I left Okanogan, WA, early in the morning to try and beat the heat. It was 70°F when I left and when I went through Yakima, WA, at noon it was 103°F. There are a lot of fruit stands in this area so grapes, cherries, and a nectarine make a wonderful breakfast. All was accompanied by my first (of many) bottles of sugar free G2. There were a bunch of Harley riders at the fruit stand and they had a lot of questions about the Alaska Hwy.
The elevation rose and fell so it wasn't all dry scrub. There were some wonderful mountain roads and cooler temperatures. There was a lot of traffic and initially the GPS said that my arrival time in Corvallis was 3:11pm. Over the course of the day that changed to 5:01pm. Mostly due to traffic and hydration stops.
One of the surprises were all the windmills in southern Washington. I will confirm that there was a lot of wind in the area but nothing blowing up the gorge. There was a pretty strong headwind for much of the last 50 miles into Portland. Yes, I allowed the Garmin to pick the fastest route to Corvallis though I did take 205 instead of going through the city as Garmin suggested. It was warm but the 454 miles passed quickly and the 80°F Corvallis temperature felt wonderfully cool. 2696 miles (4338 KM) so far according to the odometer and 2647 miles on the GPS.
I met up with
Troubadour and
Trobairitz for dinner at a great Thai place (no food photos) and they graciously offered to take my dry bag to Baker City later in the month so I don't have to haul it down to California. It has my sleeping bag, the other set of riding gear and sleeping pad. I wasn't planning on camping in California anyway due to the miserably hot temperatures. Now with the exception of the tank bag, everything on the bike locks. Tomorrow, I need to shop around for a new rear tire. It is really squared off and it is causing some squirrelly handling.
Another thing to check is the aim of the headlight. I never really use the headlight to actually illuminate the road as I don't ride in the winter when it's dark. It gets dark here...
Still playing with SPOT, I created a
SpotWalla page.
Posted with Blogsy
Richard:
ReplyDeleteYou made good time, in spite of the heat. It was very hot here today, for us, but nothing like your temps in Yakima. You should be in more moderate temps now that you are in Corvallis.
Hope your new tire solves the problem
bob
Riding the Wet Coast
My Flickr // My YouTube
What is a wonderful feature of my bike in Alaska is a real negative in the heat. The air cooling the cylinders blows onto my lower legs. At times I think that I can smell the mesh pants melting. Other than that, I seem to be coping with the heat just fine. If it gets too warm, I just move my feet back to the passenger foot pegs or to the outside edge of the pegs into the airstream.
DeleteI hope the new tire solves the problem as well. It hasn't lasted as long as I had expected from other reports.
Great trip so far!
ReplyDeleteI'm really enjoying the trip, even with the heat!
DeleteGreat to see you last night Richard. Thank you for hanging out and visiting for a while.
ReplyDeleteHope you are able to find a tire today. If you need anything else, let us know.
Thank you! It was great visiting. I'm sitting at the Honda dealer now waiting while they install the tire. The Philometh shop didn't have the right size in stock.
DeleteYou are making great miles! Especially through that heat. I'm glad the bike is running well and you are staying hydrated.
ReplyDeleteThe heat just started in southern British Columbia but really got worse in central Washington. What is nice is that all I had was a general goal. I rarely stopped at the locations I originally listed in my schedule. 400 miles seems pretty comfortable...
Delete