Mile 8029

Today is a little run compared to the rides we did the last days.  Our ride starts at Ironwood, MI to cross the over from Lake Superior to lake Michigan over to Escanaba, MI, and then along the shoreline to St. Ignace, MI.  Crossing from one lake to the other leads us through forest area again, nice, low rolling hills with gentle curves, a road condition one can only dream of in New England.  I could run this Hwy 2 forth and back just for the shear pleasure of how good that surface is.  But I can't do so.  We have lunch in Escanaba, MI at the Swedish Pantry, for me a restaurant with an identity crisis.  Is it a gift shop serving food, I don't know, as the walls are cluttered with clocks, and porcelain figurines, pictures, and lots of nick-nack.  A strange setting.  Anyway, we don't have time to ponder any longer on this, as we once again get drenched in a heavy thunderstorm and lightning, too close for comfort, and time to speed up.  We manage to ride through some slivers of sunshine and the occasional downpour again, but nothing as bad as the one which hit us leaving Escanaba.  Soon we follow the shoreline of Lake Michigan, and being early in the afternoon (besides loosing another hour, we are now on EST again), the setting sun turns the water in a beautiful dark greenish / blueish color, very dramatic with the still dark clouds above us.  So our day ends in lovely St. Ignace, MI, taking the trolly downtown in reach for a waterhole, not the lake you stupid.

We  better run, but it didn't help

St. Ignace, MI

We do a lazy one, and keep the bike parked.  We take the ferry over to Mackinac Island, no cars there, only bicycles, horses and walking.  We take the carriage ride through the town and state park, visit the fort, learn about the French and British establishments, the fur trade, about the various Indian population of this area, their live styles and trade routes.  It's an amazing island, and even with all the tourists around, it still feels very relaxing.  A perfect day to recharge our batteries.

Two horsepower do it too; mode of transportation on Mackinac Island

The Grand Hotel

Natural Bridge in Mackinac Island State Park

Locking down from Fort Mackinac

"We arrived here on the 16th after a journey of about 2000 miles, pretty tired but all well.  I like this place first rate.  My quarters are good and duties agreeable.  I think I can stand four years of it very well.  I send you a guide book which will tell you more about the island and post."  -  Lt. Calvin D. Cowles, Fort Mackinac, July 18, 1884

Mile 7686

We leave Grand Forks this morning with the idea of only going to Duluth, MN, a short and easy ride for today. Traffic is low and the scenery changes to nice forested areas and lakes around us.  We drive through several Indian Reservations, regocnizable immediately by the presence of a casino along the way.  In Bemidji, MN we decide to check for a place to lay our head tonight, and find out that there are no open spaces on the campsites, nor any reasonably priced motels or hotels at, or near our destination for today.  To make our mood even worse, shortly after leaving Bemidji we are getting trenched in a thunderstorm front coming through, and more dark clouds are moving in.  We decide to continue towards Duluth and take our chances, but learn upon arrival that we are out of luck.  The front desk manager at the Best Western is very helpful and finds us a place in Ironwood, MI, but that means another two hours riding.  The ride turns out to be nice, the setting of the sun turns on a nice light and the lake views are just perfect.  Even the dark clouds have left us and we ride through the Bad River Indian Reservation to Ironwood, MI.  All in all a nice day, moderate temperatures with a nice scenery going through the forests before reaching the lake.  Reminded us very much to the other side of the border when we were on our way to Thunder Bay, ON.

Those two pictures describe the scenery we went through today

"Fish, I love you, and respect you very much.  But I will kill you dead before this day end."  -  Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea

Mile 7296

This morning the sky over Williston, ND looks again a little like yesterday, cloudy, and with some having the potential of dropping their load on us.  We pick up Hwy 2 and follow East to Minot, ND with the Fort Berthold Reservation to our right, and the Missouri River with Van Hook Arm and Lake Audubon.  One thing we immediately recognize is that since we entered North Dakota, oil drilling / exploration has increased immensely, and it appears that everybody in this region just lives of that through machine jobs, heavy machinery sales and pipe and tank fabrication shops.  Even the air smells oil and I figure if you're not in cattle, wheat, falafel or grass/hay, that's all you get up here.  Some times we get some sprinkles from those dark grey clouds, but nothing to worry about, and we run them out  very easily.  Once again a day in the prairie where the scenery doesn't change too much, so we rake up miles and pass between Lake Alice and Devils Lake to our destination of the day of Grand Forks, MN.  Once again a good day riding, and perhaps we make it to Lake Superior tomorrow, at least we shall get more interesting scenery by entering some state forests.

The other wealth of this region, North Dakota

Looks familiar, not much change today neither, Devils Lake below

"Nothing could be more lonely and nothing more beautiful than the view at nightfall across the prairies to these huge hill masses, when the lengthening shadows had at last merged into one and the faint after-glow of the red sunset filled the west."  -  Theodore Roosevelt, Hunting Trips of a Ranchman

Mile 6946

Waking up this morning the sky is full of clouds, and some of them don’t look too friendly.  We dress up a little warmer and leave Shelby, MT, trying to stay ahead of the big dark cloud which follows us persistently.  Hwy 2 is in good condition except for two or three road work areas of grading and resurfacing which were about 9 to 12 miles long, but nothing our heavy ride couldn’t handle (plenty of experience since Alaska).  But the scenery isn’t very much entertaining, it is wheat, falafel, or grass as far as one can see, and one can see very far here.  Even though that some of the towns have nice names like Zurich, Malta, or Glasgow, but they are far away from any similarity with those locations.  Most dots on the map have about 400 plus people, one as little as 59 people, and we are well advised to take on gas whenever a gas station shows up.  My retirement idea of settling in Montana and breeding horses, mmmh, I don’t think so.  So it is raking up miles today, and that’s what we do.  We loose another hour again changing from Mountain to Central Time when crossing into North Dakota, and call it the day in Williston, ND.  A good day for riding, lots of miles, and we stayed ahead of the rain.

The view never changed all day long, somewhere in Montana

"I'm in love with Montana.  For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection, but with Montana it is love, and it's difficult to analyze love when you're in it."  -  John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley

Mile 6525

Leaving St. Regis this morning we go North on Rt. 135 to catch Rt. 200 near Paradise, MT.  We use that road to catch up with Hwy. 93 to join Hwy 2 again in Kalispell.  Rt. 200 leads us along the Flathead River, a beautiful area of a slow winding road through the Flathead Indian Reservation.  One can easily imagine the time the settlers crossed through here on their way West, or only to the Coeur d'Alene lake, bison grazing, and wild horses roaming the land.  I'm definitely adding Rt. 200 to my favorite road list, this recommendation by the Harley guys in Spokane was a good one.  Coming to an end we join Hwy. 93 and go North to Kalispell.  The road currently under resurfacing in places leads us along the never ending Flathead Lake and Mission Mountain range, and one view over the lake is more beautiful than the next.  In Kalispell we join our Highway 2 again, and cross between Glacier National Park and Flathead National Forest East.  The road is gently dividing the two and so we roll to East Glacier.  Here abruptly the mountains end and the great, vast plaines open up.  Wheat, falafel, and grass land in rolling hills dictate the scenery now, no more mountains.  Once again looking North, South, East, or West, it all looks the same.  It reminds us of our 2014 trip crossing through the Canadian provinces Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and I think I can even look across the border from here.  No difference for sure.  But thinking back 200 years and imagining buffalos to the thousands on this land is no difficulty neither.  But none for us today, only horses and cattle.  So we rake up some more miles going through the Blackfeet Indian Reservation and stop in Shelby, MT.
A perfect riding day with moderate temperatures and some light clouds comes to an end; great scenery and lots of different pictures and impressions have to be worked off.

Along Rt. 200 to Hwy. 93

Facade climbers in Kalispell, MT

Glacier National Park, MT

J.F. Stevens statue at the Continental Divide Monument at Marias Pass, the man who found a way for the Great Northern Railway to the Pacific 

Marias Pass Obelisk (Theodore Roosevelt Obelisk) in commemoration of his leadership in the conservation of the forests of the United States.

'The forest problem is in many ways the most vital internal problem of the United States." - Theodore Roosevelt

Mile 6218

What a day.  We are leaving Leavenworth, WA early to continue our way on Hwy 2 via Cashmere and Wenatchee, going a little North and then to Coulee City on the south shore of Banks Lake, and then through never ending wheat fields into Spokane, WA.  We find our way easily to the Apple store, get the so much needed power cable and after a quick lunch in the River Park Square are off to the Harley Davidson dealership as I'm loosing oil pressure ever since we left Leavenworth this morning.  The guys at Lone Wolf HD are very helpful, and after checking the bike and  adding some quarts of oil, normal conditions are restored.  Whilst at the shop we learn that returning back onto Hwy 2 toward Newport, Sandpoint, Bonners Ferry toward Kalispell is not a good idea as the road is getting resurfaced and the gravel which is put down has already caused some damage to bikes and cars.  We are told to avoid that stretch under all circumstances.  So we decide to follow the Coeur d'Alene National Forest and Lake by joining the Interstate I-90 to St. Regis, MT where we stop for the night.  All in all a good day, lots of miles, but high temperatures and no clouds in the skies made riding a bit exhausting, and on top we lost a hour in the day as we moved from Pacific to Mountain time.  But the bike sounds again as it should be, and we are rolling, and tomorrow we turn North again and find Hwy 2 to continue.  For now, we had cut a little off the Lincoln Hwy, we had to avoid a little on the Roosevelt Hwy, for me, the score is equal.

Unfortunately no pictures today, we were somehow occupied with other things.

Statue of "Leopold" a 1890 photographer at Higgens Point, Lake Coeur d'Alene

Lake Coeur d'Alene, ID

" I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in." John Muir, John of the mountains: The unpublished journals of John Muir

Mile 5910

We made it from Port Angeles, WA along Hwy 101 to Kingston, WA, where we took the ferry over the Puget Sound to Edmonds, WA.  A short trip to the mall there for the much needed power cable for our MacBook was not successful as the store is under renovation and closed, so we depend on the rest power in the accu.  Anyway, from here we went a little North on I-5 to find the start of the Theodore Roosevelt Highway, or US Hwy 2, which will bring us back home (or close to home).  Once we were on Hwy 2 we quickly entered the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest and climbed up the Stevens Pass on one of my favorite highway sections here in the US.  We liked it already when we went West to Seattle on this road in 2014 during our Alaska trip, and now going East was another, but likewise pleasant experience.  We reach Leavenworth, WA, a once thriving railway and logging town till 1920, then forgotten, and in the mid 60’s reinvented itself as a Bavarian themed village to spur tourism. The concept was successful, and Leavenworth is as Bavarian as Oberammergau or any other German alpine village.  We put our tent up at the KOA site and explore the town and feel like tourists in what should feel familiar to us.  But we figure this is a little too much, too condensed, too overwhelming. So after spending a day here, we think tomorrow we should continue going East (and perhaps find the power cable in Spokane, WA).

Puget Sound looking North

Theodore Roosevelt Highway Sign (US Hwy 2)

Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, along the Stevens Pass

Along the Wenatchee River

Welcome to Leavenworth, WA, "The Bavarian Village"

"The nation behaves well if it treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation increased, and not impaired, in value." - Theodore Roosevelt

Mile 5702

We leave Astoria, OR this morning and don’t really see where we will be going today.  The Columbia river is covered in a thick layer of coastal mist or fog, and temperatures feel more like autumn than summer.  We follow Hwy 101 and enter the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge and follow the Willapa Bay at rather chilly temperatures.  In Raymond, WA we discover that we lost our power cable for the laptop (the truth to be told is I forgot to pack it in the motel room), but in those temperate we don’t feel like turning around.  We shall find an Apple store somewhere to get a replacement, so we hope.  After a little rest and hot coffee, we continue to Aberdeen, WA and we enter the Olympic National Forest.  We drop in and out of the park following Hwy 101, but by lunch time the sun has been strong enough to burn away the mist and clouds and to show us blue skies.  Riding becomes more enjoyable now and the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Salish Sea present us with a scenery which makes all the morning missery forgotten.  Just rolling along Lake Crescent was so enjoyable, it made us decide to visit the Northern section of the park again.  We continue to Port Angeles, WA, the port of the ferry over to Victoria, BC we would like to have taken, but we can’t.  At least the weather is nice enough to see in the distance the mountain ranges of British Columbia, and the commitment to come back and cross the border.  So we stroll around, watch the ferry being boarded and leave, and enjoy downtown of this little place at the Salish Sea.  We watch a nice sunset illuminating the Hurricane Mountain range and its snowfields in a perfect ending day.

Crossing into Washington State

Lake Crescent, Olympic N.P., WA

Longboats at the beach in Port Angeles, WA

"Don't make fun of people.  People come in different sizes and shapes, but you should treat everyone the same.  They just might be smarter than you are." - Cliff SiJohn, Couer d'Olene

Mile 5436

We're leaving Florence, OR this morning with clear skies above our heads, but temperatures in the lower 50's.  But the crisp air is only adding to the beautiful shoreline atmosphere this morning, as the waves are rolling in and the white caps are rolling out on the sandy beaches.  We drive through countless State parks and Recreational Areas and along so many beaches, I can't name them all.  But the the scenery is one I will always remember, dunes, beaches, rocks, and the breaking of the waves.  We stop at Sea Lion Caves, America's largest sea caves, to watch the sea lions in their natural habitat on the rocks and in the sea caves.  We continue through the Perpetua Marine Protected Area and head toward Newport for a hot coffee.  After that it is on to our destination for today, Astoria, OR, before crossing the Columbia River mouth tomorrow to enter Olympic National Park.  And not to forget, paying a visit to the Lewis and Clark Historical Site and pay tribute to this great expedition, ending here where the Columbia river meets the Pacific Ocean.  What an adventure considering we were writing May of the year 1804 when they took off in St. Louis, MO, reaching the Pacific Ocean in November of 1805.

Heceta Beach, OR

Sea Lion Caves, OR

Heceta Head Lighthouse

Street Mural recognizing the Pacific Indian People

Can't get enough of those views

Tomorrow just crossing this bridge and we are in Olympic National Park, WA

"... men appear much satisfied with their trip beholding with estonishment the high waves dashing against the rocks and this emence ocean ..." - William Clark, November 18, 1805 on reaching the Pacific Ocean

Mile 5226

We leave Eureka, CA this morning with several layers of our clothing on, as temperatures are in the low 50's, and fog and mist hanging low over the coast.  We follow Hwy 101 into the Redwood N.P. and S.P. and are still impressed by the size and age of those tree.  Imagine they were already standing there before even Columbus discovered the continent, before Julius Caesar conquered Europe, if those trees could only talk.  We follow the coastline and contrary to the days before, today the sky cleared and we can see the rugged Oregon coast.  It is everything of what we imagined through the glimpses of mist from the past days, and with the gusty high winds the ocean is really pushed hard against the shore.  The white capped waves breaking at the rocks in the ocean is a sight I could watch for hours.  But we push on encouraged by the nice weather and pass through countless State Parks and along Beaches, one nicer than the other.  Exhausted from working against the high winds all afternoon we call it the day in Florence, OR.

Meeting my friend in Eureka, CA, a little taller than me.

Could drive through those woods for hours on no end, Redwood N.P.

Oregon Shoreline Impressions below

Coming into harbor at Coos Bay, OR

Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area

"Nature is ever at work building and pulling down, creating and destroying, keeping everything whirling and flowing, allowing no rest but in rhythmical motion, chasing everything in endless song out of one beautiful form into another." - John Muir