My Trip To Eastern Washington

My Trip To Eastern Washington



We had planed to visit Eastern Washington this summer, sometime. So, after Hubby got his spanking new Honda Valkyrie Interstate, on August 28th 1999, (he traded both our Suzuki Intruders in) we packed the bikes and headed out after breakfast, about 11 AM. I was riding my '97 Honda Magna 750.
Our son Chris decided he was going to go with us too. All excited for several days before, he was trying on my jacket and helmet.
It was a beautiful day, sunny and in the 70's when we left that morning. Heading east over Snoqualmie Pass there seemed to be lots of traffic for some reason. Not far from the Pass we encountered a traffic backup. Now it was getting pretty warm with our leathers on. The backup seemed to stretch on for 3 miles. Stop and go, stop and go. Our hands aching from pulling the clutches and sweating in our leathers, we inched our way along. Finally we were on our way.
Going over the the Pass went smooth. Both bikes just purred along, not minding 75-80 mph at all. After riding over 100 miles, I signaled Hubby that I had to get gas. Stopping in Yakima, Washington we filled up. Now it was getting really warm. Off the leather coats came and were replaced by jeans jackets. We stopped also at a rest area outside of Yakima to get more water to drink. Going around the corner off the exit, Chris was stretching his left foot. He hit the curb at 35 mph. I could see Don's bike wobble as he was trying to keep it straight. Stopping, he looked at Chris. Not a good thing to do.
We pressed on. We still had over 150 miles to cover and it was getting really warm now. Off the jeans jackets came too. It must have been close to 90 F by now. After 120 more miles, we pulled over in Prosser, Washington at a rest area again. Resting for about 30 minutes, drinking more water and taking more clothes off, we were pretty darn warm now. A fellow with an older Triumph told us it was 100F!
We still had almost 80 miles to cover. Back on the bikes, we pulled out again. Going through Richland, Pasco and Kennewick, I caught a few folks looking at us while they were passing. Grinning at us, I could see their minds saying "That's the wife, that's the dad and son. Wow, a women riding a bike!"
Finally we could see the Boise Cascade paper mill. Only 2 more miles to go, I thought. Pulling into our friends driveway was a welcome sight in this heat.
We spent the next two nights there visiting. On Sunday we had a BBQ and took Kris' boat out for a while on the Snake River. It was beautiful 84F and not a cloud in the sky. Since I love innertubing so much, I had a heck of a ride that day. Kris did a very good job, dunking LadyBlue. The second time so hard, that it almost knocked my shorts off. I was scrambling underwater to pull them back up! Guess I didn't want to be in underwear at the beach!
We spent two more days with my other friend before we headed back home Wednesday. Our son Chris learned one more little lesson being a passenger on a motorbike. "Never jump on the bike from the right side of the bike when Dad's not expecting it" It caused Don to almost to drop the bike at a gas station.
I was trying to meet Rottenbiker (Marsha Roach) when she came in from California with the Iron Butt Run. But she had problems with her bike (what a shame). Even though we were in touch by phone, we ended up missing each other by 15 minutes in Kennewick, Washington.
We left to return to Seattle Wednesday morning at 11:15 AM. The weather was much cooler this time and the trucks were plentiful on the road. Again we stopped in Prosser, Washington to have lunch, gas up and rest a while. The sun was shining bright, the valleys and rivers were beautiful. I could hardly get enough of the scenery around me.
Getting closer to Yakima and Snoqualmie Pass, one could see the walls of clouds to the west. We stopped again in Yakima at the rest area, this time to put warmer jackets on for the journey over the pass. By the time we reached Issaquah, after almost 6 hours of riding (10 miles from home), I was tired from fighting the wind. Eastern Washington is a bit more windy anyway, combined with the wind the semis were putting out, I was glad to almost be home.
All in all we had covered almost 600 miles on our trip. We had no problems, a good ride, good weather and fun. What more can you ask for when your planning a bike trip? Maybe more time to take rides like this more often, that's all I can think of. After all, bike trips are supposed to be just that, right?

Written in September 1999

Pictures and copyright: Carmen Adams,1999



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Pictures From The Trip