Day 1: Fast Times in Washington State

When today started out, I was really afraid that I would have a horrible day. I wokeup and it was raining, and not typical mist-style rain (a.k.a. Seattle Rain), but rain that was really coming down. I looked at the weather map and saw a huge mass of green and yellow, and it was heading towards East Washington! I was afraid that I'd be riding in the cloud and be constantly wet...well, it didn't turn out that way...My ride was beautiful! I forgot how much the Cascades remind me of the Alps...Up on top of Snoqualmie pass, the clouds were out and capped the mountains giving a very surreal, magical feeling...This should be the last time that I am too worried about the temperature (it was 45 degrees at the summit...a bit chilly)

After the pass, I was onto central Washington..I love this area of Washington, it reminds me of NorthWest Colorado...except there aren't mountains! This stretch was pretty long, but really relaxing...I'm so glad I invested $8.95 in the throttle buddy...it is the second best investment I've made in...well, many years...I no longer have to tightly grip the throttle, I can use my wrist to control the throttle...that brings me to the #1 investment...my highway pegs! My bike is now as close as it'll ever be to a recliner with wheels!...along the way, I stopped and took some pictures of the beautiful area about 40 miles west of Spokane...while I was there, I decided that the evening, about an hour and a half before sunset is the most beautiful time of the day!

...I just noticed that I have to fix the floating on the images...I don't like hard breaks :-)

I'm now sitting in Coure d'Lane Idaho at a hotel...I had no idea how busy it would be...I was lucky and go the last room at a hotel that was less than $130 (I got the last room at the Motel 6)...well, thats all I have for now...tomorrow I'll be rollin' into Bozeman, MT!

Stay tuned,

Mike!