On July 2 I left Ashland and headed towards Hood River,
Oregon. I avoided the major highways and
had a nice ride to the Columbia River.
The scenery was beautiful, as I passed Mounts Adams, Baker, Hood, and a
couple of more that I can’t name.
The next morning I intended to ride to Seattle. I still wanted to avoid Hwy 5, since it is a
miserable stretch of freeway with too much traffic and nothing much of interest
to see. However, there is a back Forest
Service road that goes over Mount Saint Helens.
This is closed in the winter, but was to have opened last night (June
2). First thing in the morning I called
the Forest Service to confirm that it had opened, and it had. I couldn’t get any information on conditions
since “nobody has been over it yet”.
Exuding confidence (if not good sense), I set out to be at least one of
the first. I evidently was a pioneer,
because I only saw two other cars on the whole road.
The road itself was in generally good condition, although it was wet, and the weather was foggy, and drizzling. And it was also COLD. After about a half hour I had to pull over and put on my electric jacket and gloves. In fact, this was a good time to make sure they worked before hitting Alaska. I also hit snow on the side of the road, something I don’t get too much of in Panama.
The other minor inconvenience that Mt. Saint Helens can
offer is lava… it is an active volcano and last had a major eruption in [I
think] 1986. There are “Evacuation
Route” signs all over the place, but I’m not sure how El Pinguino would do
trying to outrun a lava flow.
Fortunately this morning the mountain was quiet and I was able to
descend unencumbered by a layer of soot or stone. After Mt. Saint Helens the road to Seattle
was a case of déjà vu, as I had ridden these roads a lot when we lived in
Seattle. Finally I arrived in Seattle
and the house of my good friends Don and Deeann Smith.
The next day was the Fourth of July, and Don had the day
off. So what to do? GO RIDING, of course. Don and I have ridden all over the Northwest,
so it was great to have a day together.
Fortunately, the weather was spectacular as only it can be in the
Northwest (when it’s not raining). We
took off to the east and made our way through the rural roads to every bar that
we could find.
It really became obvious that this is Harley Davidson country
There were also numerous reminders that bikers in this neighborhood really do control the bars, as the exquisite piece of sculpture on the roof in back of Don attests.
On the way back we passed an area where they were doing parasailing. This sport consists of jumping off a mountain with a piece of cloth strapped to your back and pretending you can fly. In fact, I had done this off of the cliffs in Lima, Peru, three years ago. I still have the pair of browned skivvy shorts that I wore as a souvenir, but I certainly had no desire to try it again. Been there, done that, crossed it off the Bucket List.
I spent the rest of the week in Seattle visiting friends,
doing errands, and generally hanging out.
On July 7 I was scheduled to catch the Alaska State Ferry from
Bellingham (about 1 ½ hours north of Seattle) to Haines, Alaska. This is a 2 ½ day trip through the Inside
Passage of British Columbia and Alaska.
In 2001 I rode to Alaska through BC and the Yukon, so I didn’t feel the
need to ride this particular road again.
Also for this reason, I didn’t feel like I was “cheating” in my
Circle-to-Circle ride.
Don decided to ride to Bellingham with me (and it was a damned good thing he did), and we decided to
take the scenic route. Just north of
Marysville we turned off Highway 5 to take the back roads. At the top of the freeway offramp we stopped
at the light, and when the light turned green and I gave it gas… the bike didn’t
move. Tried shifting again…
nothing. I thought there might be a
clutch problem and pushed the bike to the side of the road. While I was standing there scratching my head
and contemplating my navel a woman came along in a car to inform me that my drive
chain was still on the offramp! “[Expletive]”,
I said to myself, parking the bike and running back to retrieve it. Then I rolled the bike down the hill to the
parking lot of a gas station to figure out what to do.On inspection, the master link of the chain had broken. Since I carry a spare, this should not have been a major problem but it also appeared that the next link had gotten bent and wasn’t moving freely. This I didn’t like and decided a new chain was the more prudent route to take. We called the Honda dealer in the next town, they had a chain in stock, and Don went up the road to get it while I prepared to make the change. After an hour Don was back with the chain, I made the change, and off we rode.
I do have to say that this made me just a bit nervous, not
because it’s difficult to change the chain (I’ve done it many times) but
because if I was late for the ferry I would have to wait a week for the next
one, and then wouldn’t be able to get a cabin.
But it all worked out… quick chain change and all. We even had time for a couple of tacos and
beers in Bellingham before parting at the ferry dock.
And then I was ready for the next stage of the adventure:
It took about three hours to load the boat (the MV Kennicott), but then we were off:
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