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In last week's newsletter I gave you an overview of our 2800 mile ride from Seattle to Glacier Nat. Park, Yellowstone, Tetons, Jackson Hole, Bryce Nat. Park and back to Phoenix. I am now calling it "Glacier Ride 2005". If you missed the letter Click Here. Or if you would like to see the preview pictures again, Click Here. This week I am going to start giving you more detailed information with maps and photos by covering 2 days of the trip each week for the next few weeks.

As you probably know by now we shipped the Road Glide to Seattle and then rode 80 miles North to Burlington for the start of our trip. I am a big fan of shipping the bike to your start location when you are short on time. In our case we only had 8 days to ride and this maximized our available time in the areas we actually wanted to be. One of the problems I have had in the past is getting a good motorcycle transport company at a reasonable price. Motorcycle shipping is one of the top questions I get on the site. This year I used Hog Haulers Inc. to transport our bike and they were excellent. I was very impressed with their equipment, price ($525 to Seattle) and professional service. With their history of hauling classic cars and motorcycles, I felt comfortable as they loaded the bike for the 5 day transport to Seattle. If you are planning on a trip similar to ours or plan on going to Daytona next year, I could highly recommend them for your transport. Look at their web site at www.hoghaulersinc.com or call Scott at 503-650-0093. I was extremely satisfied with their service. Tell them Barry at Cyclerides.com sent you.

As I awoke Thursday morning I have to admit I was really excited to get going. When I start a trip like this the adrenaline is really high as my imagination of what we are about to experience starts to get ahead of me. There is so much to take in when riding through an entirely new area that it is almost "information overload" by the end of the day. And when you are going through areas like the Cascade Mountains in Northern Washington on Hwy. 20, where there is just one beautiful postcard scene after another, it is almost hard to process. After a quick ride through Anacortes and Deception Pass we were on our way across Washington Hwy. 20 East to ride through the Ross Lake National Recreation Area in the North Cascades. We were not expecting the first day to be the highlight of the trip, but it almost was. This is 100 miles of one of the most beautiful rides I have ever taken. The road that winds through the mountain range is excellent, the snow capped mountain views are majestic and the azure blue color of the lakes are amazing. This route is second to none and the riders of Washington are lucky to have this available to them in their back yard for regular riding.

After you drop out of the mountains on the East side you will descend into a much more arid part of the State in the Methow Valley where temperatures will rise and you will ride into a small old town of 384 people that was a part of the gold rush called Winthrop. This town is one of the most authentic "old west" towns I have ever seen. It has maintained the old time charm and renovations have been true to the era. We stopped there for lunch at the Winthrop Brewery and ate on the back patio by the creek. After a stroll down the wooden sidewalks and a stop for "gasolene" (check out how they spell gasoline in the picture) at the local gas station, we still had about 3 hours of good daylight left for riding and were off for an unknown city to spend the night. That is a fun part of the journey for me.

So we continued our ride East for another 100 miles as daylight started to fade to a place called Grand Coulee Dam, putting an end to a beautiful 324 mile day. Unbeknownst to us, every night at 10:00pm in the Summer there is a 30 minute laser light show on the dam complete with an audio history of the building of the Grand Coulee Dam project instituted by FDR back in the 30's. Grand Coulee Dam is the largest concrete structure in the United States and the third largest hydroelectric facility in the world. So we checked into our hotel that overlooked the dam, grabbed a milk shake from a local ice cream store and sat on the grass to learn the history of the Grand Coulee Dam and the Columbia Basin Project as it was told with the aid of the laser light show. It is amazing what you will run into on these type of rides. That is what makes motorcycle trips so exciting. There is an unknown around every corner. My props to the State of Washington for being so motorcycle friendly. We saw these signs all over Washington to caution motorcyclists to road conditions.

Day 2 we made our way through Washington and Coeur D' Alene on our way to Farragut, Idaho to relive some family history. When I told my Father, who is now 80 years old, that I would be riding through Coeur D' Alene, he mentioned that I should stop in Farragut at the old Naval Training Station that he was at in 1943. He said that if I looked, I might even find his picture from his Basic Training days. As I asked more questions about his days in the Navy, he told me that he enlisted when he was 17 years old in late 1942. He went through a physical in Kansas City and was put on a train to go to the largest Naval Training Station in the United States in Farragut, Idaho which was home to over 293,000 recruits in the 40's. So we stopped at the Museum to get a feel for what it was like over 60 years ago in a Naval Training Station after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Mrs. C. and I then went to the files to find his picture. As it turns out it was miss filed, but we finally found Camp Hill #176 recruits and his picture on the front row. Unfortunately, I am not the best at keeping up on family history like this, but I have to admit, that when I walked out of that building, I had a lump in my throat and felt extremely proud of my Father who voluntarily enlisted in the Navy at age 17, to fight for our Country and contribute to the defeat of the Japanese in WWII. Go Dad! I brought him back some souvenirs from the museum.

Feeling good that we had completed our mission of seeing a piece of family history and conquering what turned out to be the equivalent of finding a needle in a haystack, we were now on our way to our destination of Whitefish, Montana that would end our 409 miles of riding for that day. We continued North to Bonners Ferry before going East to Montana. We then turned North again on a little known road called Hwy. 37 at Libby Montana. This follows the beautiful Lake Koocanusa for 45 miles to Eureka, Montana, 7 miles from the Canadian Border. It was absolutely gorgeous and was a high point of unspoiled beauty for our ride that day. We had to ride the 45 miles from Eureka to Whitefish at dusk. This was not a good idea as we had to run the gauntlet of deer, and even watched the car in front of us narrowly miss one that jumped out in front of them. This can certainly make for white knuckled riding as Mrs. C. counted over 40 deer on the side of the road as we made our way to the Alpinglow Inn, our ski resort hotel on Big Mountain in Whitefish. Believe it or not, it is cheaper to stay on the mountain than it is in town.

This was one of those trips that was already so packed with beauty and interesting riding that we could have almost gone home after day 2 and called it a great ride. But we still had 6 days and 2000 miles to go, and we hadn't even seen the headliner of our trip yet. So we settled in for the night to rest up knowing that Glacier National Park, the place we had heard so much about, would be on our to do list the next day.

Click Here for the Map of Day 1, Burlington, WA. to Grand Coulee Dam, WA.
Click Here for Photos of Day 1.
Click Here for the Map of Day 2, Grand Coulee Dam, WA. to Whitefish, Montana
Click Here for Photos of Day 2.