Cafe 2 Cafe

Leg 6 - The Slab Ride

2009-09-08T15:08:00.000-07:00

Labor Day morning found me waking up at 0630 MDT for a projected 0715 departure. Greeting Ed on this fine morning, he broke the news to me that he was not going to be able to ride to Walla Walla with me. So I packed up and headed on out on I-84 with a first stop projected to be Baker City for breakfast along with refueling the bike. Of course, rolling along the interstate at 75mph is a bit boring, so it brought out the obligatory shadow shot.

Breakfast. Yes, yummy and it's my favorite while on the road.

Finishing breakfast, I head on west on I-84 to the top of Emigrant Springs (google that for history of the Oregon Trail) and take the last exit before heading down the grade as I want to ride the old road which is much more twisty and interesting. Here are some of the first views.

It's a wide open prairie out there.

Heading down the grade I stop for a few more photos.

A photogenic gravel pit along the old highway.

At the bottom of the hill 2 ST1100's and their riders are headed up the hill on what will prove to be a fun run for them. I then come into the little Indian Community and there is a large stack of grain awaiting transport. These piles are pretty common in the farming areas of this part of the Pacific NW.

Just down the street, a family has this antique horse drawn manure spreader in their front yard. It's quite picturesque.

Following the secondary roads I roll into Milto-Freewater which was my Dad's birthplace. Of course, they have a photogenic city hall which I photograph. And "Frogs" seem to be a symbol of the town and I find a few.

It was then a short ride to the final cafe where I set up my tripod and camera with its self-timer for one final cafe shot.

I refueled and headed for US12 and rode it west near a windfarm.

It was approaching (actually past lunch time), so I vectored myself to Davy's Burger Ranch in Prosser where I wasn't disappointed.

Then the bike got refueled once again and I headed for Chinook Pass as I figured that Snoqualmie would be packed with Labor Day weekend traffic. It was a terrific ride up and over the pass with a little threat of rain so I donned my frog toggs and rode over the pass and took a picture at a sign post at the end of the park on the Mather Memorial Parkway.

I arrived home at 6:40pm on Labor Day having completed 1815 safe miles.

15 Cafe's tagged. And a whole bunch of riding fun doing it.

I found it very interesting that each of the segments took on a different theme. I trust you've enjoyed the read and pictures.

Leg 5 - The Adventure Ride

2009-09-08T12:12:00.000-07:00

It felt good to get a good night's rest in McCall. Looking at my fuel guage I computed that I have have enough to make it to Stanley with a little margin, so I didn't refuel on this cold morning (about 46 degrees). Riding south on ID55, I came to Cascade and turned left (east) on the Warm Lake road which I had never ridden. This road leads through the farmlands and then up this very twisty pass. and then another, and another (it didn't have a sign) Below are a few pictures of the twistiness. There was virtually no traffic, and this was so enjoyable.

After the last pass, I was suddenly presented with a pavement ends sign. I wasn't expecting this after the report I received yesterday from the fellow in the restaurant in Joseph. The gravel road ahead looked good, and I decided to go for it. It would turn out to be a great adventure with lots of good photos that I would have missed without becoming adventuresome on a Wing.

Here's photos just after starting the gravel. It's a view both from front and back.

As I rode down this forest service road 579, I saw the only live deer that I saw in the entire ride. It was a large doe that I first thought was an elk, but before I could get the camera out, she was gone. Several dual sport bike riders approached from the other direction and they must have been stunned to see a Wing on this road. I'm not about to miss the adventure.

One of the things that I like about riding in Idaho that makes it unique is that periodically mountain meadows open up with terrific views. Here's one of the first.

No road on this GPS. Fortunately, my other one had one.

Another meadow

Of course, I had to stop to take this picture.

And then I came across this very pretty river that was very clear. Finally my duck would have some company.

There was yet another river crossing.

Finally a sign. Is it a good sign that Stanley is 37 miles further? Is there 37 more miles of gravel?

And then there was yet another big open meadow. And I mean big.

And it was another pass. And why is this sign needed in the middle of nowhere?

There's lots of fire damage out here in the middle of nowhere.

then just before reaching the end of the gravel, I came across this very photogenic rock slide area.

I then reached the end of the gravel road and looked back. Yup, the road was open and I did a grin inside my helmet as I knew it was open: I had ridden it.

How long was this section? For me it was long, but it wasn't difficult gravel riding. It was a bit washboardy in places. So much so that I lost my right chrome caliper cover and never noticed missing until I reached Mountain Home. Here's a map of the route and the gravel ranged from near Warm Lake all the way to the right to where the road tees into the paved road to Stanley which is about 22 miles from that intersection. So the section turns out to be some 45 or so miles which is the longest gravel section I've ridden on the Wing.

But that makes it an adventure.

Reaching Stanley, I refueled at the same station I used when I came through in 2005 on my way back from Nebraska and another motorcycle rally. I could see the Sawtooth mountains but it wasn't until a bit further ahead that I got a good panorama photo of the mountain range.

Here's a panorama that I stitched together.

Here's a shot looking back from the road up to the Galena summit (8701 feet).

Yes, that's the road stretching out there in the distance.

Arriving in Ketchum, I find the cafe and get the photo tag thanks to a local person who was parked near me.

Since the restaurant was closed, I walked around to find some lunch. While walking around, I found some nice bronze sculptures. The larger one I dedicated to my friend, Tom, who gained the nickname "Tomoose" while on our ride to Alaska and back earlier this summer.

Not finding a cafe to dine at on this Labor Day Weekend Sunday, I scored lunch at the deli in the local grocery store. So, here was lunch which I ate outside in the local park.

Leaving Ketchum heading south on ID75, I passed through Sun Valley and took a shot of the transportation method of the rich and famous.

From ID75, I headed west on US20 for Mountain Home and a chance to visit our friends, Ed & Linnie who we were acquainted with through our Gold Wing group when they lived in Seattle. At the Castle Rock summit, I stopped for a few pictures. The bees were active in the local flora.

Arriving at my friends' home (no trivial feat because their street is not on the current maps in my GPS) and after 300 miles of riding including quite the adventure, we were greeted by their little chihuahua, Chica. She's a cutie, I think you'll agree.

Ed & I then headed out for a little dinner some 20 miles away at the Boise Stage Stop which is a major truck stop with a good little diner.

I thought about continuing on so as to cut the mileage I needed to complete on Monday to get the last cafe tag, but decided it was better to spend the evening with Ed & Linnie and Chica and get a fresh start in the morning. So I enjoyed a pleasant evening with them and catching up on my blog and and other email.

The ride the next day would take up a totally different character than the preceding 5 legs of doing this event. Stay tuned.

Leg 4 - Twisty & Touring

2009-09-08T09:29:00.000-07:00

Early Saturday morning following the conclusion of the Iron Butt Rally in Spokane, I headed out on what would be the twistiest part of the ride. My ride would take me down to Colfax, WA where I could see my wife briefly (she was visiting her father and stepmother). Following a too brief visit I headed down US195 towards Lewiston, ID. This part of the country is known for wheat fields and is the pea and lentil capital of the world. Here's a harvest picture of a combine.

About 17 miles south of Colfax is the college town of Pullman, WA which is the home of Washington State University. Our youngest daughter graduated from WSU. Here's the entry courtyard at the main intersection.

At the top of the hill before Lewiston, ID, there are two ways down: a superslab road and the Spiral Highway (the old road). Which one do I take? Hmmm??? Spiral Highway here I come. Here are a few pictures. Needless to say it's really twisty and is twisty ride number one for the day.

After the delight of riding the Spiral Highway, I headed for Asotin and the start of the Rattlesnake Grade. Of course there was a courthouse in Asotin so I snapped a quick photo. Oops, it's not the 39 county seat ride!

The road out of Asotin heading south is a twisty one in itself but there was no opportunity to take any photos. But here's a map picture from Mapsource.

I went down the Rattlesnake Grade (yes, that's the official name and here's what it looks like on the GPS map. It is a real snake and there's a delightful cafe at the bottom of the grade but I didn't stop there.

Heading up the other side, I snapped this photo of OR3 which shows a little twistiness.

After these sets of twisties, it was a ride down through the farm country of NE Oregon where I tagged yet another cool looking courthouse in Enterprise (Wallowa County)

It was just 7 more miles until I reached Joseph where I scored my next cafe tag. I drafted a willing photographer to snag my photo and then enjoyed a "Cup of Ribs" and some broccoli cole slaw and iced tea. The folks here were really cool and excited to see another rider on the Cafe 2 Cafe ride. One fellow was especially interested in the Wing and gave me some advice about the road to Stanley. Hmm, should I follow his tips? What adventure would that lead to?

After refueling at the local Chevron station, I headed for Imnaha which was a little out of the way,

but I had never been there in all of my trips in this area. It was a nice 40 or so mile round trip down there where I snagged the obligatory postoffice and sign shots.

If I were on a dual sport bike I would have followed the sign pointing to Halfway. But I'm not, well at least I don't think so.

Leaving Imnaha, I headed back to the start of FS39 (my favorite motorcycle road in Oregon), it started to sprinkle so I donned a little raingear and rode the 37 miles out to the Hells Canyon overlook (again one of my favorite spots).

Along the way, I found the road that comes from Imnaha via dirt.

While I was there I noticed a BMW F650 and a Kawasaki with WA plates. So I struck up a conversation with them and inquired if they were active on the F650 forum. The fellow was familiar with the site and when I gave him my screen name, he chuckled and said, "You have a pretty farkled up F650", to which I agreed. It's amazing to meet someone on the middle of nowhere who has heard of you. While were chatting, a group of Harley riders walked up to the Wing, looked at the cockpit and said, "He's probably got an internet connection somewhere there!" I didn't have the heart to tell them that I did, but it gave me a good chuckle.

Twisty road leading to the overlook point.

The tree in the above photo has been photographed many times.

Leaving the viewpoint, it was a fun and twisty ride down to the OR86 intersection where I headed east to Oxbow where I missed my turn and ended up in ID and had to come back across the Snake River. Yup, that was a TUT (Tim U Turn). It was one of the few on this trip. There was another I probably should have take the next day, but I would have missed the adventure.

ID71 is a private road (owned by the ID Power Company) which parallels the Snake River heading towards the Brownlee Dam. There were lots of gentle sweepers before crossing the Snake into Idaho where I snapped a few pictures of this large earthen dam. It's noted for good fishing in the area. And the ride up to Cambridge was another twisty one.

Leaving the twisty canyon I crested the hill and came across this display of old farm machinery including quite a few horse drawn combines. Compare these combines to the first picture in this report.

I refueled in Cambridge at the Sinclair service station. Sinclair is one of the few brands in ID that sells gasoline without enthanol. The bike sure runs better on it.

The sun was setting, so I snagged a shadow photo before heading into McCall and the next Cafe.

Arriving at the restaurant after around a 500 mile day, two ladies came out of the restaurant and I enlisted their help in getting a photo.

I phoned Angela and enjoyed a nice steak dinner (a bit pricey) before snagging a motel room next door at the Woodsman Motel.

I hadn't been to McCall for at least 4-5 years, and it was just what I remembered. Here's a picture of the bike at the motel the next morning just before leaving on what would turn out to be the adventure ride of the trip. My room was on the 2nd floor above the Wing.

Leg 3 - Headed NE for One Cafe

2009-09-06T20:06:00.000-07:00

Since I was planning to be in Spokane for the finish of the 2009 Iron Butt motorcycle rally, I decided to tag the restaurant that's up in Bonner's Ferry, Idaho on Friday of Labor Day weekend. So after we welcomed the incoming riders at the hotel in Spokane, my friend Tim and I headed out for a little 200 plus mile round trip ride for lunch in Bonner's Ferry. It was an easy ride for us, although the traffic heading up US95 out of Coeur d'Alene was a bit much for the two of us. Soon however we were on the open two lane road which took us by the Silverwood theme park in Athol and through Sandpoint, Idaho. Lunch was at Kootenai River Inn, and I bought a bowl of soup to go and we headed back into Bonner's Ferry with a stop at Zip's Drive Inn where we had sandwiches and I finished off my bowl of soup. Here's the documentation:

It was then a ride back to the hotel via US2 which turned out to be a much better route with less traffic.

Since this report is on my Cafe 2 Cafe ride, I'll not include any other IB Rally information. That will be a subject for a different report.

The next 3 days worth of riding will take on a different form than the previous 3 legs: It will be a touring report as that's what it turned out to be. And what a tour it turned out to be. Stay tuned.

Phase 2 - Doing it IB Style

2009-08-31T12:10:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-23T14:19:00.000-07:00

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.