Stop - Big Lake, WA
Today's miles - 612
Total - 8,224
After a great night of conversation, sleep, and then breakfast, it was time to hit the road. The plan for today was to ride, all day, in the mountains. I wanted to stay on US 2 to Washington and then take State Hiway 20 all the way across Washington to my sister Sue's house. As soon as I got on the road I checked the mileage and figured that I had enough gas to make the 90 miles to Libby.
What a ride that was - and what a ride the whole day turned out to be. The road to Libby takes you through the Kootenai River Valley and its various passes and surprises. "Kootenai" is a Native American word that means "OMG! This place is beautiful! I'm going to stay here FOREVER!"
Now I might not be technically correct here but this is how I use the following words: "Twisties" are tight corners that require downshifting, finding the right line, and accelerating. "Sweepers" are relatively gentle curves that do not require slowing down or downshifting (they are actually even better if you accelerate through them.) Those words matter because they, in addition to awesome views, are why it is fun to ride through mountains. The road to Libby was sweeper heaven.
At one point I came up to three bikes in front of me. I decided to hang with them for awhile. They were puttering along, maybe five miles below the speed limit. I followed. I'm a fine follower. I maintained the right gap, stayed in my lane, functioned like a sweep. It isn't always OK to join a group like that but, since you can't read their minds while all of ours are being blown by the road, I took the risk.
It didn't take long before I realized again that, while I can be a fine follower, God has shaped me to lead. That led to all sorts of other thoughts about working with people, second guessing things that have happened in the past, etc. But then the speed limit jumped up to 70 mph and I couldn't take following anymore. I got on it and waved to my newfound and suddenly long lost friends as I flew on down the road.
When I was about 30 miles from Libby I had a sinking feeling. Once again, I wondered if my gas calculations had gone awry. "Sure I can get there" became "I'm not so sure anymore I can get there." Just as I realized that I probably needed to stop for gas we got to a stretch of road, a long stretch, that had neither civilization nor gas stations. What it had instead was uphill climbs and a lot more wind. It didn't look good. Then it got worse. The dreaded road construction delay. I turned off my bike to save the fumes that were left. I considered telling the guy pulling the camper behind me to stay with me in case I ran out of gas. I considered it and realized what a total dweeb that would leave me looking like and didn't say a word. I decided again to take my medicine. I guess the lesson wasn't adequately learned.
Three miles short of Libby I got to a station. I put 5.7 gals. in so, in retrospect, I WOULD have made it. I hope I don't need to learn that lesson again. Like I said earlier - I've never run out of gas on a bike, or in a car for the matter, in my life and I don't want to start now.
US 2 got me to Newport, WA, and I picked up State 20. This would be a brand new road for me. I was excited to get back to Washington. Washington is like Montana if you left it in the dryer long enough to shrink it a bit. It has everything and it isn't all that far from here to there. But what Washington DOES have that Montana doesn't is a lot more traffic. That's why Montana wins for me as the best state to ride in. I love Montana. If Montana was in Texas I'd move there (as long as Kelley, Emma, and I could bring Faith Lutheran Church with us.)
I had no idea what to expect from State 20. I chose it for a couple of reasons. First, it doesn't make much sense to cross the state on 20. I-90 is the fastest, US 2 is next. 20 meanders, goes too far north, and wastes too much time. Perfect for me because that means it wouldn't be very busy. And second, State 20 is the pass through the North Cascades that I wanted to take. I love that pass.
The first time that I rode a bike across the North Cascades pass was in college. My friend, Randy, and I decided to take a couple of days off of work. He showed up at my house on his Yamaha 650 Midnight Special. It was a much cooler looking bike than my Honda CB 750. He had a duffle bag and a sheet of plastic tied to his sissy bar. I had a duffle bag too, and a cooler with food and drinks. Our letterman jackets were the closest thing we had to biker leathers. We were good to go. We headed up I-5 to Burlington and took off on State 20.
Within a couple of hours we were having a snowball fight on Washington Pass. Another hour and we were running the twisties down into Okanogan. We rode on down to see the Grand Coulee Dam, through Electric City, and stopped before 5:00 PM at a camping place by a lake. We took a swim, ate, drank, and then wrapped up under the plastic sheet for the night. The next day we rode back over the pass on US 2 in the rain and flew home. I remember I had a basketball game that night and I didn't want to be late. We rode way too fast for the conditions but we were young and dumb. For a while we switched bikes but I wasn't dumb enough to let that little experiment last too long. As good as it looked, the Yamaha was a piece of junk.
So I headed north on State 20, looking forward to where it would take me.
The first mind picture I took was a sign that said "U.S.A.F. Survival School". I thought that was pretty cool and added to the boondocks appeal of State 20. I have no idea how many mountain passes I rode over but State 20 is twisty city. I wasn't terribly surprised by the deer that darted across the road in front of me (he missed me by a mile) but I WAS amazed to ride into Collville and see a deer eating in someone's front yard, in the middle of town, along the main drag. I had to turn around to get a picture of that one. (Look closely, he's in front of the trees.)
After Kettle Falls I rode through some more passes in the Okanogan National Forest. "Okanogan" is a Native American word that means, "Honey, don't forget to grab your sweater, it gets chilly up there." It was great. I remembered again that I love these signs:
I got to Tonasket and needed gas. I checked my phone and Kelley had texted me, wondering if I had gotten off track. I was too far north. So I called to explain my rationale. Taking State 20 was a great choice. Along with the fun roads it also gave me the feeling that all bikers crave, the sense that they are the only ones on the road. Nothing is better than riding in a world without cars and trucks. That road was as close as I've been to that since Maine.
State 20 joins US 97 and heads south at Tonasket. Out of the mountains we were suddenly in the desert and I was hot. I turned east at Okanogan and let US 97 continue on its way to Wenatchee. I like the sound of "Wenatchee" and that reminded me of a song that old school Washingtonians would remember: "When Godzilla Ate Tukwila".
He ate Wenatchee and his throat got scratchy
So he sucked up Lake Chelan,
Piddled on Spokane,
And fertilized half of Yakima.
Great song.
And on I rode through the North Cascades. Three passes. Riding by more snow. All good. And even better in that I had been looking forward to it all day.
The pass spills out into the Skagit River Valley and the towns of Sedro-Wooley and Burlington. They are just north of Mount Vernon and Conway - where I lived in high school with my Dad during the summers. I did that for six years. Immediately I noticed, as I remembered various things that I had done just down that road and just down that road...that I felt at home. How weird is that?
My home state and my home town and I don't feel at home until I am actually inside the city limits. But the Skagit Valley still feels like home. My theory is that, since I was always only a visitor there, that "home" feeling here is tied to visiting again. I guess my expectations aren't as high about visiting as they are about how "home" is supposed to feel.
I got to Sue and Bill's place they call "Clinger Mountain". Fortunately they were home and my visit got a head start.
Truth is, we have no home on this earth that isn't temporary. We're all visiting. Maybe we need to rethink our expectations. And now my Sunday With My Sisters gets to be my Weekend With My Sisters, which is even better. Tomorrow we'll swing up to Blaine for Corner #4.
If in doubt, fill your tank. Life goes better on a full tank.
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