8 July 2007
Fooled around on the computer quite a bit this morning, and thought I'd
have a late start as a consequence, but still managed to get on the
road before 0730.
It was a gorgeous morning to be riding in central Oregon--the fields
were green, the air was delightfully cool, and traffic was nonexistent.
And the road was nice; curvy, up hill and over dale. At least until I
started getting close to the Columbia Gorge, where it's alway windy, at
times almost scary. After I crossed the river into Washington, the wind
abated a bit, but traffic picked up some.
I went on reserve a couple of miles out of Goldendale, but didn't
stop--until I saw a sign that said "Next services 50 miles." Turned
around and went back for gas, then crossed the Yakima Indian
Reservation and picked up I-82 & I-90 while they carried US 97.
There was a fair amount of traffic heading north on 97, and some of it
was too slow for me--I made some high speed passes when oncoming
traffic and the road allowed--only to have them all pass me again, as I
waited to turn left onto US 2.
US 2 (part of the "Cascade Loop") is not the place to be on a nice
Sunday afternoon. Traffic was horrendous, particularly in the tourist
trap town of Leavenworth. And once out of that, traffic only moves as
fast as the slowest lookie-loo. Even if you manage to pass that one,
half a mile up the road is another one. I was sporadically patient,
until something particularly egregious bugged me, and I'd pass a bunch
of cars to get in front - for a while.
Finally I got to I-5, and was happy to be heading north--traffic
going south into Seattle was crawling. Even on I-5, nobody seems to do
as much as 10 over--I thought Washington was more enlightened.
But eventually I got up to Blaine, found some gas and a phone number,
took a picture and mailed my package for the second corner.
Then I came south and started east on WA 20 (another part of the
"Cascade Loop"?) so I shouldn't have any traffic problems in the
morning. Nice big room in the Skagit Motel ($45), but had to drive more
than a mile for groceries ($10).
States: Oregon, Washington.
503 GPS miles (1523 total), 60.3 moving average, 96.4 max (Yikes! It's
those radical passes!)
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