aka The USCA National Rally in Idaho. It all started HERE, I guess. Dana had to go and post about the rally, back in Oktober... I sat on the fence for awhile before deciding to go. Planned to make it a two day out / two day back trip - on the sidecar 400+ miles can be a bit, for me at least. Everytime I hear somebody say "when I get old enough to start having trouble holding up my bike, I'm gonna' get one of those" I can't help but think "when I get old enough that I can't spider-monkey around the tug, I guess I'll have to go back to two wheels!" So anyways, I made the trip out there in one day. Hadn't meant to do it, and missed an opportunity for dinner with friends because of target fixation, I guess. but there it is - what it is. On with the pictures!
Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of me flying the chair. First rest stop was Leavenworth, WA. I had stopped off for gas in Cle Elum and picked up some jerky at Owen's Meat Company - great little shop on the strip if you're in the area... and once I made it through Blewett Pass instead of turning East, I took a detour to Leavenworth to visit with the baker and get some bread. Unfortunately for me, the bakery ist gerschlossen on Dienstag und Mittwoch. While hanging out in front of the bakery though, what should appear but the baker, who pedals up on a bicycle and starts up a conversation with me about beemers (his is a ~90 something R100GS) - and he unlocked the bakery and gave me a bag of rolls from the freezer I went down to the river to have some bread and jerky, let the rig cool off for awhile, when I met this guy - "Kevin" - we talked for ~an hour or so. Kevin herding some critters... <embed width="600" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullscreen="true" allowNetworking="all" wmode="transparent" src="http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf" flashvars="file=http%3A%2F%2Fvid961.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fae93%2FTony_D_Tiger%2FUSCA%2520in%2520CdA%2FVID_20120718_151148.mp4">
Got into the fairgrounds ~7pm or so, IIRC, and set up camp. Casa del Tigré for the next few days & nights. It was kinda' hot, compared to the weather we've been having. Little did I know that would change, must've brought some of that PNW over the pass with me. :huh Thursday morning Joyce wanted a picture of me and Dana - guess she never seen a couple long-haired hippies before Since she was havin' techincal difficulties, I had time to grab a shot of her, grabbin' a shot of us.
So where was I? Oh yeah... Thursday was hot. Hung out in the shade for awhile - ended up takin' a nap in the hammock. Friday, Me & "Ché" went into CDA, where I discovered riding a moose is a lot like riding a sidecar - takes a lot of body english to sling it into a turn! :eek1 Ché, on the other hand, thought it was more like playin' pool, and put a little "backspin" on it... ...damned tourists! oser
But, I'm getting out of sequence here... Sam and Jerry here, rolled into camp on Thursday morning... by Friday morning I had re-nicknamed Sam to "Chainsaw" because he was really rippin' it up at night Coupla' nice guys, for Navy vets, Sam had put his rig together, then talked Jerry into riding 800+ miles from Nevada to come check out sidecars at the rally. "Frugal" fella's they stayed three nights and kicked a lot of tires, but didn't bother registering for the rally (or paying) - now, I don't usually come up here in the daylight, but I'm pretty sure I saw me a thread down in the basement about "day passes" and such... I just wish their tents were a little further away from where I was. Pretty sure it was Thursday when this guy rolled through camp, too... Unfortunately, shortly after I saw him and WU7X-wife I ended up in that hammock there, catching up on z's lost to Chainsaw's snorin' the night before.
Okay - let's try this again... Thursday evening some of us went to a little restaurant Dana found - fresh fish and tasty salads. No pictures... unless somebody else got 'em. Friday morning Ché and I tooled around CdA a bit, but when the clouds started to turn dark, then the sprinkles settled in, I hustled back to the fairgrounds to close-up the tent - I had left it with the awning pulled back to air out and didn't want the sleeping bag & stuff to get wet. Good move, as the clouds soon opened up and we had thunder boomers and rain squalls coming through for a couple hours... which wasn't a ~bad~ thing, as we huddled under the awning of the fairground buildings and smoked stogies and talked motorbikes, doggies and what-have-you... Kinda' put a damper on some of the planned activities, although four folks did take off for the theme park, I heard.
Saturday was a nice sunny day - and we headed out on a group ride (42 peeps - how many bikes/rigs?) to Silver Mountain Ski Resort. Pretty cool stuff, for a 'fraidy-cat like me that'd never been on a ski lift before. *when I got to the bottom of the ski lift, I walked around for awhile. Couldn't catch a picture of him, but there was a hummingbird down here too.
Coming down the gondola, I saw the last bikes leaving the parking lot - guess I dawdled too long on the top. Might as well be consistent - I dawdled on the way back to the fairgrounds too, tooling along ID scenic highway 97...
When I got back, the games were already goin' on... Ché convinced me to ride along in the hack, and we entered as "Ché and Fidel" ...ended up taking third place when Fidel was driving Folks waiting to compete... Charlie &
This rally, there weren't a lot of vendors... kids and doggies, on the other hand, were plentiful! youngest rider @ the rally - Wilhelm Anderson was there for his 2nd birthday... This youngin' was happy to discover he had a winning door prize ticket, for a mini-leatherman tool! *I later saw him attempting to disassemble one of the fairground buildings from a distance, and hollered over "WHAT are you doin' over there..." to which he replied "...nothing."
Ever notice how the ride home never seems to take as long as the ride out? Wassup wid dat?! Weather wasn't near as hot on the ride home - warm, clear and sunny skies, but not ~hot~ like the ride out was. I stopped off in Leavenworth on the ride home, too. Bockwurst mit sauerkraut and a nice amber bier... :kbasa After lunch, I hung out in the shade for awhile and watched life go by... Back on the road through Blewett Pass, and looking off to the west, I could see dark clouds over Snoqualmie... had planned to go that way, but when I stopped in Cle Elum for gas (ethanol free gas... ) I decided to head south instead. Good thing, too, as I crossed over I-90 I looked down at the west-bound side, they were stop-n-go bumper-to-bumper suckin'! Talk about making a good decision. Oh well, like I say "Count on luck when you can't count on skill!" Off to Yakima... by way of Ellensburg. There's a bier I like - "Quilter's Irish Death" by Iron Horse brewing... their web page said they were open until 7pm on Sunday... I musta' read that part wrong. *note the stools on top of the counters...
My new plan was to camp in Yakima for the night, at the state park there - then stop at a fruit stand and get some yummy fresh fruitas to bring over to the wetside. Sidecar in the shadows... Next morning, I spent an hour or so getting to know one of my "neighbors" - night before had been spent BS'ng with some Canadian bikers (eh) in the site on the other side... "John" here has been living out of his truck for the last two years... I got the impression it's not that he can't afford to live in a house, but he has kinda' over-simplified his life. Nice guy. "I haven't had a drink in ~25 years, I guess... used to make me ornery." And I stopped to get peaches, apricots, plums and several varieties of cherries in Naches. ...after which, the nice lady told me "I've heard horror stories of folks on motorcycles trying to carry fruit home through the pass - it bruises easily, you know..." Yes'm - but did ~you~ know I is a packaging specialist? Wish I'da thought to take a picture - needless to say, the fruit was fine. Man they got some big-assed apricots though! Tasty, too!
The 1983 BMW R100RT crossed a milestone on this trip, making the 111,111 mark on HWY 508 coming through from Morton, WA enroute to Centralia. We took Alpha-Centralia road to a few backroads (including Little Hanaford and Big Hanaford roads) and popped-out onto old HWY 99 in Bucoda. These back ways are SO much more enjoyable than slabbing along something about the "circumnavigation factor" of not ~really~ knowing where I am, or if I'll come out where I think I will... yeah. Namasté I know the trip report fails in conveying the way it felt... but I hope you enjoy it nevertheless... :fyyff *"We" is an oblique reference to der Stinktier - my lil travellin buddy. No, I do not have a mouse in my pocket - I've got a skunk in my fairing!