The past 2 days was the price I knew I had to pay to do this trip without a truck shuttle- I had to get back home as quickly as possible without going on the interstates. The first part of the yesterday was on the west side of the Cascades and was cold and rainy, the second half was on the east side of the Cascades and was hot and very windy. Route 2- which goes from Seattle over Stevens Pass into Leavenworth is a single file line of cars with 45 min+ traffic jams before every town with a stoplight. The DR did as best she could- going the speed of traffic was never a problem even laden with gear, but its still basically a glorified dirt bike with knobby tires so it’s uncomfortable and so loud. Even with the ear plugs. After an hour or riding I assumed a sort hunched rictus and tried to not think about it.

I actually probably could have made it the whole way, but the traffic on 2 added about 2 or more hours on to the trip, so I ended up staying in Yakima. One pleasant part of the day was the last 30 miles into Yakima was going up the Yakima River Gorge, which was beautiful and more or less free of cars. Thats the one picture below.

Today was a short 2 hour ride from Yakima to Hood River basically going down 97 to the Columbia and on to 14. I have to say the last 30 minutes or so on 14 was maybe the worst of the entire trip. I was riding into a 30mph head wind and it was nerve racking and deafeningly loud. I ended up going about 5 or 10 MPH under the speed limit and letting the occasional car that came up behind me pass without hesitation.

And thats it. I dont have an exact milage for the trip, but I’d say about 1000 miles? 1200? somewhere in there.

Final thoughts on gear:

  • The D606/ Pirelli MT21 tire combo was great on the BDR, not so much on the road. They were also brand new when I started, and the highway miles really took some life out of them. Not sure what the answer is for the TAT. Maybe the Mitas 50/50 tires for the first half, and the knobbys for the second half?
  • The MSR international is great. Burns the same fuel as my bike. It’s plenty fast. I know exactly how much fuel I have left.
  • I made killer coffee with the aero press, a small burr grinder and a thermometer. Like top notch. But it’s a lot of weight for one hot beverage that takes about 10 minutes to drink. I’ll have to think about that. Maybe if there were other people dinking coffee?
  • I need to get ready for downpours. I got caught in a very small shower at one point a couple of days ago, and it was a complete shitshow. I need to be ready for the east coast style deluges.
  • Shocks. Rear shock in particular. I need to beef that up for carrying gear.
  • My headlight sucks, but I can probably put that off.
  • The ear plugs I had sucked. They are some fancy things in an aluminum tube that cost 30 bucks, and they didn’t work. I’m gonna switch to regular old Macks foam plugs.
  • The tank bag was great, but it’s a bit big for the cockpit. I certainly dont need that and the backpack… I’m gonna have to dial that in.
  • The fancy knee and shin guards caused me a great deal of knee pain. I’m hoping I can drop the pegs and fix it?
  • I should probably get a real motorcycle jacket for paved roads.

The road down the Yakima River Gorge