• June 2

• Clarkston, WA to Burien, WA

• 401 miles

After driving through clouds of bugs & bees along the Clearwater River coming down from Lolo Pass and then getting blasted by a fierce dust storm coming into Lewiston at the end of day 4, the ST was really disgusting. Instead of smooth, black paint, it had a fuzzy, grey finish. So some of us took a pre-ride trip to the car wash.

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Taking a break at the top of the Spiral Highway of Death after savoring its many twists and turns and managing to not hit any cows.

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Joe Betor met us west of Clarkston and accompanied us back to Seattle. He detoured us to his sister's house in Richland and we narrowly averted a spontaneous party of good food and wine and great company. We knew we were in for stormy weather in the Cascades to the west and every minute we spent here would just make it tougher. It took real discipline to ride away knowing that if we accepted the offered hospitality, we'd end up spending the night.

We must have been craving adventure as we discarded the notion of taking any of the lower passes through the Cascades and we sure found it as we decided to take the highest pass, Chinook, with a storm front parking on top.

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The mandatory stop for espresso in Naches, WA on the edge of the eastern Cascade foothills before heading up to Chinook Pass. At this point, we all suited up for rain as we fully expected to get a bath.

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And rain it did as we climbed Hwy 410 toward Chinook Pass which then turned to falling snow on wet roads which then turned into falling snow on snow covered roads.

This photo was taken west of the pass. On the east side and higher up, there was 3 inches of fresh snow on the road. It was first gear all the way and no brakes as we negotiated the tight turns along deadly cliffs. Everyone made it through without incident and as we dropped down the west side, we emerged back into rain. (Whew!)

That's Pork Chop in the photo giving the photographer, Pablo, the thumbs up and they're both from Tucson, Arizona. They found this winter touring stuff pretty entertaining and inquired if we Washingtonians do this sort of thing on a regular basis. 

Vince, on the other hand, being a fair weather sport biker, was not amused! (See, Joe and I had led him through rain and then hail the year before while crossing the Bighorn Mtns. with a storm front parked on top.)

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Ah! Nothing like a hot cup of Starbuck's espresso at Wapati Woolies in Greenwater, Washington, north of Mt. Rainier, to chase away the chill and recent memory of having ridden in 3" of snow on scary mountain roads! And after doing a crash course in traction control in the snow, some of us discovered newly found confidence in our tires on merely wet roads.

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The essential last day group photo, courtesy of Joe. Soaked, chilled and somewhat dazed after crossing Chinook Pass in 3" of snow. 

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Addendum: Pork Chop, a die-hard Harley man, test drives Vince's Yamaha R1 fighter jet once we get home to Seattle. He was rendered fairly speechless so we're not sure what he thought of it!

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Addendum: Paul and Jeff left Seattle a day later for Tucson via the Washington, Oregon and California coast. They insisted that their journey start with a trip on a Washington State Ferry over to the Olympic Peninsula. Here they are watching the commuters unload from the Fauntleroy/Southworth ferry. These desert dwellers find our ferry system to be vastly entertaining, especially the fact that you can buy a cold one upstairs in the onboard cafeteria.

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