Ahhhh,, the summer of 14,,, ADVENTURE SERVED UP GORMET STYLE!!!!

[cowpuc]

Another word used in mountaineering is the term "Summit". To summit a mountain pass simply means that you have successfully made it thru the hard part of going up the hill, are still alive and now you get to relax because you are gonna start going down the hill, pretty easy to understand. As Tweeks, Tippy and I turned the last sharp corner at the very pinnacle of the Sonora Pass Summit we were greeted by two very special people who were sitting there enjoying the relaxation they had earned by summiting the mountain too. This adorable young couple had traveled all the way from Vermont, came out to the California/Mexican border during this past April to begin a summer hike of the Pacific Crest Trail. The "trail" they were hiking would eventually take them to the Canadian border up in the state of Washington, a total of 2600 miles of foot travel!! Apparently, unlike CTFWing and motorcycle tent camping adventures like Tip and I do, foot travel into these regions requires a permit and, once you have the permit - you have a certain time frame of which you have to begin the trek. The main reason for this has to do with the weather and the snow pac up on the mountians. This couple had just come down from a mountain peak off in the distance and they told us about part of the adventure they had experienced the day before. Apparently they had gotten involved in a severe mountain storm that dumped a bunch of fresh snow on the them causing them to lose almost a full day of travel.. As we chatted with them about that storm it occurred to us all that it was probably the same storm that forced Tweeks, Tip and I to seek shelter in that ghost town back in Nevada..

 

 

They were very intrigued with the bedroll on Tweeks back and the fact that Tip and I prefer tenting in obscure places over motels.. They both could totally relate to the sense of freedom that one seems to earn by surviving in the great outdoors in a minimalist kind of way. Of all the folks we have met in our travels, this lovely couple who were taking the summer to hike,tent,camp and live free up on the Pacific Crest Trail seemed to really understand why we choose to CTFW in the fashion that we do. It seemed we had made two more like minded friends.

Tippy had noticed some snow on the ground not to far from where we had pulled off and started talking to the hikers.. Being the nature lover that Tip is, she had to walk over to play in the snow. The girl hiker lady asked if I was gonna join Tip and I told her that part of my marital job description included a phrase about handling snow removal and that I had just spent an entire winter chasing over 10 feet of the nasty stuff back and forth across our yard.. If I recall,, I actually said something like "after wasting all my energy trying to get rid of over 10 feet of snow in our yard last winter, I wouldn't touch that stuff for love nor money".. The girl than told me that she knew about expending energy in dealing with snow, she said she had lost 15 pounds during the last week of hiking mainly because of the snow they had to deal with in the mountains..

[cowpuc]

After the hiker lady told me about her weight loss, it occurred to me at how skinny both these young travelers were. Tippy walked back over to Tweeks as I was digging into the left saddlebag where we always keep the junk food that keeps me alive at night. The look on the faces of our new friends was priceless as I pulled bags of candy out of the cache that was secretly hidden in the clothing department hanging on Tweeks side and handed it to them. They smiled as I told them that hopefully it would help them both regain some of the energy they had lost in dealing with the snow.. Then the two agreed that signing Tweeks was a fair price to pay for the treat of coming into possession of a couple pounds of candy. They asked if we would mind hauling a small bag of garbage down the mountain for them which we stuffed into the netting that wraps around the top of our bedroll.. After saying our farewells, Tip, Tweeks and I watched as our two new friends from Vermont walked off to continue their 2600 mile walk.. Tip and I laughed as the last thing we heard from them was the voice of the skinny young girl demanding that her boyfriend give her the grape jolly rancher he had pulled out of the bag of candy we had given them.

 

 

We started our free flowing coast down the mountain while heading west off the summit on Sonora Pass. The day was finally starting to warm up into the kind of temps I really prefer. The warm coastal dry air coming up the mountain from mainstream California that is located along the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada's was succulent. The spectacular views along this western part of the past was the same and breathtaking in every way.

We stopped a number of times to enjoy a small river that seemed to be in competition with Tweeks in a race to see who could get down the mountain first. I felt sorry for the river cause I knew first hand of how crafty Tweeks could be toward any opponent that lured her into a race. Besides, the river had way more obstacles to overcome, with all the boulders, bends and waterfalls that it had to contend with, it just didn't seem like a fair race to me. One thing I hadn't factored into my perception of the race Tweeks was in with the river was exactly how distractive the beauty of the rivers race maneuvers could be. Tip and I found this distraction to be so alluring that in the end, Tweeks lost the race solely due to my causing her to stop for extended periods of time so Tip and I could stand around, take pictures and gawk at the rivers royal demeanor.

 

[cowpuc]

Having experienced the vast open beauty of our country for the last few days, riding her endless trails that perhaps my Native American ancestors had used to track game on or to connect with other tribes. Having partook of the deep sleep that comes from a long day in the saddle coupled with snuggling into the bosom of mother earth while she gently rocks you to sleep while your laying on your back with nothing separating you from her heart beat but a thin piece of nylon tent floor and a sleeping bag. Knowing that this part of our journey was now coming to an abrupt end as we could clearly see the densely populated area on the west side of the California Sierra's was disconcerting in a strange way. The sadness only lasted a moment though as my thoughts short shifted to my two who now call that populated area on the west side of that mountain range home.

We arrived in the area where my oldest daughter resides shortly after the sun had given up for the day. Not surprising to me, my grandsons - a couple of real characters that I lovingly refer to as Dead-eye and Earth Mover - who knew we were coming, had their personal campground, an area that their father wrongfully believes is his front yard, on the outskirts of Wilton California all prepped for their grandpa to spend the night with them.. Being very intelligent young men in the their own way, they knew that their grandma and grandpa would highly prefer staying with them in the campground they had prepared as apposed to sleeping in the air conditioned, freshly cleaned bedroom that my daughter (this is our oldest child - she has ridden many miles with me over the years and earned her biker name of "Awahoo" years ago) had prepared for us.. The look on their faces was beyond explanation as their dad suggested that they give their grandparents a night to recoup from all the camping they had done in the effort to get to California and have them sleep in an actual bed.. We had a big family discussion about the matter over some Pizza that my daughter had mustered up for a late night dinner snack. Later as Tip, Earth Mover and I were laying in our tent and were talking thru the tent walls to Dead-eye who was sleeping in his tent, we all laughed about my son in-laws inability to under stand how important sleeping outside with the spiders and other bugs is when grandparents are trying to reconnect with the grand kids they hadn't seen in almost a year.. Parents were a pain when I was growing up and they still can be if your not careful. After Tip stabbed me in the side a half dozen times during this discussion, I finally caved in and explained to the two youngens that they have WONDERFUL parents and that they simply had not been Grandparents yet so they didn't know about the code between Grandpa's and his grandsons.. I earned three more jabs over that one..

[cowpuc]

 

 

Thanks to our friends, those GREAT Texas Cowboy Heroes back in Texas, Tweeks, Tip and I made it to California in plenty of time to make it to my other daughters graduation service that she was partaking in because she had completed the residency program as a Pathologist at a big hospital in Sacramento. We had arrived at Dead-eye and Earth Movers campground with just under 24 hours to prepare for that service so we had plenty of time..

Another part of the code between Grandsons and Grandpa's has to do with the Grandson making sure that they have something broken on their motorcycles for Grandpa to repair upon his arrival from Michigan. In an effort to abide by this established code of Grandfatherdom, as we were eating breakfast - Dead-eye announced that the brake on his dirt bike was not functional and the throttle seemed to have taken to sticking in the wide open position. Dead-eye and the rest of my daughters family had an outing they were attending and they would be gone all day. Tippy announced that I was not going to be allowed to wear my smelly biker cloths to the graduation service for my second born that evening and she needed a few things too, she was going to borrow my daughters car, go into a place called Elk Grove and see if the Goodwill there had any decent dress clothes that would fit me.. I stayed at my son in laws by myself and commenced to repair Dead-eyes PW80.

The nice thing about a Yamaha PW 80 dirt bike is that they are very light in weight. I suppose this is a good thing when you stop and think about it cause not to many parents would appreciate seeing their kid outside trying ride a 1st Gen Yamaha Venture like Tweeks around their homemade motocross track, dont laugh, Dead-eye asked about it. I also found the PW's light weight to be advantageous for another reason too. Dead-eye does not happen to have a motorcycle lift table in his tool portfolio and, my aching old back always appreciates it when I can get whatever it is I am going to work on, up off the ground. Eyeballing one of the shade trees that add comfort to the boys campground, I pushed the little bike over to the tree and hung the PW on a branch. I then commenced to do the repair work.. After I finished repairing the bike, I purposely left it hanging in the tree,, it kind of looked like a Christmas ornament.. Matter of fact, I liked it so much that I walked over and got Earth Movers little Z-50 Honda and hung it in the tree too!

Edited February 6, 2015 by cowpuc

[cowpuc]

Tip returned with some awesome cloths she had found for me at Goodwill.. After I washed off a few pounds of desert dirt and PW 80 grease, I slid into the new cloths Tip had purchased for me and told Tip that I hoped the previous owner of the outfit didn't show up at the graduation service and ask for his clothes back, we were off to my Daughters graduation..

 

 

My second born daughter, who also has ridden many cross country miles with me and has earned the biker name of "Cappy", had ventured to Sacramento a couple years ago after finishing her Medical Degree program at Cornell in Manhatten.. Cap would now be moving on to what Doctors call a "Fellowship" to complete the training she needs to secure full time employment in the medical field. On the other hand, Awahoo, her big sister, chose to pursue a career in Education and became a school teacher.. Ironically, both of them ended up in California and currently live within a half hour of each other which makes it very easy for Tip and I to keep track of them.

We all gathered at this really fancy place called Scotts Seafood On The River, it is located on a river in Sacramento, this is where Cappies graduation ceremony was being held.. The place was packed with some pretty high end Doctors who I overheard talking about their sports cars, I even heard mention of Ferrari's and Vipers. I leaned over to Tip and told her I wondered if Cappy had ever told these wealthy people about life on the road with her ol pappy, living out of saddlebags and all that. A short while later, the Medical Examiner for Sacramento County came over and shook my hand. She told me how out of the 4 graduating Dr.'s that had worked under her during their residency programs, no one had the stories that my Cappy had shared with her about our travels across our great country!! She thanked Tip and I for raising such a wonderful daughter and for instilling in her an amazing ability to reject fear and the deep desire to explore. I thought deeply about that comment later as I was tightening the bedroll down onto Tweeks back in preparation for the short jaunt the Tip, Tweeks and I were gonna make to a place called "The Dalles", in a land called Oregon.

[Venturous Randy]

Wow, you are one blessed man, what a great looking family.

Randy

[BlueSky]

Wow! If all this doesn't inspire us to ride, nothing will!

[cowpuc]

Wow, you are one blessed man, what a great looking family.

Randy

 

Wow! If all this doesn't inspire us to ride, nothing will!

 

THANKS YOU GUYS FOR THE KIND WORDS!! Glad you are enjoying the ride along!! Thought we may as well sit back and enjoy a cyber ride with all this White Wash stickin around.. Its not as good as the real thing but its far better than counting the fibers in the carpeting.

[Oldodge]

Dang it Puc you got me in trouble again! I told her I just wanted to check something quick on the computer and I would be right back. That was almost an hour ago, so I am told. Seems like just a minute to me. I told her I was reading about Puc, Tippy and Tweeks again. She laughed, so I think I am still ok...........................

[cowpuc]

Dang it Puc you got me in trouble again! I told her I just wanted to check something quick on the computer and I would be right back. That was almost an hour ago, so I am told. Seems like just a minute to me. I told her I was reading about Puc, Tippy and Tweeks again. She laughed, so I think I am still ok...........................

 

Thanks for risking your life and riding along Dodger.. I read what you wrote to Tippy and laughed a little while reading it to her,, Tip asked me to tell your wife that she thinks the men in their lives will return to normal as soon as the fever breaks (Cabin Fever).. Glad to hear you are married to a forgiving lady my friend!!

[cowpuc]

The day after my daughters graduation was a big one. My grandsons had left the day before to stay with another relative for a few days so I would not get to play with them again until after Tip and I had returned from the Rally up in The Dalles Oregon. Even though I missed those two desperados immensely, it was all for the better as I had all kinds of tweeking to do on Tweeks. We also needed to head into town and purchase some supplies before we headed out. One of the things I earnestly needed was a new pair of riding boots, my old ones were really wore out and, besides that, they smelled funny. Tweeks had dropped almost a full quart of oil since that oil change back in Flag so I thought I would grab her another oil change while in town. I had checked her rear tire closely and was amazed at how well the new Metzler 880 was wearing. Usually she sheds a rear tire on the trip out and another on the trip back but this Metz was looking surprisingly good. I figured that the run up the coast to Oregon and Washington would not be problem. I jumped online and ordered a new tire for her to be shipped to my son-in-laws figuring I would replace the tire after we returned from The Dalles whether it needed it or not. I would later learn that I should have swapped tires at this point in our ride, that Metz blind sided us.

 

[cowpuc]

Earth Mover stomps around in a pretty good looking pair of biker boots that have a Spider Man look to them. I always admired them, had thought about beating him up and taking his boots but that would not have worked as his feet are considerably smaller than mine. Tip was no where to be seen while we were in the store looking for shoes, she obviously trusted me with the selection of the footwear I would be seen in for the road miles we would cover together in the immediate future.. This worked in my favor. I chuckled to myself as I walked down the men's shoe isle and noticed a pair of official Spider Man riding boots setting there in just my size. I tried em on to be sure they fit, stuck em neatly in their box and went to find the oil change I had promised Tweeks.. I ran across Tip on the way over to Automotive, she smiled and commented about how quickly I had found my new shoes - Tip said she was proud of me for being willing to buy new shoes as I normally am reluctant to give up my treasured guy clothes.

[cowpuc]

Later that day we stopped at a few second hand stores to see if we could find a couple additional sweat shirts to carry up to The Dalles with us. We figured it would be a little chilly riding the Northern Mountain areas and the extra warmth of a couple sweatshirts might be appreciated. Later, while scraping ice off Tweeks seat after camping near Klamuth Falls, I would find myself being thankful we had found the extra shirts. As I was standing in the store listening to Tip tell me about how much warmer the thicker shirt would be than the thinner one she held in the other hand, I noticed in my peripheral vision something I had never seen marketed for home use.

Years ago, as a child, we had a celebration in my home town of Fruitport Michigan called Fruitport Old Fashion Days. Some carnival guys (we always called them "Carni's") had discovered this little secret about our town and had developed the routine of showing up with their carnival equipment at exactly the same time we were having our home town celebration. I learned to like the Carni's and always enjoyed the rides they built in our park and also, most of the games they had for us to play. One of the games I always had fun with was a game called "The Cranes".. The object in playing Cranes was to get the cranes bucket to reach down and pick up a toy and deliver into a chute so you could take the toy home. The thoughts of those simple days of being a child and playing those cranes all rolled back when I noticed the home use Crane Game sitting there with 5 dollars marked on it.

 

 

 

I carried the contraption up to the counter while walking behind Tippy who had an armful of more useful items.. She stacked our new riding clothes up on the counter and the lady began sorting thru the pile. As she came to the end, I laid the Crane up on the counter and told her that I would give her a dollar for it, take it home and see if it worked. If it did, my grandsons would be forever grateful to her for selling it to me for a dollar. Later that evening and after an hour or so of repairing broken wires inside the crane - I found myself playing the crane game just like I did when I was a kid.

[cowpuc]

The three of us looked pretty snazzy as we waved goodbye to our daughter and son-in-law the next morning. Tip in a new sweatshirt, Tweeks with her fresh oil change and me in my new Spider Man riding boots.. I felt like I had succeeded in my plans of providing special greetings for Dead-eye and Earth Mover upon their return home which would happen while we were gone. The two dirt bikes looked really sharp hanging in the tree and that little Crane Game was sure to be a hit.. As we headed northward out of Sacramento, Tip and I joked back and forth about what the look on their childish faces would be when they discovered what their grandpa had been up to while they were gone.

During the planning process for the motorcycle rally we were headed to, a group of members from VentureRider.org had held an open discussion in a forum thread I had been eavesdropping on months earlier. These guys had made plans to meet at a motel in Red Bluff California, spend the night there and then ride up together as a group. Knowing that Tips, Tweeks and I would be riding some of the same roads this group of riders would be riding, I had made a mental note of the day and the place that they would be meeting up in this area just in case our paths would cross and we would have a chance at an early introduction. When I noticed a road sign that said "Red Bluff", I told Tip that we had to stop. We rode thru Red Bluff, asked around a little and were able to locate the local Motel where our riding buddies would show up later in the day. The girl at the counter was more than happy to see if any of the names I could remember were on her camping list for the day. Sure enough, she found them. I wrote a friendly welcome note for the gentlemen and left it with her, she laughed and agreed to make sure they would get it upon their arrival.

 

Our next stop would be in a town called Redding. In the excitement of patting myself on the back for remembering to leave a note for my friends back in Red Bluff, both Tip and I had overlooked the fuel light blinking brightly on Tweeks dash. We were once again reminded of how expensive it can be to operate a motor vehicle in the state of California.

 

Edited February 8, 2015 by cowpuc

[cowpuc]

I had just gotten back into my long distance ride position on Tweeks back, all sprawled out staring at the mountains surrounding Mount Shasta, when a friendly driver pulled up beside us and pointed at Tweeks rearward storage area.. We get lots of looks from folks sharing the road with us and I can usually tell whether they are intrigued or scared about the sight of Tweeks, this person had neither. The look on the lady drivers face was one that had a "some thing is wrong" appeal to it. I sat up and looked back just in time to see Tweeks pretty blue/silver bike cover go rolling down the highway behind us and disappear under a semi-truck. As I pulled off the side of the road, BikerJohns extension cord decided to bail out too. I picked up John's electrical cord but never did locate Tweeks cover. We stopped at Mt. Shasta to take some pictures and do some back road exploring. It was beautiful up there, the air was much cooler but refreshing in its own right.

 

[cowpuc]

After burning a bunch of daylight CTFWing around Shasta, the road led us into this place called Weed California. While playing around Weed, a friendly towns person asked what all the obvious (staring at our well packed motorcycle) buzz was about, we told him where we were headed and that we were looking for the two lane that went up into Oregon. He directed us to a road called "97" which would lead in the basic direction we were headed. With a small amount of ride time left in the day, we jumped on 97 and began the process of finding a place that would we could designate as a campground.

We crossed into the land of Oregon and soon found ourselves filling Tweeks tank again in a place called Klamath Falls. Years ago, while attempting to fill my bike with gas in Oregon, I had been scolded for pumping my own gas, remembering that lesson - I waited for the attendant to come out and pump Tweeks next tank of fuel. A friendly young man soon joined us, gave me permission to pump my own fuel and than asked where we were headed. Admiring the motel Tweeks was sporting on her back, he invited us to set up the motel in his back yard for the night. After hearing about our love for tenting in the wilds, the young man informed us of Oregon's open camp rule - another whole state covered with endless camping opportunity. He also told us that the State of Oregon requires each county to supply an open camp area for CTFWers like us - NICE!! Shortly after leaving the fuel station, Tips helmet decided to go for a swim - it jumped off her head and dove head first off a bridge into a river that we were passing over. It is illegal to ride a motorcycle in Oregon with no helmet so we turned around and headed back to Klamath Falls to purchase Tip a new one. I teased Tippy about taking the half helmet that I wear, getting into Tweeks maintenance department (left saddlebag), finding a hacksaw blade and cutting my helmet in half. I told her we could each wear half of my half helmet. The plan being to each wear 1/4 of the half helmet on our foreheads. Fortunately, we found a hat that she liked at Walmart so we didn't have to enact this new prototype helmet design while CTFWing. We sat down and ate dinner, than went out and found the camping area at Klamath Falls that the State had required them to install just for us.

When you are stacking cord wood while snuggled down sawing logs inside of an old Menards tent, its easy to overlook just how cold mountain regions can get at night. If left in the garage over the winter back at our home in Michigan, Tweeks will shed a few tears of anti freeze while waiting for Springs arrival. Due to this, I wasn't real alarmed to find her crying those same tears on that 15 degree morning. Tip was still busy stacking cord wood while I was out scrapping the ice off Tweeks back. I saw a grin appear between her Antelope horns as I mentioned to the ol scoot that I was gonna build us a fire in the fire ring that the County had left laying there in our camping spot.

 

Edited February 8, 2015 by cowpuc

[cowpuc]

About the time I got the fire built, a real friendly Oregon mountain man and his dog showed up to warm himself at my little fire. Kieth was from the area, a lumberjack by trade. He, his dog Rambo and I listened as a Semi Tractor loaded with logs jake braked its way down the mountain behind us. They had come to the park to see if they could drag some of the trout out of the stream that flowed gallantly behind our tent. Being an ardent fisherman, I joined him in his endeavor and was surprised at the size and quantity of the trout the little stream held. Keith and Rambo were both backwoods lovers and had done a fair amount of tent camping in the Oregon mountains. Keith told me about a connection he had also had with motorcycling in years gone by and was proud to add his name to the stickers that adorned Tweeks outer coat.

 

[cowpuc]

Eventually the mountain air warmed up enough that I could feel my fingers again. I wasted no time in packing up our belongings so Tip and I could go hunt down some road grub. While traveling north on 97, about half way between Bend and Klamath in a little town called Chamult, we noticed a group of motorcycles parked at a restaurant, one of which was clearly Tweeks younger sibling. The bikes were all set up for long distance travel and had been tugging trailers behind them.. Knowing that at least one of the bikes was a Yamaha Venture, I told Tip we should stop and surprise this group who were clearly on their way to the same rally we were headed to.. When we walked into the establishment, I noticed a group of riders all gathered around a nice platter of freshly fried eggs, I walked up to the table and told them I was Cowpuc.. They looked at each other, smiled at me like I was nuts and went back to eating their breakfast.. It suddenly dawned on me that it was possible that not all bikers in Oregon were headed to the same rally point that we were. I than explained the situation to them, they laughed. Later in the parking lot they told us they were a group of folks riding from Oklahoma who were out enjoying some CTFWing.. I invited them up to The Dalles but I got the impression that none of them were sure they wanted to follow me anywhere..

 

[cowpuc]

As we got closer to Bend Oregon, we came to a place called Lava Lands National Monument. We always purchase a National Park pass just for this type of occasion and thought it best to find out exactly what a Lava Land was.. We explored the eastern area of the park and found it amazing. One of the rangers told us about a Fire Tower overlook that offered some of the best views in the area - it was located in a different part of the park and required preregistration as the trail leading up to the overlook was very narrow and only a few vehicles at a time were allowed. The 3 of us talked about it, decided to tour it and headed across the complex to get in line.

 

 

After registering, we were told we had about an hour to gobble up so we headed out to the parking lot to eat some goodies. While out there, a young couple with a new born child pulled up and parked beside Tweeks. A few folks had gathered around Tweeks and were reading her sticker story, this couple was part of that group. After the group broke up, this fine young couple told us their story. The young man was a Commander in the Military and home on leave from some deployment to the middle east. He had made it home just in time to see his child come into the world. They were taking some time together traveling before he had to return to duty. Being amazed at two older people like Tip and I out enjoying life and the couple told us that someday they hoped to do the same. We thanked them for their service to our country, told them about how fast life goes by and reminded the pair to not be in to much of a hurry to be found in our shoes. We encourage them to enjoy every minute of every day raising the gorgeous child they had been blessed with and that very very soon, the little one would be married with kids of her own and they, indeed, would find themselves CTFWing just like we were..

[cowpuc]

 

The tower views were down right sensational. With the pathway that had been carved into the lava mountain leading up to the tower also electrifying in its rugged beauty, making the wait to get into this area well worth the time. If you go there and the first gear on your scoot holds up from its gruesome climb, you will be rewarded with views of Mount Hood, Mount Shasta and other surrounding mountain ranges clearly visible at this one majestic location. Of course, coasting back down the very narrow roadway is icing on the cake and also a real treasure if you are into the coasting game like we are.

 

Edited February 8, 2015 by cowpuc

[cowpuc]

With unforgettable pictures loaded into our camera's memory and even more extraordinary shots having found their way into our souls, we found our hearts churning for a placed called The Dalles. We rode up 97, gassed up in a place known as Madras, stayed on 97 up to a road, 197 is its name, that appeared to head strait north toward the Columbia River which separates the state of Oregon from the state of Washington.. It's along this mighty river that someone carved out a tiny town and named it The Dalles.

The ride across that north bound road became one of our favorite rides. It wasn't endlessly beautiful like some other trails we had ridden, but, it had its areas that were unprecedented in their glamour. A small cowboy town with an old bridge that hovered precariously across a canyon that sought to devour innocent passerbyes as they went about their day. Proud fields of grain waved at us as they disappeared over the crests of mountain tops while attempting to tie themselves to the clear blue sky that reached down to greet them.. Oceans of country odors filled the ever changing warm wind currents that flowed across the valleys. Mount Hood looked like a person could reach out and pull a snow cone off its vanilla ice creamed topped crown even though it was miles away. We knew we were getting close to something special. As in some kind of wonderful dream, the Columbia River appeared in a valley below us, Tip and I smiled at each other as we coasted down the hill into the little town known as The Dalles. She laughed when I asked if she thought the people of the town would find acceptance in their lives when they noticed the likes of the three of us.. I in turn chuckled when Tippy replied back, "Since leaving that note back in Red Bluff, I have been wondering what kind of retaliation surprises they may have for us at the Venture West Rally". We shall see I said, we shall see....

[CMCOFFEY]

Dang, you stopped at my favorite part of your adventure. Looking forward to the next installment.

[cowpuc]

Dang, you stopped at my favorite part of your adventure. Looking forward to the next installment.

 

 

They have no idea do they Coff :big-grin-emoticon::dancefool:

 

Jump right in there and tell it like it is sonshine!!

 

It would be interesting to see how closely our stories line up!!

[Flyinfool]

Wonderfull!!!

 

And Puc even did this installment without the aid of a :snow2:storm......

[cowpuc]

Wonderfull!!!

 

And Puc even did this installment without the aid of a :snow2:storm......

 

Great to have ya along on the journey Fool and thanks for the compliment!!

I am so glad that you noticed I didn't need anymore Wisconsin White Washing type of encouragement to keep the writing fires lit.. Lets make a deal, you keep the disconnect for that apocalyptic machine of yours in the OFF position until December of 2015, I will trust your commitment to do so and I will wrap this thing up by March 1st and we can all go make a whole new story to write about next year!!!