By the time we got up this morning, both Ries and Shiela had been at work for some time. They are incredibly industrious people!

It had been raining overnight, but was looking like a better day, so we left our wet weather gear on the bike. We said our farewells and headed off.

We only had a short ride today to take us to Jim and Terrie Binnion's home in Bellingham, so we decided to first ride across to Deception Pass. On the way we stopped in Anacortes (named after Annie Curtis, apparently) for coffee at the Cheescake Cafe, which proudly describes itself as "the Home of the Wedgie", which is possibly why there weren't many customers there.

Deception Pass is a narrow straight between Whidby and Fidalgo Islands which is blocked by a third island, really just a large chunk of rock, that holds up the middle bit of the bridge between the two. One hundred and eighty six feet below, the tide surges violently through the restricted passage.

From there we rode north, taking the opportunity to ride Chuckanut Drive again, this time while the road was dry.

We arrived at Jim and Terrie's not long after lunch and well before they were expecting us. Their dogs must have known we were coming, for they greeted us with great enthusiasm. Jim took us for a tour of his studio and workshop where we met his daughter Joya, and Chip who were working in the studio.  Jim is one of the world's leading experts in making mokume gane (that's Japanese for "woodgrain metal"). He had recently returned from teaching a course in San Francisco and had lots of examples to show us that illustrated some of the many ways of producing this. Essentially he fuses layers of different metals together to form a billet, then deforms, stamps or carves part of the metal away to reveal the different layers like contour lines on a map, then rolls the billet flat. In some cases the pattern is enhanced by etching one of the constituent metals away. The result is astoundingly complex and beautiful patterns that make exquisite jewellry. To see his work go to http://mokume-gane.com/index.php

Jim was barbequeing a brisket for our dinner that night in a wood fired smoking oven, and had started cooking it well before we arrived. He explained that what we Australians call barbequeing is only grilling, and that barbequeing is really the process of cooking meat for a long time at low temperature. The most important thing is it was absolutely delicious - and the wine was good too. We chatted away, and all too soon it was late.

Apart from two Alsatian/Malamute dogs they have a remarkable green-eyed cat. The eyes communicate well. It can open doors and poses for photos on demand. Once the light was out it came into our bedroom jumped on the bed, walked all over us and tucked us in. When it was happy we were settled in, it left for the night.

Skies of Concrete

We have been staying with friends for the last two nights, so suddenly we are three days behind with our blogging.

We left Twisp on Sunday morning as it started raining. We could not be bothered to stop in Winthrop to absorb the Old West atmosphere, choosing instead to head west through the North Cascades. After passing through the little town of Mazama we soon began climbing into the mountains and found ourselves riding between the banks of snow on either side of the road. By the time we got to Washington Pass at an altitude of 5477 feet the temperature had dropped to a chilly 39 degrees F (3 degrees Celcius).

We ran downhill for a few miles before climbing again to 4855 feet to crest the aptly named Rainy Pass before descending again down the Skagit River Valley. A few cyclists were coming up.  Two of them will be spending the night in these conditions. By the time we got to Diablo Dam the rain had eased. We stopped at the overlook for photos, then continued on to Newhalem where we had a well earned coffee break.

The road continued its descent though Marblemount and Rockport. As we travelled through the town of Concrete, the skies looked like they were made to match.

We reached Burlington early in the afternoon and stopped for lunch. We were heading to stay with Ries and Sheila Niemi, and had said we would arrive late in the afternoon. Since Burlington is only 10 miles from their home, we decided to ride further west to Whidby Island to visit the Deception Pass State Park which we had been told was very scenic. The further west we rode, the more the weather closed in, and the rain was really bucketing down. It was clear we wouldn't see much, so we decided just to turn around and head to Ries and Shiela's to get dried out.

Now, for some strange reason, I had it in mind that their house was at the northern end of the superb Chuckanut Drive, a scenic road along the coast (see http://chuckanutdrive.com/). I was wrong: they lived south of the road. This meant we got to ride the road in both directions - which wasn't a bad thing.

We arrived at their house rather earlier than expected, and they were both busy in their studio and workshop. Once they realised we had arrived we were welcomed most warmly. Ries showed us around the property which is like a mini-national park with all the birdlife that lives there. There is even an eagle's nest in one of the trees, although the owners were on holidays.

Ries gave us a tour of his wonderfully huge and well equipped workshop where he was working on a stainless steel bench seat for a school. Chris was particularly envious of his power hammer, shears, punches, folders, rollers, TIG welders, plasma cutter (on an X-Y table with automatic tracking), ...

Sheila showed us through her studio where she makes textile art. We were fascinated to see her line of designer clothing made from cotton cleaning cloths (!) brought back from a trip to Buenos Aires, and samples of stainless steel cord especially made for her in Belgium for an earlier work. It was amazingly soft and flexible, being spun from incredibly fine fibres.

We were treated to a gourmet dinner of smoked oysters, locally made goat's cheese and bread, home made pickles and Thai fish cakes made by Ries  After dinner we all went to the local town of Edison (population 110) to one of the two inns there to enjoy some local bands playing. Everyone seemed to know each other and we were introduced to a number of colourful local identities. There is a huge emphasis on local food, skills and friendship.

  

After an enjoyable evening, we crashed into bed and slept like logs. The cat lay on our feet all night. It didn't mind when we wiggled and didn't stir until we woke up. All the animals we have met so far have trained their owners well.

When it stops raining, it's a fine day for motorcycling

Hooray! This morning it dawned bright and clear with not a cloud in the sky. We decided to change our route based on advice we received from Tony yesterday. I had planned taking a grand loop from Cashmere to Marblemount, a trip of about 200 miles. Tony advised there was no accommodation there, and that we would either have to continue on 30 miles further to Sedro Woolley, or stop much earlier in Winthrop. By choosing the latter we also had the chance to make a loop further into the semi-arid, yet very beautiful parts of east Washington state.

We chose the latter, and after starting along our original route for 20 miles turned east to the very smart town of Waterville where we stopped for a late breakfast at the Coyote Pass Cafe. This has an impressive table setting, the wine glasses giving it a classy finish. The ladies there are very up to date with their surroundings giving us advice on where to go. We gave them details of our future travels saying that we hoped there will be a solution to the oil spill in the gulf by the time we reach it. Julie muttered under her breath, “If they don't we'll be plugging the holes with Members of Congress.” Our imagination reeled.

After climbing out of town through Pine Canyon the run due east to Coulee City was fast, at times windy,and straight across the rolling plateau covered in wheat fields and dotted with silos.

A short distance before Coulee City we turned south for a couple of miles to see Dry Falls, where a waterfall 3.5 miles wide and several hundred feet high was carved out of the hard basalt at the end of the last ice age by the Great Missoula floods, a series of catastrophic events that each resulted in 500 cubic miles of water draining across the land in just 48 hours. Rushing at over 90 mph the water carried huge boulders along and deposited them across the landscape.

Our ride took us from there along the east side of Banks Lake to the Grand Coulee Dam that holds back Lake Roosevelt, a body of water several hundred miles long and stretching almost to the Canadian border. A little further on we stopped in Nespelem for refreshments. There we met a lovely old Indian man with a fantastic hat, who had had a leg amputated and was cheerfully making the best he could of life from his wheelchair. He commented that he had frequently seen eagles flying through the nearby trees but they had not returned these last two years.

No sooner were we out of Nespelem than the landscape changed to woodlands covered in pine trees. From here it looked like Roy Rogers' country with horse farms nestled in partly rocky areas with only a few trees, but still very green and far into the distance, snow-capped mountains. The road was fast and open all the way across Disautel Summit and down into Omak and we covered the 34 miles in about 30 minutes. We stopped for coffee (the pinch of cinnamon gave it a delightful flavour) in a Mexican restaurant before tackling Loup Loup summit at 4020 feet. We then descended into Twisp and continued 9 miles further into Winthrop, a town that has been thoroughly made over as an Old West town. Like Leavenworth yesterday, it is a tourist centre, and motel prices reflect that. We decided to head back to Twisp where we found a motel room that was $30 cheaper than any in Winthrop. A couple our age had settled in the camping area nearby. They had just cycled over the snow covered North Cascades and described rain, cold and camping in the middle of nowhere. A soul enhancing (or “character building”) experience.

We walked into town, about three quarters of a mile, to have dinner. As we walked over the bridge we admired the fast running Chewuch River flowing over the rocks like silk. We found a number of galleries in the main street had exhibitions opening tonight, so we enjoyed wandering through those before enjoying a well earned beer over dinner. We met a couple at dinner who had driven 4 hours throiugh the North Cascades in their BMW Z3 sports car just to have dinner in Twisp, and were then going to drive home immediately afterwards.

There are two huge metal orbs in the town made by a famous local sculptor that are well worth seeing.

Are we in Bavaria yet?

Once again we awoke to a rainy day. We got dressed into our wet weather gear to ride out of Packwood a small green village surrounded by large pines. We went east on route 12 which had a few fast moving trucks. There was rain and fog as we climbed towards White Pass, a winter ski area that still had some snow around but not enough to use the lifts. They remained abandoned until next winter. At times visibility dropped to less than 100 feet and from the few glimpses we got when the seeing was better, we knew we were misssing stunning views of pine covered mountains across a very deep valley.

Once over White Pass, we descended into better weather. As we rode along the edge of the milky-green Rimrock Lake (formed by the Tieton Dam) the rain stopped and cloud began to clear away. At the same time, the landscape began to change, and we soon found ourselves riding through a gradual change to semi-arid countryside, very similar to that we found at the eastern end of the Columbia River Valley - which should not have surprised us because we were about 50 miles north of there.

By the time we got to Yakima (72 miles from Packwood) we were ready for a coffee hit. We stopped at Mel's Diner where we had a belated breakfast, before turning north on 821 up the scenic Yakima River valley towards Cashmere.

We stopped for lunch in the very elegant town of Ellensburg, at the trendy Dakota Cafe. As we went in a bunch of ageing cowboys were just leaving. Wanda rounded 'em up and got a photo of them before they got away.

We left on 97 and made quick progress once we got out of the 30 and 35 mph zones that exended way out of the town. Fifty four miles from Ellensburg we turned right onto Highway 2 and 2 miles down the road crossed the fast flowing, green Wenatchee River into Cashmere, our destination for the night. We checked into the Village Inn Motel at 2:30pm, rather early considering we had covered 170 miles from Packwood. Cashmere is a well presented, pleasant and tidy town. We were delighted to hear a regular train hoot through the town on a regular basis, only a few blocks from where we were staying. Train tracks have followed all the rivers we have travelled on and have obviously been an imprtant part of the life and history of this area.

We left most of our bags and baggage in the motel and rode to Leavenworth, a drop-dead gorgeous town that thinks it is in Bavaria. Nestled at the foot of some rugged mountains still capped with snow, the central part of town has been successfully modelled on a Bavarian village.

The accordion dance music, the murals, grapevines, the flowers hanging from pots off balconies or windows, large glasses of boutique beers and a backdrop of high, snow covered mountains, all made you feel as if you were transprted to Europe. A sunny afternoon added to the pleasure even though you could see grey clouds clinging  to the summit. We hoped the biker we had met earlier would get over that pass quickly tonight,

We spent some time there, photographing the buildings before having a beer and pretzel at a pub - complete with a piano-accordionist playing for the crowd.

We stopped at the Safeway store on the way back to Cashmere to buy dinner for the night. There we met Tony, a fellow motorcyclist. He was riding a BMW R1200GS, and we quickly made friends. He was keen to tell us about the best rides in British Columbia, but since we didn't have our maps with us he invited us back to his house so he could show us on his. The short ride took us through lush green blocks of land, and a river with a backdrop of huge snow tipped mountains.

There we met his young son Simon and wife Jill, and checked out his other bikes, a BMW R60 and a Ural (Russian-made BMW copy) complete with sidecar. He and his son used it to have an adventure on one or two of these beautiful roads. Jill seems to prefer the ride on mower, one of the most manoeuvrable machines we have seen.

Tony and his family were just so welcoming, but we eventually managed to head back to Cashmere to do such exciting things as wash our laundry and have a cold dinner in our motel room.

A trip to Paradise - and beyond

The day dawned cold but sunny, with some clouds about as we prepared to ride east and then south to Mt Ranier.

After clearing the suburbs of Seattle, our first stop was the Snoqualmie Falls. These have a large volume of water passing over a 270 foot drop and make an impressive sight. The mist from below blows up over the viewing platform like fine rain.

The roads south to the pretty town of Enumclaw went through a lot of newly developed areas, with huge housing developments where every house looked the same. We stopped at Enumclaw for an early lunch in the park adjacent to the library, where there was a huge bronze sculpture of two bullocks dragging a log.

Leaving Enumclaw, the GPS got us onto route 410 as desired, but heading west, not east. It was not until we got about 20 miles down the road I realised we had been led up the garden path (so to speak). We had to back track all the way to Enumclaw and continue east on 410.

The road quickly left civilization behind and we found ourselves enjoying the sunshine on a scenic road through intensely green forests. After 42 miles we came to the junction of highway 12 which meant we had overshot the turn we wanted to make onto route 706. The GPS could not accept we should take this road and for miles kept insisting we make a U turn.

It was just as well we didn't, for this road leads through the Mt Ranier National Park, and is as scenic a road as we have found so far on our journey. The road was a little rough in places but was great riding. It took us high up onto the flank of Mt Ranier, well above the snow line, where we rode through a winter wonderland. In spite of all the snow about the road, the road itself was not icy or wet (except where the waterfalls cascaded onto the road).

The 35 miles to Elbe took ages to ride because we kept stopping at all the amazing sights and views to take photos and "Ooh" and "Ah!" at the splendour. Box canyon was impressive, being probably no more than 10 ft wide at any point, and with a strong flow of water rushing through it - 180 feet below.

Eventually we realised we had to get some miles under our wheels, so we slipped past the resort of Paradise on our journey west.

Once we exited the National Park the road opened out and we started making good time, quickly reaching Ashford where we stopped for a warming coffee. At Elbe, a few more miles on, we turned south to Morton on a fast open road. There we picked up Highway 12 east to take us to Packwood, our destination for the night.

After enjoying a dry, sometimes sunny, sometimes cloudy day, the weather turned bad about 6 miles before Packwood, and we arrived there in drizzling rain. It was a long day (especially with getting lost) and it was after 6 pm when we arrived after 277 miles - our longest ride on any one day so far.

Seattle stopover

With bad weather predicted, we decided to stay put in Seattle for another day. One interesting architectural feature of the city is that many houses and commercial buildings have cantilevered sections. Windows, balconies or porches jut out without support from below.

The Pike Street Markets were our first stop.

There was a fantastic variety of skilled people displaying their wares. We enjoyed some of the fruit which was sweet and fresh. The range and size of the sea food was remarkable. There were things we did not normally see back home - giant Alaskan crab, steamer clams, huge salmon, Dungeness crab, enormous scallops....

The Seattle Space Needle was our next stop. This was built 48 years ago for the Seattle World Fair in 1962. Exterior elevators either give you vertigo or help you appreciate the magnificent structures as you go up.

The harbour could be seen with its ferries and shipping moving in and out quickly. The city itself reminds us of Sydney, but with Melbourne's weather - quite changeable.

The Space Needle itself was another example of cantilevered structure. You stand on an open viewing platform that floats out in front of you, buffeted by the winds and rain. We watched a cloud come in blocking our view. By the time we finished our coffee our view was back.

The Space Needle is connected to the city by the Seattle Monorail, so we left our motorcycle and enjoyed an elevated view of the city, then walking a few blocks to the Seattle Art Museum (SAM). At its entrance is a super sized steel cut-out of a blacksmith with a working mechanical arm.

It makes an impressive landmark. The collection was mainly contemporary art but it does have some impressive pieces that are over 2000 years old, and a good collection of renaissance paintings, and an impressive collection of porcelain. We stopped in the gallery restaurant for beers and nibbles before heading back to our motel. For the first time in days the sun came out - albeit briefly.

On the way back we picked up more Alaskan crab legs for dinner because we enjoyed them so much last night, and we may not get the chance to have them again on this trip - they seem to be a west coast speciality.

Sojourn in Sequim

We left Forks in pouring rain and headed north on 101. Because the weather was so miserable and visibility reduced we decided just to take the shortest route to Sequim (that's pronounced "Squim") to where we were to meet John and Cynthia.

The further we rode, the better the weather became, and 101 north soon became 101 east. By the time we reached Crescent Lake it had pretty much stopped raining and we could actually see the lake.

We reached Port Angeles in plenty of time for lunch, and found ourselves in the middle of the San Juan de Fuca Festival, where we spent some time wandering around the stalls selling food, arts and crafts.

From Port Angeles it was just a 20 minute ride to John and Cynthia's. We have never met them before (other than in cyberspace), but their welcome could not have been warmer or more generous than if we had been friends for years.

We were shown around Cynthia's studio, and gave her a detailed run-down on our itinerary.
John was out on errands, and when he got home, took me on a tour of his workshops.

John and Cynthia had arranged for us to stay at a B&B two blocks away that is owned by their friends Crystal and Grey Wolf, who had been invited to dinner with us that night.

We had fresh seafood for dinner. The food, wine and company was most enjoyable, and the time passed so quickly. We rode over to Crystal's B&B where we enjoyed our most comfortable night in quite a while.

From left to right: Chris, Cynthia, Crystal, Grey Wolf and John

The next morning we had the opportunity to see Cynthia's solo exhibition briefly before helping take it down. Cynthia is a most prolific and talented artist, working with pastels, mixed media and bronze. To have a look at her work, see http://www.cynthiathomasdesigns.com/Welcome.html. Her superior work and presentation shows how the human soul is connected to, and inseparable from everything around it. The Indian culture that Grey Wolf is connected to is highly aware of this. We had a small inkling of how some of the processes he used understood this philosophy well.

John is well set up to make all the investments and pour the bronze  - and has an enviable collection of welders and tools including a formidable metal spraying rig. He is able to spray zinc, copper, bronze, stainless steel and pretty much any other metal onto any material, even plastic, cheesecloth and paper.

John's knowledge of metal casting and spraying is encyclopedic and he has the skills to match. After returning from the gallery, he gave us a demonstration of metal spraying, and both Wanda and I had the opportunity to try our hands at it. It is, as John describes, just like spray painting with metal. Two wires of the metal to be sprayed are automatically fed into a hand piece that angles them together. An arc is struck between them and 3 nozzles of compressed air blow the fine particles of molten metal out in a fan.

After trying our hands at metal spraying, John tempted me into playing with his TIG welder. I started out using mild steel, then graduated to stainless steel and aluminium. Wow! I have to have one of those, so I've put a TIG welder on my Christmas list and promised to be a good boy for the rest of the year.
 
We had a second dinner with John and Cynthia, with more wine and more enjoyable conversation. We said our farewells as we left for the B&B. John and Cynthia have a busy schedule with an exhibition to set up this week in California, and the wedding of John's daughter to attend in California next weekend. We have no idea how they managed to find time to host our visit, but we are very grateful they could manage it.
 
We left this morning under heavy cloud, and it was soon raining as we headed east but the day did improve. The road turned south, as we made for Hoodsport where we stopped for coffee. We met a lovely couple at the shop and spent some time chatting to them. They have been to Australia twice and have visited Canberra and the Snowy Mountains, even climbing our highest mountain, Mt Kosciuszko.
 
A few miles south of Hoodsport we turned north on 106 to Bremmerton, Poulson and ultimately Bainbridge Island, from where we caught the ferry into Seattle. By taking this devious (literally and figuratively) route we avoided riding for miles through the urban sprawl that stretches south to Tacoma, and were rewarded with stunning views of Seattle from Puget Sound.
 

We found some crab legs for dinner. They are huge. We hope our family back home read this. And weep.