I got an early start out of Spokane as it had cooled down into the mid-70s (°F). Not too bad. The motel breakfast was nothing to write home about. But I did have a mid-day target. The St. John's Bakery on Hwy 97 between Yakima and the Washington and Oregon border as was mentioned by Stacy in her recent blog post. Sorry, I did not have a camera handy while enjoying a piece of wonderful baklava. Well worth the stop if you are in the area.
By this time the temperature had climbed into the low 100s (°F) and it was pretty miserable riding. I was not looking forward to eastern Washington. From Hwy 97, I dropped into the Columbia River gorge and I stopped at just about every rest area to rehydrate and get a break from the strong head wind. I was originally planning on going through Bend and cutting through the mountains into Corvallis but thought that it wouldn't be any cooler and would add miles to the trip.
Normally, I would take I-205 south and bypass downtown Portland but traffic along that route was really heavy so I headed into downtown Portland to catch I-5 and there was almost no traffic. This turned out to be my longest Ural mileage day at 450 miles. No problem on the Interstate even though I'm travelling at 10 to 15 mph under the speed limit.
On a side note regarding gear, the Roadcrafter Light worked well. As long as I was moving I wasn't overly warm with all of the vents open. Also, my eight year old leather work boots that I have been using as riding boots bit the dust today. One of the soles have worn thin enough to fall off at one of the gas stops. So now need to shop for a new pair of riding boots.
The plan is to visit Raceway Ural on Monday to see what they will do with the rig.
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Welcome to Corvallis. In Salem, the best place for boots is probably Cycle Gear on Lancaster or you can go to Premier Moto in Albany for a small selection too. Not a lot of choice around us.
ReplyDeleteMore choice than in Fairbanks where the only place was the Harley shop. Not much of a selection. Cycle Gear isn't too far from Raceway Ural.
DeleteAre you going to Saturday Coffee with Brad and Brandy?
ReplyDeleteYep, just returned from there...
DeleteColumbia River gorge is one of my favorite areas. Always beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI was too hot today at work and thought it had to be near 90. It topped out at 82 today. Gasp! I've turned into a weenie.
I think the gorge is nice but it's been really hot just about every time I've been there. Yesterday when arriving in Corvallis, it was on 95°F and it felt refreshing after the triple digit day.
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