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Motorcycle Trip - August 30th - September 2nd, 2004
Spanaway, WA - Kamloops, BC - Castlegar, BC -
Leavenworth, WA - Spanaway, WA

Day 3 - Castlegar, BC - Leavenworth, WA - 290 Miles
AKA "God's Alarm Clock"

FLASH! BOOM! "Was that what I think it was?" I grogily asked Brandon as I fought my way out of a deep sleep. "Is it raining?" "Not yet" came the reply "but it's going to . . . " Yes, we awoke to thunder, lightning, and torrential rains Wednesday morning. A couple of benefits of being in a hotel, free breakfast, and free internet access in their business center. After enjoying some waffles and OJ, I checked weather.com for the forecast in the places were were to be travelling that day. It looked like thunder showers in the morning turning to scattered showers later in the day. SO we packed up our stuff and moved the bikes under the cover at the entrance to the hotel. Just as I was coming down the hall, another bolt of lightning took out the power, so I got to use the stairs! We loaded up the bikes and I put on my ballistic pants and we headed out. Yes mom, we headed out in the thunder and lightning and torrential rain. But the thinking was that it wasn't getting any better any time soon, so we'd better get moving.

We headed south on Highway 3 out of Castlegar and met up with DH-58 where we cruised by Christina Lake. When I was in High School, spent a vacation day in Christina Lake and it's grown up a bit since then. Unfortunately the road was mostly wet, so we had to be pretty mellow. BUT about 30 minutes outside of Castlegar we were pretty much out of the rain. I did get a good dose of what it is to actually ride in the rain and how to handle wet roads on the bike. It was a good lesson for me and taught me that rain doesn't necessarily mean you can't ride your bike. I did suffer one casualty however. Before leaving I was moving things around in my bags, and left one pocket open on my tank bag. By the time I looked down and noticed it, my Outdoor Research hat was history. So if anyone finds a nice OR hat on Highway 3 between Castlegar and Grand Forks, let me know. :-)

We decided to change our route somewhat today to take some of the twistiness out of the ride. Instead of continuing on to Osoyoos and crossing the border there, we decided to cross at Grand Forks and headed south there into Danville. I have to say, it was nice to be back in the states so I didn't have to do math each time I saw a distance sign indicating the next town. The DH numbers referred to now will be in the DH Washington book. Coming South out of Danville, we were on DH-50 TE-A, a nice mellow ride from Danville to down to Curlew on Highway 21.

We headed down highway 21 south to Republic and hit Highway 20 West and DH-62. Again, this ride was fairly mellow, and wet in spots so we kept pretty much to the speed limit through the corners. We followed 20 through a couple spits of rain heading through Wauconda. We continued on highway 20 to Tonasket where we met up with Highway 97 South. We stopped in Omak for a quick bite to eat and were on our way again. Now Highway 97 South was just dandy until just before we got into Chelan. Now I've been in some winds before, but this was rediculous. I've dubbed this "Tyson Wind" because by the time we got to Leavenworth, it felt like we went about 6 rounds with Iron Mike. There were literally a few times I honestly thought I was going over from the cross wind.

Highway 97 also produced the one "close call" during the ride. And that SOB in the mini van is lucky I didn't have anything handy to throw at him. Cause' if my water bottle had been handy, it would have exploded on his windshield!!! Brandon and I were right in the middle of passing these 6 or so cars, and the next to last car, the mini van, decides it's time to pass. When I was RIGHT next to it! I laid on the horn and swerved over towards the shoulder, the guy kept coming and Brandon ended up on the shoulder to get by. Everyone around him was honking, but he kept coming. Bastard!

We pulled into Leavenworth about 2:30 in the afternoon and went to check out the KOA campground. I really didn't want to spend the night on the ground, and apparently neither did Brandon. We looked at the tent sites, and checked out a Kamping Kabin, and decided to head into town for a room.

We decided on the Best Western Icicle Inn. I'd stayed there previously. It was a bit out of town, but the desk clerk was kind enough to give us a ride into town that evening. After a shower and change of clothes, we headed into town. 1st stop was the Leavenworth brewery for a pitcher of Whistling Pig Hefeweizen. The local beers are great. I'm not a beer drinker, but I'm particularly fond of the Whistling Pig. After some brews, we headed to one of the fine local German restaurants where I introduced Brandon to Schwein Shax'n . . . basically a ham hock that has been slow roasted all day. GREAT food, and more beer and we were headed back. We stopped in for one more beer before the long walk back to the hotel in the rain.

Once back at the hotel, we hit the pool and hot tub for awhile and called it an evening. One more short ride tomorrow and the trip would be done. Bummer.

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