September 14, 2026
Today was a non-running morning since I had to gather things up for the departure. I repacked and organized before my mom and I went to the chow hall for breakfast.
We sat with Jo and Cathy(?) and they made good table-mates. Jo turned 99 a few weeks ago and, except for some hearing loss, she’s as sharp as any one. She told me that she and her husband had 5 Honda motorcycles over the years and rode all over. She was always a passenger.
I ordered a veggie omelet and a couple slices of rye toast and it was all excellent. I also had a “Sunrise” which is a mixed fruit juice and quite delicious. We were eventually joined by Marge who is plenty active and sharp especially considering she is well into her 90s. She and I played pool together on a previous visit. She is a retired middle school teacher so you know she is tough.
After breakfast I finished rounding up my stuff and getting the bike packed. There is definitely an order to things as I can’t put one ting on the bike ahead of another or things just don’t work out well.
I said my goodbyes and was on the road by 10:15. It’s in the low 60s and feels pretty nice. I stopped for gas and then headed south on Hwy 101. The ride was completely uneventful. I just cruised with the flow of traffic all the way to the Tacoma Narrows bridge. I paid my $5.50 toll and continued on.
I rode through Tacoma and into Federal Way. There is a rest stop there that I wanted to visit but it was closed so on I went, continuing on I-5 until I branched off onto Hwy 18.
I eventually connected to I-90 and rode that for quite a while. It took me over Snoqualimie Pass. The traffic got heavy, primarily by big rigs who were going at least 15 over the speed limit. I just relaxed and cruised.
The temperature dropped into the mid-50s so I pulled off the freeway and donned my sweatshirt.
Back on the road I rode to Ellensburg where I stopped for gas. Then I rode to the Iron Horse Brewery to take a break. I had one of their beers in Billings, Irish Death, and thought it would be worth a stop as long I was was going to be in town and had plenty of time.
It’s a really nice place and I can see how it would be a popular place of the weekends with lots of outdoor seating and a big grassy area for kids. There is also a food truck that was getting ready to serve up some pizza.
I called home to check on things and then headed south into Yakima Canyon. My plan was to camp where I usually do at the Umtamum site but when I got there alll 6 sites were reserved or taken. The last one was going to be filled by a guy with a giant AirStream trailer. The sites are better suited to car/tent camping and I was tempted to wait and see how this guy was going to fit his rig in that spot.
But, instead, I rode back north about 10 miles to the Big Horn campground. I haven’t stayed there before but did ride through once. The road through the site is very rough gravel and the potties are of the portable rather than the vault type. The upside is that camping is free rather than the $7 at the other site ($3.50 for me).
I settled into site #11, the last one on the loop and it’s plenty big enough for the bike and the tent. I got things set up and took a photo or two,
Then I walked the north end of the site to see how far it went up river. It does go a ways before a fence announces “Private Property.”
I came back and wrote this blog entry, which I’ll post tomorrow, and then got my dinner started. Pad Thai is on the menu.
After I ate a car drove through and took a site a few down from me. The guy has 2 dogs, Siberian Huskies, and took them out for a walk. I got to pet the dogs and chatted with him for a few minutes. I sort of got the impression that he is quasi-homeless as he said he’s been moving between various campsites, favoring the free ones. He wasn’t very old, maybe late-20s. He said he got yelled at by someone at another site because he doesn’t like to keep one of the dogs tied up and it wanders off. Well, yes, that will happen.
It was a 239 mile day.
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