6-10-09
To Ritter Hot Spring

I stopped in a little restaurant and saw this on the wall and asked the gal if it was a kangaroo skin. “No, it is an elephant ear. The kangaroo is across over there….

The Roo

This was the plate of chili burger I had. I couldn’t finish it. It did have some beans in the chili but lots of meat too.

I was driving by this little town and looked down and I could see that there was a huge crowd down there and the streets were filled with parked cars and trucks. I had to ride down and see what was going on.

The town is names Curlew and after talking with a guy that came up asking about my bike I found out what was going on. It turns out I hit it at Barrel Days. What is Barrel Days you wonder? Well it turns out that during the probation days the Canadians would float a barrel of whiskey down the river (across the border) and the Curlew guys would fish it out. They now drop a barrel in the river and bet on when it will get to town. I sure have never heard of this ‘rum running’ before.

This guy sure had a nice old Dodge to drive to the party…

I love the attitude of the folks in this area.

it was nice to see an old teepee burner again.

I liked this old log cabin with the huge lilac bush about to take over.

Lots of nice ranches.

Notice the sign:

Famous Omak

Suicide Hill

You are wondering WTF?

They race horses over this cliff, across the river and into the arena of the fairgrounds. A friendly guy walking by told me that there are quite a few ‘accidents’…………. Suicides???

I was camped I the fairgrounds camping area and about dark a guy came by and told me that they had sprinklers that came on about 2 in the morning and recommended that I move down into the tent area. I did but this guy didn’t. I didn’t see that he was camped there until morning. He was so pissed off because the sprinklers came on at 2 and under his tent, between his tent and his bike and he had to get up in the ‘rain’ and move his tent and everything got very wet. I waited until he got dried out some and packed up and we rode together for a while. His name is Erick and he is a Canadian. Seems like I am destined to ride with Canadians. He is a Quebec one but speaks normal English.

We stopped in at this little restaurant as the parking lot was full of bikes loaded for camping. It turns out that they were a bunch of stuck up assholes but the Harley guy that was parked across the street was very friendly. Just goes to show ya, eh?

We headed up over the Cascade mountains.

Photo op….

It got a little chilly up there too amongst the glaciers.

The road sure closed in as we hit a rain forest.

Water was in a big hurry to get to the ocean.

I camped with Erick in a forest service campground and we were the only ones in it. When Micah and I camped in a campground we were the only ones there too. I wonder if the economy is so poor that folks are not going out camping.

I took a little road that turned out to be an old highway over a pass and it was not in very good shape. I think a flood came here and almost wiped out the road for good. The road was narrow and had really sharp curves. I don’t think there was 30 feet of straight road in the 12 miles or so. It was one of he best roads I have traveled so far on this trip.

Out on the highway again I liked this graphic….

These little tent frame cabins have a rain fly over the top. That might keep them cooler in the summer. It was a fishing camp outfitters venue.

There are lots of orchards in Oregon and this is a sample of one of the more high-tech outfits. Every tree is trained to one side or the other and tied to wires to keep them leaned over so the fruit is easy to pick.

it looks like the apples were somehow thinned on these trees.

A herd of mares and their babies.

Hops

This is a partial loaf of bread I made before leaving camp. It is heavy with walnuts and raisins. I made the dough with corn meal, whole wheat I ground, oats and a little white flour. I made them about an inch thick and let them dry out. They have kept well and I sure have liked to break off a hunk now and then when I get hungry. They have not gotten moldy after more than a week too as I have been keeping them in a paper bag and letting them dry out some more when I get a chance to air them.