2008 SPAMS Ride - Day 8 - 6/7/2008
The final day again the KLR would not start so push starting did it again and we were off to Pendleton thru a cold Blue Mountain pass on I84 into Pendleton for breakfast at Shari's. This is the same place we stopped at on the way home from California so the pictures on the menus helped our decisions! A lady comes up to the table and recognizes us and wants to give us more of the yellow fliers, it was funny to bump into her again. We then headed towards Umatila, the Columbia and the Mabton road which is great road to break up the straightaways. In Yakima , Paul and I pulled off for gas and go via Mt Rainier. Adam, Alan and Greg headed up the freeway with very bad winds via the pass and in Ellensburg. I checked and the pass just opened 2 days ago which tells you what a strange and cool spring we have. We had a great ride up the sunny canyon but at the top fog, 40 yards of visibilty and 10 feet of snow on the sides of the road so we again were at 30-32 degrees before we came down and into Seattle. A great ride with many challenges but I must say gear and watching the conditions and knowing what your bike can or cannot do are critical. Another point was following a car or truck which is indicating or seems to be indicate a turn but then turns the other way so patience in passing is needed as I had a brake light flash right which I thought was turning right but his left light was out and he turned left as I started to pass, almost a T-bone. Greg had one which the trailer was misconnected so left turn indicated really was a right turn.
Snow on NF-52 near Little Alps, OR
Paul running ahead to see if there was a Wal Mart around the next corner. Greg
refused to go any further if he couldn't
eat at a McDonald's in a Wal Mart. We <had> to turn back!
