Date: Mon, 24 Aug 2009 23:16:47 -0700
Reply-To: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: trip report: the back of the Cascades (Wa.) long
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Left Lyle, Wa. (across the Columbia from Hood River, Or. in the Gorge)
Fri. afternoon for the Entiat River Valley and a rendezvous with a bunch of
cyclists who do an annual Hillclimb ride there. Cyber-friends we'd never
actually met. We loaded the bikes on the rear hatch Yakima rack and fired
up the inline four powered 84 "topless faux Westie" got the doggies (2
Chesapeake retrievers) aboard and headed over Satus pass to Yakima,
Ellensburg, Wenatchee and Ardenvoir. A short foray into Leavenworth
reminded me why we always avoided downtown Jackson, Wyoming when we lived
back there. I finally found and traversed Bluet Pass, after seeing it on
road reports for years. It is ironic that we probably know less about our
home state of Washington than we do about Baja, Utah, Nv. California,
Montana, etc.
The Van ran perfect, as usual..This trip my Odo finally really gave up so
I used my little GPS bike computer to track our speed and progress..Actually
a second one right over my regular speedo would probably be a better option
than fixing what I have..but... And this trip saw my O2 sensor light
're-illuminate' until I punched the reset button again. Does that mean
another 30k miles have slipped past the old fudge wagon?
We found our hostess' home and she led us to her "secret spot" on the
Entiat River where we 'poached' an overnight camping spot right next to the
water with nobody around. We arose the next morning and 'declined' the
planned Group Winery Tour ride along the shore of Lake Chelan in favor of a
more ambitious 'warm-up' ride for Sunday's main event, the Mad
River Hillclimb. After about 50 miles Sat. and some 4000' of climbing, the
Barbecue at our hostess' house was very welcome..Great food and peeps. One
fellow with a Eurovan and another in a big class C were quite envious of our
Vanagon. We camped Saturday night under the pines next to Lynne's house and
did the Sunday Hillclimb ride right from camp in the morning. We all rode
up a small paved forest service road right in the middle of the Entiat Burn
area...a fire of grand intensity swept through there in the early 90s but it
was recovering nicely. Plenty of Vanagon-sized camping spots all over that
part of the state.
Re-loaded the dogs and toys and decided to do a quick 'fly-by' of the town
of Chelan, then return down the east shore of the Columbia via hwy 97 to
Wenatchee. Got a quick swim to wash off all the salt from that day's bike
ride and hit a local fruit stand for some of the tastiest peaches
ever...Since it was still quite hot we decided to return without venturing
further east (out into the flat country and more heat) so we went right home
the reverse of our trip north. Ellensburg is a nice little town..Can't say
much about Wapato or Toppenish, though...
Back home to Lyle before dark on Sunday..two tanks of gas, a couple of
bucks for the barbeque kitty, and about $50 worth of fuel (each) for our
bicycle metabolisms and we had another great Vanagon weekend. It was quite
fun to put some faces to people previously known only through the Net. Also
fun to see another part of the Northwest that we've 'nearly visited' but
never had time to actually explore. Every time I take a bike trip in the
Vanagon I'm amazed at how pertectly suited it is for that..(among other
things).
Sorry for the length of this post..I ramble on..
Don Hanson
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