Mile 7857

 This morning I wake up to rather chilling temperatures.  I completely underestimated the change in climate up here in the Pacific mountains, and I have already double layers on.  Anyway I leave Leavenworth, WA and follow the Wenatchee river with the sun just not being high enough to illuminate the valley.  I turn following the Columbia river along the Entiat lake, one of the basins where peaches and cherries grow, and which is proof that "water grows food".  But rather than following the Columbia river to the Grand Coulee Dam, I turn East at Orondo, WA and run into the blinding morning sun.  Wherever I look there are only grain fields all around me, Washington State, the bread basket.

I go up the mountains to the Banks Lake and Coulee City, and continue to Spokane, WA.  From here I follow Interstate I-90 to Coeur d' Arlene and follow along the lake.  Unfortunately the Hwy is under renovation and a stop at the photgrapher point is not possible.  Anyway, here a picture from a previous visit:

From here I'm climbing up again into the mountains, and it is getting chilling cold.  I can't remember having ridden my bike on August 8th, with having had my grip and seat heating on full power.  Anyway, I climb to elevations of over 4,000 feet and can't complain as I love every mile of this winding and turning mountain pass.  But all the joy comes to a sudden end as I encounter a sudden and strong wobble in my front tire.  I have to stop shortly after I have passed the Lookout Pass.  Now again, my $59 per year membership to Road America becomes very handy, and Road of America is sending me a tow truck to pick me up and bring me to Missoula, MT, the nearest H-D dealer to take care of my patient.  My suspicion of another wheel bearing failure turns out to be a blow out on the rear tire, with a hole about the size of a penny, which I must have encountered somewhere along this many road constructions at the Lookout Pass, together with a damage to the front wheel.  Many cudos to the guys at Grizzly Harley-Davidson in Missoula, and Bob from Services in particular, who where already waiting for me to arrive and took the bike immediately in to the shop for repair.  In and out in less than two (2) hours, that's what I call a great, great service on traveling folks like me.  With still some daylight left I continue my path towards Billing, MT, but decide to stay further out of Sturgis, SD as the 2020 rally is going on and finding a place to put my head down may become very difficult and expensive, besides the point that social distancing and any consideration about COVID-19 is ignored.  So I call it the day in Butte, MT a former copper mining town, declining to nothing because of the lack of interest in a once major city in the West.

One of the many Copper Mine Shafts in Butte, MT

It is like in many of the historic towns in the US, the lack of interest in preserving the history which built this country is eaten away by deterioration and the decline of the city around it, and history will be gone forever.  Without its presence we will not remember and know what our heritage is, and become a nation of anonymous people.

I have had a very mixed day, but besides the difficulties today, I met many very helpful people, helping me bringing my bike to the shop, repairing it, and getting me back on the road again, even tonight having a beer and something to eat conversing with Tony the man at the taps, and the other folks telling me their stories.  Live is sometimes hard, but all in all it can be so much more easier if we just are open to each other, listen to the other one's story, and throw prejudice over board.  I met today so many people, very kind and helpful, if this continues every day, the world will and must be a better place.  Believe in it, I do.

"It is on your hands to build a better world for all who live in it." - Nelson Mandela anti-apartheid revolutionary, political leader and philanthropist who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999.