Putting in those 9 hour days at work (as much as one would believe a government contractor would do that) yields a perc of every other Friday off. There's something satisfying about getting up early on your day off and pointing your motorcycle towards a dam and as the sun comes up drones are slogging their way to their 9 to 5.
Friday was chilly again with 22 degrees being a low spot on my thermometer. Not to worry as just a few miles before my first dam near Tieton, WA I visited my good friend Lisa AND she had a hot cup of coffee ready.
Fueled up on warm fluid and caffeine I journeyed down the blacktop a few miles to French Canyon Dam. The gate was open and minivan with faded badging on the side parked by a concrete building. The driver eyeballed me and approached...I knew post 9/11 he was naturally wary. I disarmed him by showing my laminated card with dams listed. If I was a terrorist...I was a very creative terrorist he figured and won over his good nature immediately.
He even told me that building housed some giant air tank that would fill up and blow air out the intake periodically to clean off debris. Supposedly, it's quite a show if you're not expecting it.
This dam also was the fourth or fifth that even locals rarely know exist. We're all used to the iconic conrete dams Grand Coulee, but the truth is there's a ton more lower rise earthen dams out there in nooks and crannies of the world helping irrigation and maybe eeking out a bit of power via a non-descript turbine in a block building. This is one of those.
Rising up over White Pass the temperature dropped some more and I cranked my electric clothing to their max setting. Descending the slope into Western Washington, rounding a sweeper to a stellar view of Mt. Rainier, I was also greeted to a perfectly timed Sheryl Crow song.
Everyday is a winding roadI get a little bit closer
Everyday is a faded sign
I get a little bit closer to feeling fine
Jump in, let's go
Lay back, enjoy the show
Everybody gets high, everybody gets low
These are the days when anything goes
Rolling on past Packwood I turned off 12 and into yet another piece of the world I hadn't seen. Cowlitz Dam is a classic looking dam to me...with high walls of a natural canyon as if Nature almost did the job herself.
Then off to Aberdeen for the third dam of the day. The urge to ride my bike out on the dock was nearly irresistible in this completely empty park, but the headline "Mayor's Motorcycle Fished From Lake - Citation Issued" stopped me.
The cool thing about this dam is it's right next door to LDComfort World Headquarters and I know the owner, Mario Winkelman.
Mario makes what are the gold standard for long-distance underwear. ...and if you're thinking the world has gone nuts where we have to worry about specific underwear for motorcycling...I'll just say that Mario was a logger for years so he knows his stuff about long underwear. Suffice it to say that the research, detail, and refinement he and staff have put into the stuff is amazing. What I wear exclusively from 20 degrees to 120 degrees is far more involved than I ever fathomed prior to being taken on a tour of this place. Between the special fabric he has custom made that TRULY keeps your skin dry even if the outer wicking part is soaked. Here are some videos that I can attest are true.
https://ldcomfort.com/productdescription.htm
And he even showed me a couple of products being considered for market....shhhh......they're secret.
After the visit with Mario I pointed the bike south and headed towards Oregon. I had to stop in Astoria to see my Grandparent's old house on the hill. It's amazing how much smaller it seems now.
Interestingly, the school it overlooks is the one in Kindgarten Cop and it had the coolest slide I'd ever seen. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astoria_School_District
Family history fix attained I pointed towards the coastal town of Seaside....another childhood memory of almost getting ran over by a car when I was 4 or so. The weather was perfect, it was dinner time, people were out, the bars looked inviting, and I couldn't help but park my bike at a beachside hotel, pay $88, and spend the night.
The sunset was phenomenal and iconic for me...and I hope for my fellow Dam Riders.
And the tourist town after dark seemed to only have a couple real bars and then one I chose was typical sports bar fare with lots of Harleys parked out front. Terriyaki burger was OK, but customer service went from OK to obscene when I noticed the change I had on the bar from my first drink was gone....blown away by a wind coming through the door.
When I asked the bartender to look down and see if he saw it on the floor he immediately got defensive and said he wasn't responsible for it. Hmmm.
Naturally, he didn't find anything and even when I asked to ask the other bartender if she saw the money he got increasingly belligerent.
By that point I doubt me writing a big fat $0 on the tip on the credit card bill didn't help his state of mind, but what he did next dumbfounded me. "You're an a**hole....you're outta here! Bob, kick this guy out!"
I'd never been kicked out of a bar (for something I didn't deserve before). Maybe I'm shifty looking..I dunno. I thought I'd even mellowed out a bit as I've grown older. But, the bartender still seemed perturbed as I got up before the bouncer could get actually kick me out. Me walking away without turning back to the mocking bouncer really seemed to bother him too.
That and I will urge none of you to ever do business at Dundee's in Seaside, OR. Take your business elsewhere.
Up in the morning I wandered 101 south stopping for a good lunch of seafood chowder and salmon burger in Florence and picked off the fairly undramatic 26 foot high Tahkenitch Dam. Aiming inland I found the Umpqua Highway between Reedsport and Roseburg to be a phenomenal road. Meandering along the river it was a stunning view and great curvy stuff to wear off the sides of my tires.
After Roseburg I rode I-5 a bit and turned off onto an even more stellar road that I promised not to divulge because it's "secret" according to my buddy RenoJohn. Suffice it to say the picture of this tree is at the beginning of it.
Next dam was a very impressive sized earthen dam with a beautiful reservoir behind it.
After that dam I had a choice brewing. I could head north to Crescent Lake knowing I'd get the California dam in July...or bad the Pit Dam and get back home later Sunday.
No brainer...head South! I scored the dam just before dark.
and was treated to this stellar view of Mt. Shasta on the way back to I-5. The road was FAST!
After a dinner at Black Bear Diner (one of my favorites in the region) I slogged back up I-5 and 97 to Klamath Falls. The temperature dropped and I just had no energy to setup a tent and rough it...so Super 8 it was.
Freshly showered I started my third day by riding into a dam that had been blocked by snow and as I would find out, just visited the day or two previous by other Dam Riders. I wasn't THE first, but I was one of the first ones in there.
After that dam I even stopped in La Pine and said hi to a friendly FJR rider, Ray. Not much to La Pine, but he was working Sunday.
And for a final attempt I tried to visit Timothy Lake near Mt. Hood, but both the roads I could make out from 26 were blocked with snow MANY miles from the lake. Again, I'd find out that riders made it into this via another route...and am secretly envious. It means I'm going to have to come back to this one!
Back home about 5 p.m. and kicked back for a few hours before heading to bed.
Good dreams and a good weekend.
Friday was chilly again with 22 degrees being a low spot on my thermometer. Not to worry as just a few miles before my first dam near Tieton, WA I visited my good friend Lisa AND she had a hot cup of coffee ready.
Fueled up on warm fluid and caffeine I journeyed down the blacktop a few miles to French Canyon Dam. The gate was open and minivan with faded badging on the side parked by a concrete building. The driver eyeballed me and approached...I knew post 9/11 he was naturally wary. I disarmed him by showing my laminated card with dams listed. If I was a terrorist...I was a very creative terrorist he figured and won over his good nature immediately.
He even told me that building housed some giant air tank that would fill up and blow air out the intake periodically to clean off debris. Supposedly, it's quite a show if you're not expecting it.
This dam also was the fourth or fifth that even locals rarely know exist. We're all used to the iconic conrete dams Grand Coulee, but the truth is there's a ton more lower rise earthen dams out there in nooks and crannies of the world helping irrigation and maybe eeking out a bit of power via a non-descript turbine in a block building. This is one of those.
Rising up over White Pass the temperature dropped some more and I cranked my electric clothing to their max setting. Descending the slope into Western Washington, rounding a sweeper to a stellar view of Mt. Rainier, I was also greeted to a perfectly timed Sheryl Crow song.
Everyday is a winding roadI get a little bit closer
Everyday is a faded sign
I get a little bit closer to feeling fine
Jump in, let's go
Lay back, enjoy the show
Everybody gets high, everybody gets low
These are the days when anything goes
Rolling on past Packwood I turned off 12 and into yet another piece of the world I hadn't seen. Cowlitz Dam is a classic looking dam to me...with high walls of a natural canyon as if Nature almost did the job herself.
Then off to Aberdeen for the third dam of the day. The urge to ride my bike out on the dock was nearly irresistible in this completely empty park, but the headline "Mayor's Motorcycle Fished From Lake - Citation Issued" stopped me.
The cool thing about this dam is it's right next door to LDComfort World Headquarters and I know the owner, Mario Winkelman.
Mario makes what are the gold standard for long-distance underwear. ...and if you're thinking the world has gone nuts where we have to worry about specific underwear for motorcycling...I'll just say that Mario was a logger for years so he knows his stuff about long underwear. Suffice it to say that the research, detail, and refinement he and staff have put into the stuff is amazing. What I wear exclusively from 20 degrees to 120 degrees is far more involved than I ever fathomed prior to being taken on a tour of this place. Between the special fabric he has custom made that TRULY keeps your skin dry even if the outer wicking part is soaked. Here are some videos that I can attest are true.
https://ldcomfort.com/productdescription.htm
And he even showed me a couple of products being considered for market....shhhh......they're secret.
After the visit with Mario I pointed the bike south and headed towards Oregon. I had to stop in Astoria to see my Grandparent's old house on the hill. It's amazing how much smaller it seems now.
Interestingly, the school it overlooks is the one in Kindgarten Cop and it had the coolest slide I'd ever seen. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astoria_School_District
Family history fix attained I pointed towards the coastal town of Seaside....another childhood memory of almost getting ran over by a car when I was 4 or so. The weather was perfect, it was dinner time, people were out, the bars looked inviting, and I couldn't help but park my bike at a beachside hotel, pay $88, and spend the night.
The sunset was phenomenal and iconic for me...and I hope for my fellow Dam Riders.
And the tourist town after dark seemed to only have a couple real bars and then one I chose was typical sports bar fare with lots of Harleys parked out front. Terriyaki burger was OK, but customer service went from OK to obscene when I noticed the change I had on the bar from my first drink was gone....blown away by a wind coming through the door.
When I asked the bartender to look down and see if he saw it on the floor he immediately got defensive and said he wasn't responsible for it. Hmmm.
Naturally, he didn't find anything and even when I asked to ask the other bartender if she saw the money he got increasingly belligerent.
By that point I doubt me writing a big fat $0 on the tip on the credit card bill didn't help his state of mind, but what he did next dumbfounded me. "You're an a**hole....you're outta here! Bob, kick this guy out!"
I'd never been kicked out of a bar (for something I didn't deserve before). Maybe I'm shifty looking..I dunno. I thought I'd even mellowed out a bit as I've grown older. But, the bartender still seemed perturbed as I got up before the bouncer could get actually kick me out. Me walking away without turning back to the mocking bouncer really seemed to bother him too.
That and I will urge none of you to ever do business at Dundee's in Seaside, OR. Take your business elsewhere.
Up in the morning I wandered 101 south stopping for a good lunch of seafood chowder and salmon burger in Florence and picked off the fairly undramatic 26 foot high Tahkenitch Dam. Aiming inland I found the Umpqua Highway between Reedsport and Roseburg to be a phenomenal road. Meandering along the river it was a stunning view and great curvy stuff to wear off the sides of my tires.
After Roseburg I rode I-5 a bit and turned off onto an even more stellar road that I promised not to divulge because it's "secret" according to my buddy RenoJohn. Suffice it to say the picture of this tree is at the beginning of it.
Next dam was a very impressive sized earthen dam with a beautiful reservoir behind it.
After that dam I had a choice brewing. I could head north to Crescent Lake knowing I'd get the California dam in July...or bad the Pit Dam and get back home later Sunday.
No brainer...head South! I scored the dam just before dark.
and was treated to this stellar view of Mt. Shasta on the way back to I-5. The road was FAST!
After a dinner at Black Bear Diner (one of my favorites in the region) I slogged back up I-5 and 97 to Klamath Falls. The temperature dropped and I just had no energy to setup a tent and rough it...so Super 8 it was.
Freshly showered I started my third day by riding into a dam that had been blocked by snow and as I would find out, just visited the day or two previous by other Dam Riders. I wasn't THE first, but I was one of the first ones in there.
After that dam I even stopped in La Pine and said hi to a friendly FJR rider, Ray. Not much to La Pine, but he was working Sunday.
And for a final attempt I tried to visit Timothy Lake near Mt. Hood, but both the roads I could make out from 26 were blocked with snow MANY miles from the lake. Again, I'd find out that riders made it into this via another route...and am secretly envious. It means I'm going to have to come back to this one!
Back home about 5 p.m. and kicked back for a few hours before heading to bed.
Good dreams and a good weekend.
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