Travel Journal & Motography...

~ 4 August 2020

I joined Adventure Rider at the latter part of 2016 while searching for information concerning motorcycle rides to Alaska; it was a post-retirement ride that I wanted to accomplish. Retirement gave me the latitude I needed to explore previously out-of-reach destinations due to work commitments and time constraints. Nowadays I spend my time riding to places I've only contemplated in the past or places that I've recently read about or discovered. Moreover, riding helps to keep me active these days as I head into my golden years.

The primary reason this thread exists is to digitally “put pen to paper” to record memories... my memories. One of the consequences to advancing age is loss of mental clarity. There will come a time when I'll look back at these passages and photos to recall long forgotten adventures...

Yeah, having a thread to keep all the Riding and Ramblin's together helps!

In, hope to share an IPA post-pandemic!

Speaking of old memories, I lived just outside of Cheney for a couple of years while I worked part-time for a company out in the Valley...

One of my fondest memories was riding my mountain bike to the Bowl and Pitcher where I crossed the wooden bridge to ride the Centennial Trail along the Spokane River. I even ran Bloomsdays in 2001, not for time but rather for fun...

good times...



I took this photo of the Looff Carrousel at Riverfront Park back in the day before they built the new glass rotunda...


Spokane is a lovely city... and at one point was in the running as a retirement spot...

Yup... before my noggin starts to go downhill...

For sure Mike... sorry about your plans for riding Europe this year... I'm optimistic about the vaccine trials but even then, logistics and distribution will take time...

In for the fun on this one Rudy.

Good stuff Rudy. I raised my family there through the 80's and 90's. Lived on the south hill. Spokane's a great town in a great location, but if you are looking to escape CA politics as many here are, Washington is no different then here. Best to go east 20 miles and cross into Idaho where taxes are low and gov'ment is not as heavy handed. Sandpoint comes to mind. Often.

Hey Rudy, been following for a while. Apologize for the diversion, but I too found myself with 20 years worth of numerous hard drives with photos that I seldom perused. Until, two words, Google photos. I went through all of them and drug them into Google photos. One of the best things I have ever done. Not only are all of my photos backed up, I have access to all of them on my phone wherever I am. Plus the memories features remind me of what I was doing 1/3/5/15 etc years ago. Highly recommend it!

Hey Colby...

I always liked the South Hill. I considered that the ritzy part of town and loved driving through there to see the autumn colors, plus... I'm a sucker for older classic homes...

Thanks for checking in.

I get it with photo hosting sites, but I lean towards the oldschool way and hang on to my stuff... My Apple desktop has the memories functionality in the Photo app for the photos I choose to keep on the desktop, the rest get archived on the hard drive and is backed up on a second drive just in case...

Subscribed.

IN....i enjoy following your rides and the pictures that come along.

keep us updated....enjoy the ride.

Hey Jim...

Will do Joel... this heatwave and the fires up north are not conducive for some moto-theraphy at the moment...

I went past your neck of the woods yesterday did you hear me honk!?
Got too hot so went back to the coast to get home via Rice Canyon road
There is an old gas station behind that fence

From the google map do you know the story?

Yup, I know what you mean about the heat!

That area was one of my go to riding destinations during my crotch-rocket days; Rainbow Valley, Rice Canyon, Lilac, West Lilac, Couser Canyon, Cole Grade, and ultimately the 76 up to Palomar a few times...

I've passed that old gas station on multiple occasions but never knew the history so I did some googling, thanks for the history lesson...

You could pass on the link Rudy; inquiring minds want to know the story as well.

Basically the same 'ole story about these gas stations.

Back in the day they were indispensable until the new super slabs were built and the businesses slowly withered away vis-a-vis; Route 66, Old Hwy 80, Old Hwy 395, and others...

Info: Here

Hi Rudy! So any updates on pimping out the Ranger? Possible travel plans? Good IPA beer consumption? We sure had plenty at our MOTOFEST..omg! Hehe! We have only done a few local rides near the house. Found a great overlook of the Spokane river before it feeds into Lake Roosevelt. Great place to swill a few! CHEERS RUDY!

~ 27 Aug 2020

Hey Eric, thanks for checking in...

The Ranger is finished, I've got all my glamping toys packed, and the bike is ready to go for an adventure, however, I am not at the moment. Will explain later on.

When I do get out for some base camping with the bike, I'll be taking glamping up a notch. Gone are the dehydrated meals - instead; bacon and eggs, steaks, grilled chicken, fresh veggies and such... along with some IPA, I'm bringing Japanese Sake for enjoyment around the campfire after a day of riding...

the Ranger with some of the base camp supplies... a portable rocking chair for kicking back by the campfire...


cooler, firewood in plastic totes, and two 5-gallon jugs for water... missing from the pic is a 28-gallon tote with the rest of my camping gear...


I've also been tinkering with a 100W solar panel and a solar power station for off grid adventures...


as for me, I've been treating a chalazion for the past two weeks at home... until I went to the hospital yesterday... I'm getting outpatient surgery today so I'll be down for about two more weeks for recovery... better now while it's hot than later on when it gets cooler...

I've always been fond of Spokane and surrounding area including into Idaho. Sandpoint and Lake Pend Oreille come to mind. Relatively close to here so many a dollar has been spent on motorcycle tires in Spokane before crossing back into Canada. A city of very nice people.

Good luck with the surgery Rudy.