Today dawned dark and rainy...the only reason I know that it actually dawned was because the clock told me so. I still feel fairly under the weather, wishing that this cold was in my head and not my chest, head colds are easier to live with and ignore.
I had what looked to be a fairly easy ride ahead of me, 282 miles to land in Colville, WA. As it turns out by a huge coincidence, a good friend who has been moving all around the west for contracting jobs was planted exactly in my path at a good place to stop for the night. It would be a welcome respite to socialize for an evening.
As I packed my junk up into the bags, switching out my jackets from my mesh to my foul weather jacket that I call my flak jacket, and my full face helmet, I was trying not to pay attention to that sluggishness that one gets when fighting a cold. I knew that once I got going I would be fine. It was carrying the gear out to the bike and loading it that was the most work. A fellow was having a smoke outside the motel and I asked him to take the photo of the start of my day.
The day was cold, it was not long before I was chilled.... I quickly calculated that I could make this run with only 2 stops for gas and restroom, I usually don't run a whole tank of gas before stopping, but my agenda today did not include sightseeing. I was a bee on a mission!
I had one thing happen though, at the gas stop, I went to put the chaps on my engine guards and noticed that one of my highway pegs was missing. How could I have lost a chunk of metal off my bike and not noticed it?
Ranger will see if we can transfer my passenger pegs forward for the rest of the ride.
So, not many photos today... however, I can easily tell you how the scenery looked. Draw a 3x4" box on a piece of paper, go get your box of crayons and choose the medium gray one. Color the box in.... there you have it. That is exactly what the landscape looked like for miles! Occasionally it would begin to break and tease me, a little glimpse of the sun would come through, but then the road would turn into the mountains again and the rain as well.
The road was actually quite spectacular, on a good day, I could have doubled my ride time on it by stopping at the scenic overlooks. Today, I glanced in the directions of them and nodded in appreciation, even if the view was super cloudy, it was pretty. I left at 8am and was making really good time. Jack keeps track of my arrival time, and he was telling me that I would be pulling in Colville at 2pm and I was thrilled at watching that time approach, getting psyched to stop and rest for a chunk of time and recoup.
But the I crossed the Pacific time line and I lost an hour. I am quite positive that many people probably heard the cry of disbelief as I realized I needed to ride another cold shivery hour. Sooooo bummed!
Arrival in Colville was to this:
Ranger has sweet talked the owner of the transmission place to do it. I was tickled :) The guys all told me that the parade had been canceled because of rain though. I told them that it was the thought that counted.
This motel is a fairly basic motor inn, with each room having a exit to the outdoors. However, the lobby is unlike any I have seen... I think the motel supports the owner's hobby... would you agree?
Colville is a tiny town, we took a walk from one end of the downtown to the other, a simple downtown but with a lot of pride... every lamp post has a laser cut metal sculpture on it. They are fun to see how different each one is. You can see another one in the sign photo.
And then there is this sculpture in the town square. How could I resist not doing the tourist thing and jumping into it for a photo? :)
We ate an early supper at a nice restaurant...and got one more silly photo. The 10 year old boy in me has this desire to drive a backhoe someday. It did not take much prodding for me to climb into this little one for a photo :)
All in all, not a bad day...started off tough but ended on a good easy note
and a long night's sleep.
Just what everyone ordered for me.
I had what looked to be a fairly easy ride ahead of me, 282 miles to land in Colville, WA. As it turns out by a huge coincidence, a good friend who has been moving all around the west for contracting jobs was planted exactly in my path at a good place to stop for the night. It would be a welcome respite to socialize for an evening.
As I packed my junk up into the bags, switching out my jackets from my mesh to my foul weather jacket that I call my flak jacket, and my full face helmet, I was trying not to pay attention to that sluggishness that one gets when fighting a cold. I knew that once I got going I would be fine. It was carrying the gear out to the bike and loading it that was the most work. A fellow was having a smoke outside the motel and I asked him to take the photo of the start of my day.
The day was cold, it was not long before I was chilled.... I quickly calculated that I could make this run with only 2 stops for gas and restroom, I usually don't run a whole tank of gas before stopping, but my agenda today did not include sightseeing. I was a bee on a mission!
I had one thing happen though, at the gas stop, I went to put the chaps on my engine guards and noticed that one of my highway pegs was missing. How could I have lost a chunk of metal off my bike and not noticed it?
Ranger will see if we can transfer my passenger pegs forward for the rest of the ride.
So, not many photos today... however, I can easily tell you how the scenery looked. Draw a 3x4" box on a piece of paper, go get your box of crayons and choose the medium gray one. Color the box in.... there you have it. That is exactly what the landscape looked like for miles! Occasionally it would begin to break and tease me, a little glimpse of the sun would come through, but then the road would turn into the mountains again and the rain as well.
The road was actually quite spectacular, on a good day, I could have doubled my ride time on it by stopping at the scenic overlooks. Today, I glanced in the directions of them and nodded in appreciation, even if the view was super cloudy, it was pretty. I left at 8am and was making really good time. Jack keeps track of my arrival time, and he was telling me that I would be pulling in Colville at 2pm and I was thrilled at watching that time approach, getting psyched to stop and rest for a chunk of time and recoup.
But the I crossed the Pacific time line and I lost an hour. I am quite positive that many people probably heard the cry of disbelief as I realized I needed to ride another cold shivery hour. Sooooo bummed!
Arrival in Colville was to this:
Ranger has sweet talked the owner of the transmission place to do it. I was tickled :) The guys all told me that the parade had been canceled because of rain though. I told them that it was the thought that counted.
This motel is a fairly basic motor inn, with each room having a exit to the outdoors. However, the lobby is unlike any I have seen... I think the motel supports the owner's hobby... would you agree?
Colville is a tiny town, we took a walk from one end of the downtown to the other, a simple downtown but with a lot of pride... every lamp post has a laser cut metal sculpture on it. They are fun to see how different each one is. You can see another one in the sign photo.
And then there is this sculpture in the town square. How could I resist not doing the tourist thing and jumping into it for a photo? :)
We ate an early supper at a nice restaurant...and got one more silly photo. The 10 year old boy in me has this desire to drive a backhoe someday. It did not take much prodding for me to climb into this little one for a photo :)
All in all, not a bad day...started off tough but ended on a good easy note
and a long night's sleep.
Just what everyone ordered for me.
Kate,
ReplyDeleteFighting a chest cold myself right now and I wouldn't want to be doing it on a long ride. I hope you're able to keep your spirits up and enjoy the adventure in spite of not feeling 100%.
Be safe,
Rich
The extroidinary chain of events that brought our meeting together on day 12 in Colville, rather than St Louis on day 24 was pretty amazing a chance in a million,,but a bright spot in what is normally anguish for us being away from home. After the issues of rain, feeling ill, cancelling glacier it was good to see that glowing smile and the sign of a rested Beee. The only nice thing about watching you ride off down 20 leaving 2 envious bikers 1200 miles from their scooters was knowing you were heading into sunshine and a beeautiful ride and luck holding out the next time We see you will bee on the Great River Road with V-twins strapped to our butts. Enjoy this day, you will reach your goal, smell the sea by rides end and rest for a while.
ReplyDeleteBTW the Chamber of Commerce asked to apoligize about the parade.
as they say in Colville
Ride Kate Ride
Kate, just catching up on your most excellent ride! You may have this already, but if not, a heated vest or jacket liner is worth having when the weather turns cold and wet. Here's a link to Gerbings liner:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.gerbing.com/Products/Liners/heatedJacketLiner.html