Phase 2 - Doing it IB Style

We got a late start out of Seattle (4pm) because of a wedding that we wanted to attend, but the traffic heading south on I-5 rolled along well. We took a refueling stop at Exit 111 (Hawk's Prairie) and resisted the urge to visit Cabelas. It was then a pleasant ride south to the Kelso/Longview exit and then a few miles ride through those towns until we reached the Longview/Rainier bridge. It's one very high bridge to allow ocean going traffic to pass under on their way to Portland, OR.

Heading south on OR30 for a few miles we finally got off on the Fern Hill road and it was simply a delight: twisty road through farms and forested areas. We then connected with the Apiary Road which was equally fun and twisty. There are no pictures as we were riding!!

Arriving in Vernonia we located the cafe and took the obligatory picture to document our presence.


Wanting to score some bonus points, we ordered a simple cup of soup, a piece of Baklava, and a hot chocolate. After waiting for nearly 1/2 hour we pressed our case with the order taker. It seems as if this was the busiest time for this restaurant, but . . . It even took multiple requests just to get a receipt. And then the chocolate was mediocre at best. On the plus side the baklava and the soup was great. The owner didn't even seem to care about the Cafe 2 Cafe event.

Leaving Vernonia we head SE for our next destination at Troutdale. As we approached our turn for I-405 South, we noted that the exit was closed. Hmmm, what do we do? Follow the GPS and let it auto-route us which it did a nice job. Arriving at the next cafe, which is part of a hotel, it was extremely busy with a wedding and other festivities and lots of people. So we elected to not get bonus points at this location and simply snapped our evidence photo.


It was then a dark and quiet ride up I-84 to Hood River and our next cafe. Arriving at the cafe, we scored a parking place right in front of the restaurant. Parking at this location can be challenging because of hills, so obtaining a good parking spot was a good achievement, especially at 10pm.


Dinner was still being served, so we ordered up our faire.


I had eaten here previously, so I knew it was good, and this meal did not disappoint us. We then started checking for motels and found that everything was full. One motel proprietor finally told us why: There was a John Lennon Legends concert somewhere nearby. So we rode up to The Dalles (17 miles away and scored a room at the last motel on the east side of town - Oregon Motor Motel). While it was an older mom/pop motel, the proprietor let us park the Wing in a great spot and our room was a welcome relief at midnight!

Rising at 7:30am, we were soon off for the next part of our adventure with a first goal of Government Camp. To get there we took a little detour and rode old OR30 and up the Rowena Grade. This is another of the "must ride" roads in the Pacific NW. I had ridden it previously, but it was good to do it with Angela.




Leaving Rowena, we arrived back in Hood River and took OR35 south to US26. We had lots of elevation gain, a twisty road, and not much traffic. Here's one of early shots of Mt. Hood with a steam vent.



Arriving in Government Camp, we located the restaurant, took our documentary photo and then had breakfast at the Mountain View Cafe.

The folks at the Mountain View were super friendly and I can't recommend the breakfast bagel strongly enough. The entire item is home built including the bagel. Very yummy.

It was then a short trip up to the Timberline Lodge up on Mt. Hood.



We then waited for the tag restaurant to open and I snapped a hummingbird in action.



After the restaurant opened, we enjoyed a quick soda and some converstation with a family from Bend who just spent 2 days in the rain on the ocean. Once again, the restaurant staff seemed clueless about the Cafe 2 Cafe ride. Would this continue?

It was then a nice long ride down to Sun River using US26 and US97. We passed by Kahneeta (couldn't stop unfortunately - but it's a worthy stop!!) through Madras and Bend.

Arriving in Sun River we found our restaurant and took the documentary photo. We ordered up and the clerk was super pleasant and very aware of the event. We enjoyed the quick service and great meal: cabbage salad & Jasmine iced tea for me and soup for Angela.


Our hostess then took a joint picture of us for the record and we were once again off.

We had the option of riding directly back to Seattle via Salem, but Angela wanted to tag one more restaurant, so we plotted a course up US97 to Biggs, across the Columbia, over Satus Pass to Toppenish and then on to Cliffdell to Whistlin Jacks for our last tag of this trip. After crossing the Columbia River Angela took some great photos of the wind farms. If you never have seen one of these up close, they are larger than they appear. Each blade is 50-75 feet long and 10-12 feet wide.





Arriving at Whistlin' Jacks (located on US410 just east of Chinook Pass, we documented our arrival.


We were seated, but once again, service was pretty slow, and the restaurant wasn't that busy. Angela's tea was lukewarm at best, but the pie alamode she had was good and my seafood & crab cocktail hit the spot.


Starting out at 8:30pm it was a dark and clear skies night crossing over Chinook Pass. Normally I wouldn't do a pass at night, but the weather conditions were so good, we headed on. We didn't see a single critter and motored on up and over the pass (night is not conducive to photo taking) and arrived at home at just before 11pm.

Arriving at home, Angela said, "Let's just go fill the tank and keep on riding!" I think I have a keeper!! She knows that there are 5 more restaurants to visit and they are a fair distance from us. Looking back over the 31 hours and almost 900 miles that we rode, Cafe Sintra in Sun River was a great memory. That's one worth re-visiting as is the Mountain View Cafe which wasn't on the list. The Pourhouse in Hood River was a close second. The others (apart from the Black Rabbit which we have yet to sample) aren't worth going back to.

By now some of you are frustrated because you couldn't figure out what "Doing it IB Style" meant. IB stands for Iron Butt, and that group sponsors a rally where the riders score bonus points by getting a photo at specified locations with their marker flag which has their rider ID number. They then head off for the next bonus point location. Essentially that was the style of this ride, except we slowed it down a bit and enjoyed a meal or two.

This coming Thursday night I head out for the 5 remaining cafes to be tagged in Idaho and eastern Oregon. Stay tuned.

First 4 Restaurants

For 2009 I've signed up to do a ride to 15 restaurants (cafe's) in the greater Pacific NW. The object is to visit each, have a picture taken in front of the sign with you, your motorcycle, and the registration card. For bonus points, one can dine at the establishment. To sign up, go to www.soundrider.com and look for the tab for the Cafe 2 Cafe ride.

With that in mind, my wife and I decided to do a solo ride that would allow us to mark off a number of the cafe's. We would do it as a progressive meal. (Appetizer in one location, salad at the next stop, main course at the third). I think you get the picture.

So with some pre-planning, we set out to have our progressive meal. We already had enjoyed a nice buffet breakfast with our Gold Wing group, so we were fortified for a nice ride. Departing the house, we headed up Stevens Pass and passed a favorite restaurant (Index Cafe) that wasn't on the list.

Of course there's nice scenery on the pass.




Arriving in Leavenworth, there was a major art festival and the town was packed. But I was able to get the first tag. And we enjoyed our spumoni appetizer at this nice Italian restaurant in a Bavarian village.


Even my pirate duck got in the action.


Leaving Leavenworth (great to get out of the crowds), we crossed paths with some Gold Wing friends who were heading into town for the night. We had some brief CB chat with them and headed for Cashmere for a bike refueling and clothing adjustment (it had gotten a trifle warm).

Leaving Highway 2, we did double cloverleaf turns and headed north on 97Alt on the west side of the Columbia River and passed Rocky Reach and Wells dams. Here's a few photos.



Arriving in Chelan we found our next course (salad) at a very nice winery. Of course the view can't hardly be beat.




Following this refreshing stop, we headed further north. It continued to be warm and after we entered Okanogan County, we started to see deer. We called them happy deer as they were in large herds and stayed in the fields and away from the road. There were really only two large does that ventured down and crossed the road in front of us.

Arriving in Winthrop, we fueled up and finally found the target restaurant.







The service here was very, very slow (over an hour wait) for the simple quesadilla and salads that we had ordered.



The meals tasted great, but the long service time caused us to have a later departure (7:10pm) to ride over the North Cascades Highway than I would have otherwise chosen. We rode by the Woodstock Festival which was at the fairgrounds and it was pretty crowded and we didn't stop or even take a picture of.

The views while riding up the pass were spectacular and there was very little traffic.



We made one stop to add more clothing (temperatures dropped to the 50's). Here's a photo from that location.

Just after Washington Pass, a small bear ran across the road in front of us. Maybe the bear has heard of the game "Bear Bingo"? See my other Alaska ride report for the meaning of the term "Bear Bingo". (http://tbhyder2009.blogspot.com). It was cool to see a bear there.

Coming off the pass and passing through the town of Newhalem, we were treated by being dive bombed by bats who were in search of the plentiful insect population. It was actually a bit scarey to have these large objects come so close to the windshield or the helmets.

Shortly after 10pm, we arrived at our last stop and took the obligatory picture. We had already dined there a few weeks previously while on another ride, so it didn't matter if it was closed. One has to love the retro-reflective items on the clothing and all of the lights on the Wing.


It was then a 100 mile ride home via I-5. There was a surprising amount of traffic going northbound. In fact the backup was over 5 miles from north Seattle through downtown Seattle.

We logged 495 miles, enjoyed some great foods in a progressive manner, and whetted our appetites to get some more cafes. Subscribe to this blog to get future updates or our rides in the great Pacific Northwest.