Riding, Geocaching and Exploring . . . .

Monday, June 17, 2013
This year my good friend Rainbow007 (Becky) joined me for the week and I was pleased to be able to spend the time with her. We have been friends for more than 20 years, riding street bikes, snowmobiles, bicycles, dirt bikes and now dual sport motorcycles together. She'’s much better at all of it than I am but I still have fun with it.

Rainbow007


Our plan was to spend the day geocaching and see where chasing them would take us. First stop:


Bingo, we found the cache right off.


I like to leave lady bugs in the caches I find.


Nice looking old church. Say a quick prayer with lots of thanks.


Across the street from the church is this fun coffee shop that we had to check out.

The list of geocaches we were using I created two or three years ago so I didn’'t know if all the caches were still active. There was a cache at the coffee shop when I created the list and we were looking for the cache but didn'’t find it. Later I checked the website and I see the cache is no longer there. It was OK though because there are all sorts of fun things to look at.


The outhouse is even fun.


We had to play with the blue banana
Rainbow007


Rainbow thought she was going to get a picture of me.


But I was obnoxious and took a picture of her taking a picture of me.


I had one of these when I was a kid. I didn'’t have a bicycle but I had a tractor.


We didn’'t find a cache so it was time to move on.


The next cache was here.


Rainbow hot on the trail of a wild geocache


Found it


Making notes in my caching notebook. The top one was at the coffee shop that is no more. Then avoiding tires was in my GPS but not in my notebook.


Rainbow decorated her bike……. OK, it was funny at the time, now just lame.


There’'s a nice round barn out there.


We were on our way to the next cache and this one was going to be more of a challenge. There was a wide spot to park our bikes right at the bridge on Summerville Rd and the hwy. Across the hwy we spotted this.


It was on the way to where the GPS was sending us to find the cache, up the hill. As we walked to the cross we saw windshield glass and it was clear the cross was for someone that had died here in an auto accident but how on earth did the vehicle get there? It was a ways up from the road. We took a closer look.


I googled the name and date to see if I could find out anything about this person but my googlefoo wasn'’t cooperating and I didn’'t find anything. Things left at the memorial included a beer can. I wondered if the accident was alcohol related and if so a beer can wouldn’'t be very appropriate. Well, not in my mind but then people that enjoy their beer really enjoy it. The guy must have liked elephants too.


It'’s possible the vehicle was coming off this hill and the driver fell asleep and didn'’t stop at the bottom. Or it was winter and the hill was icy and the vehicle didn’'t stop. There’'s our bikes down there in the shade of the tree, you have to look real hard to see them.


We are headed up there.


To this tree.


It took me a while to drag my fat behind up there but I made it. Rainbow had no problem getting up there she just sprinted on up like a limber gazelle. She already found the cache and checking out the contents before I even got close.


Now it was time to head back down. Ahhhhhh crap, that’'s steep and slick.


No problem, I know how to get down. The nice thing about wearing riding gear while hiking and geocaching it’s no big deal when you slide down a hill on your butt. It was easier going up than it was coming down until I gave up and just decided to use the hill as a slide.


Summerville Rd. sounded inviting and looking at the GPS we could see there is a town called Summerville. We had no choice we had to go find out what is in Summerville.

Summerville, OR. It'’s nice to know there is gas here. Too bad we didn’'t gas up.


Not far from Summerville we found the Dry Creek School.




It looked like someone started working on restoring it then walked away from their project.


The little shed off to the side had all these flattened Tab cans on the floor. It’s been a long time since I’'ve seen those pink cans. Tab was my favorite way back when.


From there we headed to Tollgate, OR figuring on getting gas and having lunch.


They are closed on Mondays so no gas. I was fine with plenty of gas but Rainbow's tank is small so we needed to be aware of where we headed next. We had a couple ideas from there but didn'’t know if they were good routes or if the roads were open so we opted for the shorter one. Before we did that we made ourselves at home on the bench in from of the store and had our lunch.


We were then off to go find a firetower and there it is up on the mountain.


We got about 1 ½ mile from it and found a locked gate. Oh well the ride was fun anyway.


Even being on the highway is a nice ride.


In Elgin we stopped for this micro cache.


Yep, I carry tiny lady bug buttons to put in tiny caches.


In Minam we crawled into the bushes and retrieved a cache.




We rode a couple miles of gravel to Minam State Park thinking it might be a little used park but at the park things were paved and it was much busier than expected. It was a nice little side trip though following the river.


Back at camp we went up to the teepee skeleton on the hill and enjoyed listening to the bird sing, and watched the sunset while overlooking Brian and Margaret’'s kingdom.




The next installment might have more riding and less geocaching. I have discovered a pattern of mine, I start off fast and furious with the caches and each day they are less and less.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Rainbow007, AirheadBruce and I left camp in Enterprise, OR and went for a fun loop ride.


Not far out of Joseph, OR we stopped for a cache.






Our motorcycles waited patiently for us down the road.


We’re going to follow this road for a bit.


Rainbow007 was behind me taking pictures of me riding down the road. Normally I just have photos of empty roads so it's nice to have photos with a bike in them.


Nice easy road.


I missed a turn and we had to turn around. Neither Rainbow007 or AirheadBruce complained since I told them the first one that did could take the lead.


There’'s the road I wanted.




Typical for me I saw rocks on the road and down came the landing gear. I kept telling those darn feet to stay on the pegs but they chose to come down and tip toe through the rocks. I'’ll pretend I didn'’t hear Becky and Bruce behind me laughing. At least I’'m entertaining. No, the rocks weren’'t worse than they looked in the picture. I’m just that lame.


The feet jumped back up on the pegs where they belong, good feet.


Stopped to check this out.


Rainbow007


AirheadBruce


Neither one of them ran me over.


If there isn'’t a sign available taking a picture of the GPS will remind me where I was.


Nice little country ride

We found flowers and nice views




Harl firetower at the end of the road.




We ate our lunch at the tower and enjoyed the views while Bruce complained about cramping smile muscles.

From there it was to McGraw Firetower.


The ground was covered with wild flowers.


Sightseeing.






A quick stop at the Hells Canyon Overlook.


And back to camp we went with big smiles from a good day, with fun riding and great friends.

Little Wan,
I guess I'll have to put that cache on the map as a place to visit. I won't be getting to Utah this year but maybe next year.

TanMcG,
Thanks, I'm glad you are enjoying the report. I wasn't sure if anyone was looking at it. Sometimes it's hard to tell. Geocaching is a fun way to learn how to use a GPS plus the caches often will take you to interesting places. There are many things I have seen looking for caches that I otherwise wouldn't have seen.

Wednesday – June 19, 2013

It was a day off from riding as a storm came in and all we saw all day was this:


Thursday – June 20, 2013

With as hard as it rained on Wed. I wasn'’t sure I was going to be riding Thursday. I decided if it was drizzling I would ride but if it was still pouring I wouldn’'t. The weather forecast called for low 30s for the overnight low so that too was playing into the decision-making. I PMed Sorebutt Wed. afternoon for his phone number just in case I decided not to go since the plan was to meet him and friends in Asotin.

Rainbow007, Maxacceleration, AirheadBruce, and I planned to ride Rattlesnake Grade to Asotin to meet up with Sorebutt and ride back with him leading us on a fun dirt route. As we were getting ready to ride at 6:00 am I saw a spot of blue in the sky so I was excited.

Just when everyone was ready to ride I make them line up for a photo.


The road started off a little wet.


But was drying up as the miles passed


It was a bit chilly, so I wasn'’t taking pictures of the ride since I didn'’t want to let go of my heated grips.

We arrived in plenty of time, which was my intent. I had about a 45 minute buffer built into our arrival time just in case something came up along the way. It also gave us plenty of time to fuel up and to have a cup of hot coffee.

The others showed up and it was time for fun.


Yep, I’m messing around taking pictures while others are waiting to ride.


Sorebutt took the lead and we all fell in behind him and we rode out of Asotin, WA


This is a road I hadn'’t been on before so it was fun seeing where it goes.

What are these two buildings?




The road narrowed and I knew we were headed somewhere fun.


The pavement ended and we got to ride this grade.


The views were beautiful from there and I crept up the grade slowly while I enjoyed the ride. As I got to the top of the grade I realized I was going to really be slowing the group down so I was going to head back down. I stopped to tell Mtnseker my plan but he wouldn'’t hear of it. He told me my pace was just fine and asked me to continue on with them telling me the ride was going to be easier from there on. Those Palouse guys are a nice bunch. The ride to that point wasn'’t difficult I just didn’'t want to slow down the group.

We were on fairly flat ground and my bike wasn’'t feeling all that stable so I stopped to let a little air out of the tires.


Until then I didn’'t realize how slimy the road was. When I got off the bike it felt like I was standing on a slick gooshy sponge. The tire tracks in the mud should have tipped me off that the ground wasn'’t all that solid.

I figured I did fine until I stopped so I decided no big deal and I was sure it would only be a short ways of slick road and besides Mtnseker told me the road would be easier from the top of the hill. He lied!!

Ahead I saw this:


The experienced riders were getting off the road, this wasn'’t good. I did my normal procedure, the landing gear came down and I duck walked to join the rest of them.

Turns out Sorebutt had dumped his bike in the goosh.


ADV glamour shot.


There was some discussion about what we might encounter ahead. Drone and Maxacceleration were sent on ahead riding on the grassy side to see if we should proceed or if we should return.

Meeting of the minds. What a good looking bunch.


We heard Maxacceleration and Drone heading back then we didn'’t and we were wondering what was going on over the rise. Finally they were returning with Maxacceleration riding in the grass and Drone & Kirby in the sidecar coming down the road. The sidecar was slipping, sliding, looking out of control and like it wasn’'t going to stop. It was also headed straight toward Sorebutt’'s bike. Sorebutt headed to his bike and luckily Drone stopped the sidecar rig before it got too close to Sorebutt’'s bike but it was tense for all of us for a few seconds.


Apparently the road was much worse ahead and it was time for us to turn around. At this point we had three options; ride in the grass with the hidden surprises, ride down the road in the goosh, or ride the far edge of the road in the goosh with a little squiggle gravel on top of it. Maxacceleration took the lead in the grass telling me he would ride it in 1st gear and for me to just follow him. OK. I did that for a while but when we got where I knew the road wasn’'t too terrible I got out of the grass and opted for squiggle gravel covered goosh for a bit. No one hit the ground so all was good.

Starting down the hill there was no more goosh so I was happy. Sorebutt, Maxacceleration and I stopped at a pullout and couldn'’t figure out why the rest of the riders weren’'t with us. Maxacceleration headed back to see what was going on and if he could help.

Sorebutt and I compared tires.
The Superbug’s tire.


The tire on Sorebutt’s F800.


That was after riding in the grass and a ways down the hill in dry gravel. With the mud caked up in that tire it’s no wonder the F800 decided to take a dirt nap.

Here comes the other riders.

Drone with Kirby in the sidecar.


Rainbow007.


AirheadBruce.


Mtnseker.


Glassman64.


Maxacceleration.


Since Sorebutt was already there I didn'’t get a picture of him coming into the pull out. Darn.

The rest of the group decided to take another dirt route to Troy but they didn'’t know what they might run into with that route so I opted to head for the pavement. My plan was to meet the others in Troy for lunch via the paved known route. AirheadBruce decided to go with me to make sure I stayed out of trouble.

We headed down the grade.




Back to pavement.


At the bottom we grouped up again. The main group headed left and Bruce and I headed right.


Stopped at the entrance to Fields Spring State Park for a cache. This is the same park we were at on Sunday but with the pickups and trailers there wasn't a big enough area to park. Now on motorcycles it’s much better.


There’'s the prize. I need to figure out which one of the smilies can represent find a cache. Any ideas?




Yep, I know where I am.


Followed the Grand Ronde River to Troy, OR




Lunch stop and waiting for the rest of the group.




Friends showed up and so did a few other people.


We had a nice lunch. The rest of the group had a challenging ride with the route they had taken to Troy because of the how wet things were. They were certain the grade to Flora was going to be fine so they were headed that way. I was skeptical so Bruce and I headed back out on the paved road. We heard the dirt road south was even worse so none of us wanted to do that.

Rattlesnake grade is always a good ride so I didn’'t mind riding it again. The views on the way back to camp were nice too.


It was a good day. I enjoyed the ride and visiting with everyone.

Thanks for joining in Oldone. I hope you continue to enjoy and stick around.

Friday – June 21, 2013

Thursday evening an old street riding friend of Rainbow007’s and mine showed up and surprised us. She has come over to the dirty side and has been stalking the two of us on ADV. She decided since I was having a party with 100 of my best friends she should come join us. She has an ADV user name but she hasn'’t posted and couldn'’t remember what it is so she's Lee.

Lee was headed out for a day of riding with Rainbow007.

Rainbow007


Lee. I love the way her smile radiates through the helmet.


They’'re off for a day of adventure.


Meanwhile my plan was for a relaxing day and spending a little time with my good friend Loud Al. I wandered around camp and found a few of the last of the stragglers heading out for their day’s ride.




While wandering around camp I encountered Easy-Z and invited him, Jen and her brother to ride to Troy with us for lunch. They weren’'t prepared for riding dirt and didn’'t have ride plans so it seemed right to drag them with us.

We headed out Rattlesnake Grade with a stop at Joseph Canyon.


Loud Al getting a picture of the bikes.


Even though Jen was on a street bike with very street tires she didn'’t hesitate when it came to the short section of dirt.


We had and enjoyable lunch in Troy. We discussed taking the dirt grade up to Flora on the way back. Jen and her brother (I forgot his name) were up for taking on the dirt so away we went.


Allan stopped to get a shot of the beautiful valley below.


Allan's shot


A little bit of the road we are riding.


Allan taking a photo of me taking a photo of him but he didn't know I was taking it until he saw the picture he took of me.


Here I am taking a picture of Allan.


Easy-Z working on getting a shot too. Sorry about blurring you Zak.


After another stop it was time to ride.






I stayed with Allan for a couple of seconds then he was gone again.


This farm looks very peaceful and I like the round barn.




Friday was nice day with enjoyable riding, spending time with friends and meeting new friends. Perfect!

Saturday, June 22, 2013

It's amazing how this event has so many early risers. Up and about at 5:00 am and there are others out and about as well.

The evening before there was the rescue mission. The number of rescues were way down from prior years, only one this year. Well, there was a second sort of. A message was received at camp Sunday morning that someone was broke down out on Hwy 3. Brian headed out to take care of the rescue however he returned with an empty truck. He couldn't find anyone broken down. The good news is who ever it was got going again.

A motorcycle on a trailer because it's not running is always a sad sight, but I still had to take a picture.


All the way from CA just for this gathering is Larryboy and LarryboyWife.


Larryboy does the best Death Valley ride reports and any ride he does is an adventure. Check out some of his ride reports, you'll be glad you did. Here's a couple to get you started. An oldie but goodie in Death Valley: http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=286941

Here's Larryboy's view of Oregon and more: http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=509682

I've been a Larryboy fan since I first discovered his ride reports not long after I found ADV.

Saturday was my day to get to go riding with my friend Lee but first I needed to get a shot of the banner welcoming all of us to Wallowa Valley. It needed a motorcycle in the picture so I convinced Lee to be my model.


She was ready to go riding so she was willing to do almost anything to get me to stop screwing around and ride.

First I needed a shot of the Superbug


View climbing the grade out of Imnaha - Not bad and there are flowers too.


Looks like the flowers on this years stickers. I think got2moto must have been out here to get his inspiration for the design.


The background is so pretty it almost looks like someone painted it.


I think Lee told me this is a smoke flower because the bloom looks like smoke.


Lee's ready to ride and what am I doing? Yep, still screwing around.


Hat Point.


There were a few ADVers there. Not a bad parking job for ADVers.


These burned trees intrigue me every time I go up there. I don't know what it is there's just something about them.


There's the Snake River down there.


I want to camp down there in that green patch. Does anyone know if it is legal to camp there or is it day use only?


Had to get a picture of the rock, just because.


I yelled at these guys to send down the elevator but they wouldn't do it so I had to walk up the tower.


The motorcycles get tiny from up there.


Lee and I headed back down the mountain with a stop at the viewpoint overlooking Imnaha Valley.


So many of these pictures look alike but dang they sure are pretty.


We heard a couple motorcycles.Yep, there they are on that road over there.


Here comes those motorcycles








It was a terrific ride with some fantastic views. It was fun getting to ride with Lee after all these years.

Back at camp we did the group photo. I'm bringing this over from the main Hells Canyon picture thread because I get a kick out of the time-lapse and the end result wasn't bad. Each year the group shot is getting better. Thanks again, Allan for herding up everyone and getting the shot.

The best wedding I've ever been too. Mike and Tori, (1911Fan and Mrs1911Fan) thanks for sharing your special day with us.


Dinner: Thanks Lears Restaurant (Steve) - the best part was the brownie but I didn't get a picture of it.


After dinner the band started to play. Becky, Lee and I walked to the top of the hill above the campground where we could listen to the music and watch the sunset.




And watched the super moon come up.


Sighhhhh, it takes someone with a lot more talent than I have and better equipment to capture the super moon in all it's glory. I tried though.



Sunday, June 23, 2013

It was time to pack up and say goodbye to everyone. The hardest part of the entire week.


I took the early morning hours to check out Oregon Coast's Outta Sight racecar. Thanks Paul and Laura for making this gathering part of your anniversary celebration. It sure was good to see the two of you.


Said goodbye to the teepee skeleton I had been enjoying.


And took one last look at the sign welcoming us to the Log House RV park.

Caught by Little Wan. My last report was Hells Canyon from June. I guess I am a tad behind

It's so difficult to work on my pictures when I get sucked into ride reports on ADV. It's addictive. I love seeing what everyone is doing and all the cool places they go. It makes my mind go to wonderful places.

Radioman has been taking me around the world for the last couple of years: http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=900942

IdahoSam is taking me to Texas to see his sister:
http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=917071

UpST8 has been showing me that not going crazy in CA is much different than what I have seen in CA and way different than I imagined:
http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=900942

And the Wan's are showing me who not to ride with as they are OSO Loco but they are OSO much fun to watch. They find some spectacular places that I will never be able to ride:
http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=913598

You're right it's time that I do some updating on this thread.

While my intentions are good I suspect it’s going to be hit and miss as to when I have the time to go through my photos and do updates. I’'ll get to them all, really I will, although it might take awhile. At least it will give me something to do this winter and give you something to read.


Reports coming up:
Rides done just waiting for reports:
Westport, WA Loop – Rode July 11-13, 2013
The Ladies Ride to Tygh Valley, OR – Rode July 26-29, 2013
Alaska/Yukon Territory – Rode – Aug. 17-30, 2013

Rides coming up:
Magruder_Corridor, Idaho – Sept. 21-24, 2013
Return to Westport, WA for the Cranberry Festival: Oct. 11-13, 2013
Baja, North Half – Nov. 16-25, 2013

Reading other people’'s ride reports I have found many things/styles I like and I’'m going with the premise that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. Radioman and a few others have added links to their first post to take you to specific sections of the ride report. I will do the same so you can skip the areas you might not be interested in and go right to the areas you are. Of course I’'m no Radioman but I'll happily pick up a few tricks from him and others.

This year I found myself with a dilemma many people only wish they had. I accumulated way too much vacation time and I need to use it before Jan. 1, 2014 or I lose it. I don’'t like taking time off unless I do something other than stay at home so I grabbed a calendar, a few maps, and started making plans. My time off would be used for motorcycle rides.

With working geocaching's Washington_State_Parks_Centennial_Tour
I figure I can take time off work and pickup some of the caches while getting in some riding.

July 11-13, 2013 a street ride to Westport, WA and back.



And I was on my way……


Unless I'’m in a huge hurry I like to take the back road from Spokane, through Cheney and to Sprague through the scablands rather than on the interstate.


Watch out for the pheasants


Just before Sprague there’'s a motorhome that has been parked there since at least 2007. I believe someone lives in it, every time I have been down that road the motorhome looks occupied.


Beautiful downtown Sprague


They have a very nice church that looks like it came right out of a fairytale.

I'm looking forward to it as well.

Yummmmm fish tacos in Baja.

You might be waiting a long time for that report. As it is I might not get the AK report done before I head to Baja. One thing for sure I suspect I will be making sand my favorite in Baja....

Most of this day was spent getting across the state but at the same time trying a few roads I hadn’'t ridden before. I plotted a route on some back roads, through farmland and was looking forward to seeing what I would find.

In Lind, WA I found farmers get bored and find entertainment in beating up huge equipment.


It would be fun to go see the derby and watch these big things crash into each other.


<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/F_KJpFKO_Bk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Allan, if you didn'’t watch this video check it out, it'’ll make you appreciate changing your flat tires.

When I checked out the derby_website I decided I will go next year. Everyone looks like they are having so much fun. The parade photos especially the children’'s parade are great. The parade is made up with "floats" that aren’'t commercial and expensive like in the big parades.

The road started off promising with interesting things to see.




But it was short lived when I found this at the first turn.


I thought about going through and looked at a map but since I didn'’t know if I could get all the way through and where construction might stop me I decided to turn back. When I got to the gas station where 395 meets 26 I stopped, filled the tank, got something to drink, and looked at the map again to decide how I wanted to proceed. I really wanted to stay off the roads I have ridden so many times before.

At the gas station I had to check out their yard decoration. I make a good tourist getting sidetracked by simple things.


I don’'t know that I have seen a wagon with a round bottom before. If I have I didn’'t notice it.


I like the details in the seat and the suspension for a smooth ride.


The road I decided to take took me through lots of crops.


Orchards


There were hop fields and vineyards along the way too but I guess I didn'’t get any pictures of the farmers growing beer and wine.

As I was riding along just plugging away the miles I looked in my rear view mirror and saw an incredible view of the clouds behind me. The contrast was very strong I tried to get a shot of the clouds in the mirror but they sure don'’t look anything like they did when I was out there.


The first wide spot I came to I pulled over to try to get a shot of how cool the scene behind me looked. It'’s just not the same in photos. It'’s one of those things where you had to be there or maybe I was in just the right mood to appreciate what Mother Nature provides us.


Figured since I was stopped I might as well try for a glamour shot.


After a few minutes of entertainment it was time to move on…….

Route for day 1. I still had a ways to go before I getting to my destination for the days end.