Memorial Day Boondocking

Monday, May 29

Memorial Day, which took shape after the American Civil War is considered a day to honor those who were killed in or as a result of participating in battle.

Almost 32 years ago, I was part of Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm....I count myself fortunate that my comrades in arms and I got through it with no casualties.  

Still, The Colors flew from the VRRV today to honor the fallen.

17 years ago today, I threw a leg over a motorcycle for the first time as a rider.  It was day one of the MSF Basic Rider Course, how time flies!

This means I've been blogging for almost 17 years, not that blogs are even on the general public's radar anymore.  Mine has truly become what the name implied: a Web-based Log.

Today's also day 14 of my stay at the Hog Lake BLM Dispersed Campground.  I leave tomorrow to pick up my loving wife Martha from the Spokane airport.

In the last few days, lots of resting and relaxing.  I did provide a bit of help to Chris as he replaced the motor on his Sherpa Winch.  I also helped Chris install new cameras to help Stewie's driver see all around.

Several fire pit sessions were enjoyed by Chris, Lori and I.  More to follow of course since we'll be camping with the Zs for a bit once Martha joins us.

Not a bad campground but probably won't return, not much to do around here really and the incidence of annoying people was rather high.

A Quiet Week at the Hog Lake BLM

A pretty relaxed few days, overall.  Just some notes for my own recall.

May 19-20

First time I saw the below rattler, I had almost ridden on top of it as I exited the campsite and onto the access road.  I had veered away as I saw him coil up and rear its head, stopped the motorcycle, dug out the camera but only got this fleeting and blurry shot of its tail as it disappeared into the bushes:

Next day, I'd been sitting by Yagi, my TW200 motorcycle listening to an audio book.  My situational awareness was apparently lacking because when I stood to get something, a flicker of movement drew my eye towards the back of Yagi's rear tire.

Yep, I believe it was the same snake, which I believe now is a young rattler.  He rose from a coiled position then started moving away.  I managed to get this shot with my camera phone:

No more sightings since then, fortunately.

May 23

The use of the trailer and sidecar rig to block access to my campsite bore fruit.  This asswipe stopped and requested I move them so he could park in the campsite so he could walk his dog.  I had been doing something on the trailer when he showed up; told him no and that he could get a parking spot just down the road.

I was even leading him to it when he pulled up next to me and said: "I've got it" and drove off.  He used up an empty campsite:

About an hour later, he drives by on the way out, using his camera phone to video my site.  I was glad I'd taken a picture of his license plate before he left.  Oh, and I gave him the ADV salute, hopefully he saw it in his rear view mirror.

Note to self, next time make it more obvious you're videoing the ass wipe when you suspect possible problems.

May 25

Went on the hike back to the Hog Lake Falls, to see if I could find the border fence that marked the limits as to how close one can get to the falls.

Eventually, I did find the fence line and spotted a few "No Trespassing" signs.  Still, I also found a closer overlook and got these shots:

Going for the blurred water effect

The northern end of Hog Lake

My view of the campsite as I returned.

In the late afternoon, Chris and Lori Z. rejoined me at the campsite for the next few days.

After dinner by Lori, we sat around their new firepit (I think there might be a similar one in my future) and chatted as the sun set and the night's darkness surrounded us.

It's a pretty efficient firepit, somewhat smokeless, I believe double-hulled to channel intake air to burn the wood more effectively.

First Weekend at Hog Lake BLM Dispersed Camping.

Saturday, May 20

Armed Forces Day

Spent the day just relaxing and listening to an audio book centered on the experiences of a young Royal Navy officer who commands a small Minesweeper Flotilla out of Capetown, South Africa in the early months of 1941 after a traumatic experience while serving on a Destroyer while evacuating troops at Dunkirk.  

The Colors flew, of course, at camp:

It was a hot day!  

Sunday, May 21

A cooler day today, even felt a bit of chilly wind at times!  Still, pretty good weather overall.

Made a grocery run to the nearby town of Cheney, WA to give Scarlett, my 2014 Ural Patrol, some exercise.

Once back at camp, it was more rest and relaxation while listening to a new audio book.  It's OK, about yet another Vatican Conspiracy a la The Da Vinci Code.  

After 5PM, the sun still pretty high in the sky, I decided to check out the 1.3 mile trail to the north end of Hog Lake.  You can get some nice views of this narrow lake, but I got a nice surprise when I spotted waterfalls!

Google Maps shows a road/trail that might let me make my way closer to these waterfalls.  I plan to check it out tomorrow with Yagi.  Stay tuned.   Update: The Hog Lake Falls are on private lands and not accessible.  Bummer.

Here's some views of the lake as I walked away from the falls and back towards my campsite:

A small pond to the west of the lake

Tonight's sunset wasn't bad:

Easy Last Couple of Days....with some annoyance.

Thursday, May 18

Warm day with gentle breezes.

The morning went well, with me just hanging under the shade of the VRRV's awning, enjoying an audio book.

Shortly after Noon, these two assholes show up, park in my campsite, and proceed to carry nets and tape wheels past my VRRV and into the woods!

Apparently, biology or something similar pukes, who spent time measuring the edges of a water hole about 1/4 mile into the woods.   Never a greeting or explanation, just parked and walked away.

They came back a while later, again not even casting their eyes in my direction, as if to avoid me.  I did not confront them, I'm afraid I would have come across as angry and aggressive.

The two assholes finally finished up, apparently killed and collected some small snakes which I spied in a plastic bag as they removed their waders.  

Again, never even acknowledging their intrusion, they buggered off finally.  Needless to say, Thursday was pretty much ruined in terms of peace and quiet.

Measures have been taken now to prevent further idiots thinking they can park at the campsite I'm using.  Apparently, an RV set up isn't enough of a clue to tell them to park their POS car somewhere else.

Friday, May 19

A short ride to Folsom Farm before things got too hot.  Not much there, a small shed-like building and a big dilapidated barn.  It was apparently a sheep farm back in the day.

Near the farm, restored wetlands for wildlife

Later in the afternoon, I made another visit to Hog Lake (which remains closed to vehicles):

The gravel road to the right is the small dam 

which forms Hog Lake.

I also added a sign to the VRRV.

Yes...very anti-social, but then again, that's what I am.  Perhaps this will keep further assholes away from the campsite.

Boondocking Near Spokane, WA for a bit

I left the Squaw Creek Overlook site soon after 7AM this morning, the sunrise wasn't too bad:

I crossed the might Columbia River and into Washington state around 9:30 I believe.  Another hour or so and I was exploring the iOverlander listed campsites around Fishtrap Lake, near Sprague, WA.

I ended up finding a nice spot (it was one of two remaining open spots, all others had campers already!) in the Hog Lake BLM Camping area.

Hog Lake itself is part of the WA State Park system and remains closed for the season.  I think they'll open up in time for the Memorial Day Weekend.  The gate was closed but one can walk in with no issues:

I will do more exploration of the lake later on this week I think.  There's also an old abandoned? farm site called Folsom Farm that one can tour nearby.

I like the site I got, no other campers within line of sight:

I was surprised at how full the camping area was already!  For the Memorial Day Weekend? Sure, but almost two weeks before that?

I'll be in this area till the end of the month, more to follow as I explore the area.  Martha flies into Spokane at the end of the month and I'll pick her up for some more camping.

Uraling the Pacific Coast Highway - Day 55: Long Beach WA to Salem OR

Today started gloomy and overcast with a threat of rain.  I broke camp and got Valencia all packed up after cooking breakfast in the RV park.  By 9:30 AM I was back on US 101 southbound.

I must say, there wasn't many picture opportunities in Washington, for pictures of the ocean.  The gray skies and haze were not exactly helpful either for that matter.

Then, as I rode along in Oregon after crossing the long bridge into Astoria, things started to look up a bit.  One moment it was overcast:

then I entered a mountain tunnel and out the other side things were nice and sunny:

So there I was, near the Barview Jetty Park, taking a picture of these rock formation:

When suddenly I hear somebody hitting the horn on what I thought was a passing car.  I turned to follow the car and what I saw instead was the approach of two riders on motorcycles.  It was Gary and Deb from the Alaska Ferry!

We had us a short happy reunion, and rode together on towards the town of Tillamook about ten miles away.  After tanking up, they led the way to the Tillamook Cheese Factory and Creamery.  They're fans of the cheese and ice cream produced by this company and they were there to pick up both.

Quite the setup, the Tillamook Cheese Factory.  You can see the cheese being cut up and packaged from a viewing room:

 Those big blocks of cheese eventually make their way to the other end

of this large processing room, get sized up, and into their individual packets.

 Gary and Deb are huge fans also of the ice cream produced by 

Tillamook Creamery.

As ice cream was consumed along with some rather tasty pepperoni meat sticks, they told me about this nearby aviation museum, so that became our next destination.

I got there ahead of Gary and Deb as they had an errand to run.  The museum is established inside the large blimp hangar built by the US Navy during World War II as part of the Tillamook Naval Air Station.  The planes inside are apparently flyable by their owners.  Quite the display and assortment contained both within and outside as well.  I'll just show you some of the ones I found most interesting:

 The Guppy

 Seaplane, used to rescue downed aviators at sea

 A Chinese XJ-750, I think it also goes by the name of Chiang-Jang

A rougher cousin to Valencia's ancestors

 The only Russian plane I saw, I found the "camo" pattern interesting

 I wonder how many URAL rigs could fit inside this Guppy?

 This old blimp hangar is huge!

 A K Class Blimp outside the hangar during the war.  The blimp is 252 ft long.

 The Blimp Squadron inside the hangar....talk about a tight fit!

 Gary and Deb at the NAS sign outside the museum

 Gary and Deb prep to depart for points south, I was headed to Salem, OR

I am sure we'll find each other on the road as we're all, as of now anyways,

all heading south along the coast, towards the San Francisco Bay area.

It's really not very hard to find the museum.

The rest of the day was spent first riding towards McMinnville where I thought I'd checked out Howard Hughes Spruce Goose but I ended up bagging on the idea once I got near the town as it was rush hour and I was too tired to deal with it.

Instead, I headed into Salem and found a room at a Howard Johnson's hotel for the night.  Tomorrow, I plan to ride to Raceway Services to both return the second PowerArc ignition components to them and to have them check out the clutch drag issue I am experiencing when the engine is hot.  I hope they find whatever is causing it, its quite annoying at the end of the day, to deal with it.  Again, not a show stopper but definitely annoying.

Valencia ran great otherwise, but in the warmth of this marvelously sunny day in Oregon, you could tell she didn't like the heat.  

Uraling to the Pacific Highway, after Alaska - Day 53: Chittenden Locks

Note: Absolutely zero moto content ahead.

After a pretty leisurely morning, where the highlight was repacking my rig one more time and studying with my oldest son Patrick for his Spanish final exam; it was time for an outing with the folks I was visiting.

I've known Jerry and Kelly since we were all students and fellow ROTC cadets at the University of Miami, Florida.  Their oldest daughter, Alexis, is my God-Daughter.  They've a total of three grown daughters, with the youngest working her way through college right now.

In the afternoon, we went to the Chittenden Locks that provide watercraft access to Lake Washington from Puget Sound.  Quite the nice place to go visit, see boats moving to and from, up and down the locks.  There's also fish ladders for salmon to swim into Lake Washington I guess, I wasn't too curious about those details in particular.

 A bit over-regulated perhaps?

 Boats about to exit a lock

 Fish Ladder

 Jerry and Kelly with yours truly

 Alexis, Jerry and Kelly

at their feet are their "poopies"

Snapple and Hashiko

 Railroad Drawbridge

 The view towards Puget Sound (I believe), from the base of the railroad bridge

After visiting the locks, we drove to nearby town of Ballard.  Kind of a yuppie enclave, full of slow-moving cars and lots and lots of folks enjoying the warm sunny weather here in the Seattle area.  Although we had some food at Ray's, our main meal was some delicious sandwiches from the Paseo Sandwich Stop.  

The #8, The Paseo Sandwich

Well worth the wait, but make sure you're really hungry!

No riding today, am planning to ride to the Pacific Coast Highway near Aberdeen, WA by tomorrow afternoon.  I hope to meet up with fellow URAL rider GlennandSun near Bremerton, WA and perhaps pose Valencia near an aircraft carrier or two.