The Long Rider - The Long Rider

(February 13, 2017) Day 13 of my 2016 ride to the west coast took place on Wednesday, June 22, 2016. My adventure riding back home began on US 2 at Everett, Washington. There I was just about 75 miles from the Canadian border and as about as far from home in the Lower 48 as I could get.

I started the day riding the I-405 highway north out of Bellevue to I-5 to US 2, where it starts, in Everett. The Boeing Company's primary manufacturing facility is located at Everett, as is a US Navy base.

I've ridden US 2 across Minnesota into Duluth, across the Upper Peninsula of Michigam and across New England, but have waited years for the chance to ride it across Washington, Idaho, Montana, and North Dakota. It was worth the wait.

I'll write about Day 14, my ride from Spokane to Grand Forks, North Dakota in a later post. But just the ride across Washington was beautiful and relatively easy.

Cascade Loop

I appreciated riding through some places I had read about in a recent issue of HOG magazine, such as Gold Bar and Leavenworth. This western part US 2 in Washington is called the Cascade Loop as it approaches the mountains and is more specifically named Stevens Pass Highway as it crosses the Cascade Range.

In the Stevens Pass area itself there is located an elaborate ski resort. And further on in Leavenworth it's clear that the area is built to accommodate the winter enthusiasts.

Grand Coulee Dam

After pass over the Cascades, the land flattened out and I diverted off of US 2 onto Washibgton (WA) route 155 north from Coulee City to Grand Coulee, WA and the Grand Coulee Dam itself. (I've included, below, links to videos I took a the dam.)

Spokane, Washington

From the Grand Coulee Dam, I rode WA 174 east back to US 2 east and on to a Motel-6 in Spokane Valley, Washington. This is the same Motel-6 at which my friend Mitch Mitchell and I stayed in 2014. It's better than average. I still worried about my bike's security at night and covered it as a precaution.

The temperature warmed up considerably as I came east. It got down to about 53°F on Stevens Pass. It's apparently only 4,056 feet above sea level there but given the snow still up there in the nearby peaks and that chilly temperature, it certainly seemed like I was higher.

Day 14 will include a ride through northern Idaho tomorrow, including Bonners Ferry, a place I'd wanted to see for a very long time. That day ended at a very hospitable campsite in Havre, Montana.

Cascade Loop

Grand Coulee Dam

Spokane, Washington

More Videos (Mostly GoPro)

Stevens Pass