Leaving Seattle - Labor Day

Leaving Seattle

For the last 3 days I have had a great visit with my cousin Bill and his wife Hanneli.  Great conversation, great food and just a fun and relaxing time.  It was also an opportunity to get to know the two of them better.  Like many families with relatives that live more than a day's drive away - we just don't see each other enough.  We've shared stories and learned something about each other that we might have known if we didn't live so far away.  In the past 30 years - this is the third time that I've seen them.  Thanks Bill and Hanneli for putting up with me for the last three days and for you hospitality.

Today - I also had the opportunity to ride to Redmond and visit an old high school friend, Jerry Wouri and his wife Gwen.  I've seen Jerry maybe 3 or 4 times in the last 50 years.

Tomorrow I head north on highway 5 and catch highway 20 over the Cascade range.  I don't know how much internet or cell coverage I will have but I will update my location via "spot" on Facebook.

Friday in Seattle

Right now I'm at Ride West BMW motorcycle dealership in Seattle getting a new front tire.  I asked the service manager where a laundromat was and he asked why.  I said, "so that I will quit stinking."  His response was "how many loads?"  I said - one.  He said, "you can use our washing machine and dryer."  So while I'm waiting on a new tire - I'm also going to have clean clothes when I visit my cousin Bill.  He will feel better about me.

In the showroom of the dealership - hanging for the ceiling is a BMW motorcycle with a story.  See the story in the next photo.

                                    

                                       

Being in Seattle brings back memories of working in Everett WA for a company called Intermec.  They are now owned by Honeywell but trips up here were frequent.  Intermec was the first company to introduce RFID - the technology used for Fast Pass.

Over the weekend I will be visiting an old high school buddy and his wife that live in Redmond - Jerry Wouri and Gwen.  Then my plan is to head out first thing Tuesday morning and head over highway 530 and meet up with highway 20 over to 97 then up to BC.

On The Northern Olympic Peninsula

Right now I'm in Sequim Washington on the upper most tip of the Olympic Peninsula.  There was a bit of rain getting here but not bad.

Some photos and a few thoughts:

The photo below is from Lake Crescent on 101 - about 20 miles from Port Angeles.

                                   The mouth of the Columbia River

                                                    

                                         The bridge crossing over the Columbia River in the back ground

 Riding a motorcycle gives me a lot of time to think. There are few distractions other than the road.  No radio, no cell phone, just the road and a lot of time to notice what's around you.  One of the towns I passed through on my way to Port Angeles was the logging and mill town of Aberdeen.  Just riding into town brought back a lot of memories.  The smells of raw cut lumber, logging trucks, one after the other, bringing Cedar and Fir into the mills. The look of the town could have been any other logging town in the US.  If you substituted timber with coal - it could have been any other small town that survives on bringing the natural resources of the area to market.  The town looked a lot like Fort Bragg about 30 years ago.  There was a lot of activity and people were working but the town was struggling.  There were a lot of "company" houses- a lot of them were vacant, some were occupied, some were in better shape than others but they were all, company homes with the company is living off the backs of their struggling employees.  But the good news is the employees at least have jobs and I'm sure if you asked any of them how they felt about their employer - they would be positive.

I'm not making any statement about the value of these jobs.  The employees are feeding their families.  I'm very familiar with struggling small logging towns.  They're my town.

This is a photo of a clear-cut section of timber land.  It looks bad but it's just a part of the picture.  I've seen many sections of clear cut areas throughout Oregon and Washington but I've also seen hundreds of timber blocks of reforested areas.  The future has been planned.
  

                                             

This photo shows the cutting and replanting schedule.  Congratulations to the Washington timber industry.  It won't happen with oil.

                                  

I ended up feeling pretty good about how Washington is managing one of their top natural resources.

Tomorrow I will be in Seattle at the BMW dealership getting a new front tire and then spending the weekend with my cousin Bill and his wife.

Thursday August 28th On To Olympic

Yesturday was a ride mostly in the fog until getting close to Astoria.  I would gets small glimpses of the coast line when the sun would break through.  I took a number of photos and will try to upload later.  I have spent the last 2 hours trying to upload photos from this iPad to a Blogspot but the iPad will not allow a simple copy and paste.  It's been very frustrating.

When I arrived at the mouth of the Columbia River - I was blown away.  I've never been to Astoria and the site of massive ships and a bridge crossing the river that must be several miles long was incredible.

Right now I'm sitting in Chen's resturant in South Bend WA.  My plan today is to head to the Olympic pennincila to Olympic National Park.

Guess what?  I hear the weather forecast is for rain.  Well - what should I expect - I'm in Washington and on a motorcycle.

My next stope where I can get WiFi I will try again to upload photos.

Tuesday August 27th - Oregon Coast

 The first 3 photos were taken just before I reached Crescent City.  It was around 4:30 and the coast was beautiful even in the fog.  

 

   
Driving up 101 - Trees of Mystery - brings back traveling this route with my parents.  I always wanted to stop.  Other than this photo - I still haven't.




Monday night at the campground.

                                        

 Great Fish and Chips in Coos Bay for lunch on Tuesday,

                                       

                                      

After having fish and chips in Coos Bay - I got stuck on a bridge for 3 hours.  There was a 5 car pile up with a logging truck.  I don't know how serious injuries were.  But I was very thankful that I was just stuck in traffic.

I didn't make it very far yesturday.  I rode maybe another 2 hours and stayed the night in Florence OR., in a nice motel.  Right now I'm sitting in a Starbucks in NewPort OR.  My plan is to make it to Astoria today (Wednesday).

What I've seen:  Not much - the entire Oregon coast has been socked in with fog.  I've debated cutting over to highway 5.  The going on 101 is very slow and not being able to see anything has been disappointing.

Many many mobil home parks.  I think it's fine if someone by choice lives in a mobil home but it seems that more and more it's being driven by economic necessity.  I don't recall seeing one mobil home park in Europe.  There are plenty of RV parks in Europe but not where people live on a full time basis.  We are clearly becoming a nation of the "haves" and "have not."  Why are we allowing "the very few" to destroy the middle class?  This is our country.

What I've Learned:  Trying to blog on an iPad is a pain in the ass.  Uploading photos is a real challenge.

My butt needs toughening,

First Day Out

What I Packed:

Spot Satellite tracker - I use this to show my location along the way and to check in to let my family and friends know that I'm okay.  More importantly - if I get in a jam,  I can press one button and it sends out a distress message along with my lattitude and longetude.  That way the bears and buzzards know where to find me.

Sleeping bag, pad and tent:  Although I will probably be staying in a lot of B&Bs and some cheap motels - I do really enjoy camping.  I like waking up in the morning outside.  The only real down-side for someone my age is getting up to pee 2 or 3 times a night.

• Grizley Bear Pepper Spray - Hope I don't need it
• Mini iPad and Mini iPad keyboard.  This is what I will use to blog and take photos.
• Mini Stove and 2 small gas containers
• 2 dehydrated meals
• Camelback -  When it gets over 80 in the sun - keeping hydrated is essential.
• Tool Kit
• Maps
• 3 Days change of cloaths. (That should last 3 weeks)
• Toilet Paper
• Heated jacket - plugs into an assesory jack on the bike
• Rain Pants
• Other stuff

I made it to Crescent City last night and spent the night in a State Camp ground.  What I saw:  Just as I was crossing the Klamath River I looked down and along river's edge was a big black bear.  What I learned: Make sure that my tent is not down hill from where I might get up to pee in the middle of the night....

Off to Oregon.....

Leaving On Monday August 25

I'm packing up and getting ready to leave.  I will be heading up highway 101 through Eureka, Crescent City and travelling along the Oregon coast and then into Washington and continue up 101. I've traveled to and through Oregon and Washington many times but have never been along the coast.

From the Seattle area I will head up 5 to highway 20 and then through the mountains to meet 97.  This isn't the fastest rout but I'm 71 years old - so who cares.  My plan is to meet up with my friend Bill when I cross over into Canada.  He's 82 - he doesn't care where we meet either.

This trip is planned mostly to see Bill.  We met on the ferry travelling from Nova Scotia to Newfoundland a little over 4 years ago.  Later - Bill road down to visit and we traveled through the California Sierras, Yosemite, over the Tioga  Pass and along 395.  When we returned to the western side of the Sierras we took the Sonora Pass.  This was one of the most beautiful rides I have ever taken.

 

The balance of today, Sunday, will be packing and making sure I've got what I need.

You should be able to track my progress via Spot. Spot is a satellite tracking device that I ware on my arm that sends a location signal to a satellite.  My position is then plotted out on a map.  It should link to my Facebook page but you should also be able to find it by going to www.findmespot.com and search on Findgary. The link should be directly to my page.  There won't be anything to see until tomorrow.

 http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0tpixbYqH7VomVYaOyfAJWYtHgtmSjvjD