ErnieA
Aug 26th, 2007, 4:02 am
We are on our way to Tan-Tar-A! :D
We left last evening after work. Spent our first night in Baker City. The BW is a nice motorcycle friendly motel with a great restaurant. Our first stop today was the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center (http://www.blm.gov/or/oregontrail/). It is a Rose City Grand Tour checkpoint this year and worth the visit.
We logged a meezley 474 miles today. That was 200 under plan and will only make Monday that much more of a drag crossing Kansas.:( After our OT stop we cruised the slab to Payette and caught Hwy 52 to Horseshoe Bend.
We then treked north on 55 to NF-24 to Lowman (nice pavement all the way). From there we took 21 to Stanley for a stretch break and some gas. Stanley is having a Salmon festival this weekend and is very crowded and the traffic heavy.
We left Stanley for a second RCMC Grand Tour checkpoint at Redfish Lodge (http://www.redfishlake.com/) that is just 5 miles south of Stanley on Hwy 75. We had dinner at the lodge and again the place was crowded. We could see smoke in the hills south and east of us. We heard that one of the local towns was under a forest fire seige and the locals desended on this lodge. Too bad for us. The lodge was a cool place and could have offered more than just a place to eat.
We decided to take a northern route out of the Sawtooth range and skip the Ketchum (http://www.ktvb.com/news/localnews/stories/ktvbn-aug2407-ketchum_events.6847861f.html) fire. About 50 or so miles north on 75 hooked us up with 93 south to Arco where we took 26 to Blackfoot. The entire way was thick with forest fire smoke. The temperature fluctuations were also noteworthy: for instance we started on 93 with 87 degrees and it fell to 67 just before Arco when we jumped onto 26. The temperature started to climb back up even though the sun had set (something we couldn't see because of the smoke BTW) and when we got to Blackfoot the temp had climbed back to 87. We had given thought of stopping to put on our jacket liners, but were glad we decided not to.
We again slabbed it to Pocatello on I-15 for the night. Tomorrow will bring us a very looong day to make up some time. After all, Alaskafish is almost three days ahead and somewhere between here and there. We gotta make up some ground! :p
Day 1 (Milwaukie to Baker City) - 307 miles
Fuel - 8.653
MPG = 35.49 (Gorge headwind):(
Day 2 - 474 miles
Fuel - 10.095 gal
MPG = 46.95 (gotta love higher elevations):D
Avg $ per Gal. = 3.199 (premium grade)
We left last evening after work. Spent our first night in Baker City. The BW is a nice motorcycle friendly motel with a great restaurant. Our first stop today was the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center (http://www.blm.gov/or/oregontrail/). It is a Rose City Grand Tour checkpoint this year and worth the visit.
We logged a meezley 474 miles today. That was 200 under plan and will only make Monday that much more of a drag crossing Kansas.:( After our OT stop we cruised the slab to Payette and caught Hwy 52 to Horseshoe Bend.
We then treked north on 55 to NF-24 to Lowman (nice pavement all the way). From there we took 21 to Stanley for a stretch break and some gas. Stanley is having a Salmon festival this weekend and is very crowded and the traffic heavy.
We left Stanley for a second RCMC Grand Tour checkpoint at Redfish Lodge (http://www.redfishlake.com/) that is just 5 miles south of Stanley on Hwy 75. We had dinner at the lodge and again the place was crowded. We could see smoke in the hills south and east of us. We heard that one of the local towns was under a forest fire seige and the locals desended on this lodge. Too bad for us. The lodge was a cool place and could have offered more than just a place to eat.
We decided to take a northern route out of the Sawtooth range and skip the Ketchum (http://www.ktvb.com/news/localnews/stories/ktvbn-aug2407-ketchum_events.6847861f.html) fire. About 50 or so miles north on 75 hooked us up with 93 south to Arco where we took 26 to Blackfoot. The entire way was thick with forest fire smoke. The temperature fluctuations were also noteworthy: for instance we started on 93 with 87 degrees and it fell to 67 just before Arco when we jumped onto 26. The temperature started to climb back up even though the sun had set (something we couldn't see because of the smoke BTW) and when we got to Blackfoot the temp had climbed back to 87. We had given thought of stopping to put on our jacket liners, but were glad we decided not to.
We again slabbed it to Pocatello on I-15 for the night. Tomorrow will bring us a very looong day to make up some time. After all, Alaskafish is almost three days ahead and somewhere between here and there. We gotta make up some ground! :p
Day 1 (Milwaukie to Baker City) - 307 miles
Fuel - 8.653
MPG = 35.49 (Gorge headwind):(
Day 2 - 474 miles
Fuel - 10.095 gal
MPG = 46.95 (gotta love higher elevations):D
Avg $ per Gal. = 3.199 (premium grade)