One thing that I thought I had figured out was all of the electronics I was taking. I had my Garmin 2720 GPS which plugged into my 12-volt "cigarette lighter" socket on my bike. I had a splitter for it so that I could charge other things on the go. Here's what I had to balance out: cellphone, Sena SMH10 bluetooth headset, digital camera, GoPro video camera, GoPro remote, Windows netbook. That last item was for downloaded camera footage and stills to free up space as I traveled. The two most important things were the phone and the bluetooth headset. That keeps me connected to Dan & Bill, as well as the outside world. I had a two port USB adapter to plug into the splitter so I could charge two things at once. That was the plan. Like plans for other things, it didn't quite work out that way. More on that later too.
Friday, June 13, 2014
Bill and I decided to leave Friday afternoon and meet Dan at his house in Prosser which is a few short hours southwest of Spokane. From there the next day we would head south through Oregon to Crater Lake, then passing through Klamath Falls, break into California down to Lake Tahoe, then cross Nevada and Utah into Colorado with the goal of being in Telluride sometime Wednesday morning, June 18th. I left work about 2pm, got home, changed clothes, kissed Vicki goodbye (for 2 weeks!!!), and headed off for Bill's house. After Bill took care of a few things at his house, we were on the road heading toward Colfax on US195. After topping off our tanks in Colfax, we headed southwest on State Route 26, turning south on SR127 to cross the Snake River, then west again on SR124 to put us on track for the Tri-Cities. From there we switched to US12/ I-182 to get us over to Prosser. We eventually got to Dan's house after a bit of turning.
All of the streets in Dan's rural area tend to look alike, but Bill eventually got it straightened out. A short day of 256 miles by my odometer. Dan and his wife Verlaine live in a beautiful home that Dan built among orchards, some of which they farm (if that's the right word). We spent the night there and had a great dinner and breakfast, making plans for the upcoming day.
Saturday, June 14, 2014
Having charged up all the electronics the night before, we were all ready to hit the road for the real beginning of this big trip. After gassing up, we headed south out of town on the Mabton-Bickleton road taking us through Cleveland (didn't know we had a "Cleveland" in Washington state) eventually taking us to Goldendale. Heading south from Goldendale, we took US97 down to the Columbia River, then rode west on SR14 to Hood River.
Tom Clark
I'm a Senior Software Engineer at Intellitect, living in Spokane, Washington. I also do a little development work on the side. And I love riding motorcycles all over the country with my friends.
