the hopes that they get a chance to stare at people crazy enough to drift into town. Immediately upon shutting our bikes down, the Wishram official greeters (with a collective total of about 6 teeth among the 3 of them) came to welcome us. Those of you familiar with the speed talker that did the micro-machines commercials in the 80s can imagine the way these three were talking. “Nice bikes, how fast? Where ya from? What kinda bike is that? I rode a bike once. It went 180. Where you from? I like red. Who are you? What you doin here?” Now I’m not gonna say they had been partaking of any illegal type substances, but judging from their teeth, they didn’t just finish chugging 3 red bull energy drinks apiece before coming to welcome us. This was the first stop where Brian and I detached all our gear and carried it in with us whilst Heckyl, Jeckyl, and Jeckyl continued to magpie outside in the street. We entered the ‘bar’ whereupon dueling banjos began to play and spitoons rang out in stereo. “Oh hell, I thought.” These look like the type of people who think the theory of relativity refers to dating your cousin.


The bartender/waitress/cook comes over to us and informs us of our dining options while the other patrons cordially glare at us without so much as one word of hello. Eventually their respective conversations resume and we are able to slink away to a table which affords us a short distance to the door and a glance outside to near where the bikes are. We put our requests in and reflect on the days happenings. It has been a fun-filled day and if we survive this particular detour we will have quite the story to talk about. I believe Brian even mentioned to me, “I can’t wait to see what you write about this place.” If not, then consider it literary license (which, loosely defined since I am in the loosely defined mood right now, means I can make shit up if I feel like it makes the story better.)

We talk about the riding we had with RW and RVFR and wonder if they have made it home yet. The food comes and we eat. It’s ok, but hardly worth recommending to anyone unless you are looking for mediocre food at a mediocre price in a town you’ll most likely not want to visit. (If that’s you, that by golly you must stop and see beautiful Wishram, WA). We wolf it down and sprint for the bikes in an attempt to avoid the welcoming committee and make it back to The Dalles before dark. We bid our fond farewells to the town of lost souls at 80 mph with nary a glance back and hightail it towards The Dalles. I am able to get a decent pic of the sunset in WA just before crossing back over to OR where we will spend the next couple days.

Bridge back to OR


Farewell to WA


After getting over to OR, we decide to try and get a night pic with the dam all lit up behind the bikes. It works somewhat but most times a camera just can’t quite capture what the eyes can. Brian and I convene a meeting with our trip planning committee, namely him and me, and make an executive decision that tomorrow will be a day of leisure around The Dalles recuperating a bit before packing back up and heading west to find hwy 1and journey onward.

 

I got my part typed up for day 4. Now it's your turn... I may get to work on day 6 soon. I have been pretty busy around here, though...

 

It was only a little over a month ago. How long you think it took to put together Long Way Round? and that was with a huge staff of writers editors etc...

 

I suppose we really should wrap this old one up eh? heheh... there are a lot of people yet to be introduced into the story....

 

I actually have the next day typed up. when we left the dalles and stuff. it's in the moderators area. I just havent inserted pics. i cant seem to find the pics from the trip easily. i know i have them, i just am not sure where they are on the comp.

 

that's funny. i didn't realize I never finished it. I thought I uploaded it. hmm, that was 2 computers ago. I wonder if I saved an online copy?