Trip Log for WeSTOC 2003 Trip
Well Boys & Girls I'm finally updating the site.....the pressure was mounting to get something here (thanks Dick & Stacy :-) ). So here goes.. It's now Sunday so I'll re-cap the past 4 days
July 24 Day 1
Got myself going and got out of the house right at 7AM and pretty much on Schedule. The plan was to meet up with Dick at the Pattersonville Rest Area on the Thruway just past Albany. I got there about 8:45 and Dick arrived right around 9, so we were pretty much on schedule for the first meeting. The plan was to get to Barrie, Ontario by evening. The weather was a bit testing as the day went along, some sun, rain and then sun. All in all not bad day at all. Arrived in Barrie in the evening after battling Toronto traffic. No problems, mishaps etc.... Customs was pretty easy and fairly quick.
July 25 Day
After a good nights sleep we planned on getting to Marquette, MI. The day was ok, with some rain during the evening. With all of the smaller towns along the way, making great time was not something that you can really do, and with Radar Detectors being illegal in Canada, well it makes it tougher to make good time. Got into Marquette around 9PM and was pretty tired. Tomorrow should get us to Fargo, ND. I wonder if the movie is playing anywhere in town.
July 26
Left Marquette and headed off to Fargo. Stopped in Duluth at the Aerostitch Factory to see what they had and get their 10% walk in discount while there. The ride was good, as we forgot that we passed into a new time zone, so it was kind of a bonus when we realized we had an extra hour to use for travelling. Picked up a Kanatsu/Aerostitch Heated vest, and received my 10% discount on that and a variable controller for it. Some say it's still cool in some of the Mountain passes, so I should be prepared. And Aerostitch is such a great company to deal with. We made it into Fargo near 8PM Central Time, so another day of 500+ miles under our belt. Tomorrow gets us to Billings Montana.
July 27
Well today finally gets us to see some nice scenery. Coming through North Dakota was pretty boring until you get to the Western side of it. That is where the Badlands begin, and then drops you into Montana. Then some of the views and panoramas really start to kick in.
Here are a few of the pics for today. This is the Yellowstone River near Jopa, Montana.
Well we made it to Billings and picked up another time zone. Tomorrow is Beartooth Pass and onto Missoula.
July 28
Well we didn't get to Missoula, but are staying in Butte. As you'll see in the pictures, today was a great day for scenery. The views coming over Beartooth Pass and getting to 11,000 ft, were amazing. That led us down into Yellowstone National Park. Well after being here for the second time, it is getting more difficult to say which place is better, The Grand Canyon, or Yellowstone. Both amazing places.....
Here are today's pictures:
July 29,30,31
Well we got into Moscow in some real heat. The 3 days here have all been very near 100 degrees or better. And yes it is a dry heat, but it's still Hot !! Hot !!! Hot !!!. This town sits in the middle of the Northwest Passage & Lewis & Clark stuff and all that. Here are some pictures of the Clearwater River Valley and the Lewis & Clark Northwest Passage trail.
Aug 1
Well we got on the road a little later than initially planned, but we had only about a 230 mile day planned to get us to Yakima, WA. This will put us within a good distance to Mt. Rainier, which you could see from 100 miles away. big Snow capped peak jutting above the landscape. I now know where all of the wheat and a lot of other grains and seeds now come from. We passed a dairy farm here that was huge. There were hundreds of cows. They even knew to stand under the sprayers, or in the shade. It is amazing what water will do to an area that looks dry. Add lots of water, and Voila, plenty of greenery and plants. We passed through Moxee City ,as they were having their Hop Festival, looked like a pretty good time (he says with tongue firmly planted in cheek). Looked mostly like a fair, but the theme being a Hop festival, I would imagine a few beers would be flowing. In Yakima this weekend, there is a custom car show, so there are a lot of antique cars in and around the parking lots. Nice cars. While waiting to check in to Motel6 (and yes the light was on) we met up with a nice guy who gave us the scoop on how and what to see for Mt Rainier & Mt St Helens. So tomorrow it's off to those two and see them. Here are today's pics.
Aug 2
Well today took us to Mt. Rainier. What a site. That's one good sized mountain and Glacier/Active Volcano. Well active is a relative term I guess since there is nothing spewing out of the top. We got to see it from both sides, going to Sunrise Visitor Center and then on to Paradise. In the observation deck at Paradise, you can use one of the small telescopes (monocular) and see the hikers hiking to the Peak. An 8-10 hr climb up, that most do the summit in a two day event. Staying at camp Muir and then going up. That is from the Paradise side, from the Sunrise side there is an alternate route. Tomorrow on to what is left of Mt. St. Helens.
Here are todays pics, well and a couple of sunset pics from last night.
Aug 3
Well today was Mt. St Helens. in 1980, a 5.6 on the Richter scale volcano hit Mt. St Helens, due to the reaction of the volcanic core. A 200 ft bubble on the rocks formed and could be seen just before 1300ft of the mountain blew off. The blast of energy was enough to topple trees up to 17 miles away from the mountain. Almost 200 times the force of the 1st Atomic bomb. The debris field can still be seen and there was a sediment stream up to 40 ft deep. Amazing what mother Nature can do. We're spending the night in Pendleton, OR.
Here are the pics from Mt. St. Helens:
Aug 4
We ended the day in Ogden UT. This day we traveled from Pendleton, OR along Route 84. It was a pretty uneventful day. Here are some of the pictures from along the way.
Aug 5
Today we traveled from Ogden, UT to Sidney, NE. For anyone who does outdoor activities and shops the various outdoor catalogues, the town of Sidney might be a popular name. Sidney is the home of Cabella's store. The store is pretty impresive. They have a taxidermy exhibit of animals that is absolutely fantastic. Alaskan brown Bear, moose, and many, many others. Today we skirted a very large thunderstorm that had both Dick & I a little nervous. This storm was way off in the distance, but came up on us quite quickly. Luckily the road turned away from the storm and we got to the hotel, pretty much untouched. There are some pics of the storm.
Aug 6
Today we rode from Sidney to Des Moines, IA. I got to have Baked Potato soup at the Machine Shed restaurant. This was the same restaurant I stopped at last year on my trip.
From here on out, the object is to get home, so there will probably be no other updates until after I get home.