We rode down to the farthest south we could go which leads to the jetty. Of course more construction prevent us from getting as far as I had planned, but we still got out there quite a ways by foot and took a couple nice pictures of the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse. After that we rode over to the tiny little parking lot for that lighthouse and began the hike to the 
interpretive center and the lighthouse itself. To get to the lighthouse you have to hike around Deadman’s Cove which has a Coast Guard Station there. So when we got to the lighthouse, there’s a manned Coast Guard observation post which is pretty cool. The lighthouse was built in 1856 and had a gun battery there at 
one time too, though there are no remnants there probably due to it being a currently active Coast Guard post.
It was now noon and time to find a place to eat, which is harder than it 
seems it should be. We made our way back to Illwaco figuring we’d find a place to eat. But Illwaco itself is more of a commercial fishing village than a tourist place. Still, at 1pm we found a great place to eat: The Salt Hotel and Pub where Tim and I sat outside and had a delicious lunch. An hour later it was time to get back on the road again. After a slight GPS detour, we got back on to 101 heading now along the Columbia River more or less east. We stopped at Fort Columbia which is a smaller fort of similar arrangment to the other WW1 era forts. Like Fort Casey this fort also housed the disappearing guns though 
they had none on display. Leaving there, we continued on toward the Astoria bridge to Oregon. Most traffic was heading that way, but we stayed in Washington riding on state highway 401 now, passing through Megler and Knapton on our way up through Naselle and highway 4.
This was going to take us east and back along the river, but not before stopping at the Grays River Covered Bridge. I don’t know if it’s the only covered bridge in the state of Washington, but it’s the first one I’ve ever seen on my motorcycle. Beautifully preserved 
and crossable, it was really cool to see. Very dark inside when riding, but it showed up pretty well in camera. Well worth our stop. It's the only covered bridge still in use as a public highway in the state of Washington. Built in 1905, it was placed on the National Historic Registry in 1971.
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.
