Day Seventeen

I began the day by building a fire and working on Day 16 posting while Graham slept in. Breakfast was our usual campfire breakfast - scrambled eggs, and sausage links. We took our time breaking camp because we knew that Glacier was almost 600 miles away and we didn't want to ride that hard. Some other bikers in camp recommended a route that stayed closer to the Cascades and the scenery was better than what I had chosen. We went with their suggestion and glad we did. We continued along the north side of the gorge. We stopped for 45 minutes to watch the wind surfers. It was amazing. There must have been a couple of hundred on the river and another couple of hundred in the parking lots getting ready or resting. We took several pictures.







From the Columbia River we angled to the northeast toward Spokane, riding through Klickitat Canyon, Yakama Valley and some semi arid areas with some warm but scenic riding. There were lots of apple orchards, grapes, onions, etc., etc. in the Yakama Valley. I found out how far my motorcycle can go on a tank of gas while pulling a trailer - 192 miles. By the time we got to Mabton, WA and filled up my tank, I put in 4.88 gallon. My tank holds 5 gallon. I wasn't too worried because I carry a one gallon plastic container in the trailer.

We booked it to Spokane (home of the Gonzaga Zags). We had intended to camp near the Washington/Idaho border but had difficulty finding a campsite - so we ended up getting a motel at a local mom and pop in Priest River, ID. It will give us a chance to charge everything up and get the last two days of posting done. Dinner will be microwave veggies and steak cooked in the skillet on the camp stove. I've heard from several of you through email or comments. Glad to know there are people out there that are interested in my ramblings.