I went with a friend on Friday on a 400 mile day trip. We met at the Buzz Inn in Monroe at 7am. As I was riding there with minimal amounts of sleep, I was asking myself why I was doing this. I just retired! I can sleep in. But it was worth it to see him again and ride for the day.
Here's the route we took. The image was taken from the map page on the inReach website. I like the inReach SE. It'll track your location, and even if you're out of cell phone range, will allow you to send text messages or call for help.
For those of you into "food porn", this is all I have to offer:
A Buzz Inn breakfast. The hash browns weren't really done. But the eggs were good.
We did something that I've never done before. It made an incredible difference in the ride. I had a Sena 10C which is a combination of a Bluetooth headset and camera. He bought a Sena 10S. It took us a few minutes to pair the two headsets together since neither of us had done it before, but once we did...wow! We had a running conversation for hours, just like if you were both sitting in a car together.
It wasn't long before we were out of town and hitting some of the scenery that makes the Cascades so nice to ride on.
We stopped for lunch at Howard's Inn Restaurant in Pateros. Good food. The fries were delicious! And the hamburger was really nice.
This was looking towards Liberty Bell mountain. That's the area that keeps the pass closed once the snow starts falling. The threat of avalanches becomes too high. I heard they were digging the road out from 45-60 feet of snow.
Farther down the road... We didn't plan it this way, it just happened...and made a nice picture.
Diablo Lake really is that color of green. It happens from the rock particles that break off and float along with the water into the lake.
I should make this into a wallpaper for my cell phone.
When we stopped at the overlook, we met two "riders" from Vancouver, BC. Both were carrying their bicycles on the back of their Suzuki V-Stroms! The picture doesn't do them justice really.
Chris
