With Skippy feeling ill and our desire to explore Cascades National Park, we headed back east and rode to The Dalles along Columbia River. Those kind of highways are not as boring as in Nebraska, however they are not the Alps either ... somewhere in between with some nice sights and - in this case - an apple orchard with plenty of old apple trees.
Free lunch :)
We spent a few nights in The Dalles and as Skippy got better I got now the cold :( As we were hanging in our room suddenly the phone rang and the reception asked us whether we wanted to see Finnish people. ?????? Confusion ... We said ok and walked over there. So happen there was a bunch of people from Finland visiting farms around USA. I guess once they heard/saw/realized that we were vegans the interest dropped a lot, except of the tour guide who was seriously surprised to meet other Finns here and even see Finnish license plates. Well it made him happy :)
Crossing Columbia River when leaving The Dalles.
After The Dalles we rode north on canyon road/Hwy 97 to Ellensburg. Satu got her own pass: Satus pass :D
Since I was sick and the weatherman promised heavy rain for the night and the next day, camping and testing our new gear was cancelled. We stayed two nights instead of one in a motel, which meant that we would not make it to the NP if we want to be in time for Tarah's fruitluck. I got some Chinese take away food to pamper me ... it was such a cliche with that food in the motel ... like in the movies :D
Skippy was too small to get the good ones ... Wolfi came for help :D
Next day we rode through Leavenworth, the little Bavaria in Washington state with motels called Enzian Inn, Bavarian Lodging, Der Ritterhof Motor Inn and the Bavarian Bakery (Bäckerei). I had a hard time to focus on the street and not laugh my guts out. Hilarious! The best part of the day was the weather: the sunshine and the stunning autumn colors of the tree gave a breath-taking spectacle.
We rode along Hwy 2 also known as Stevens Pass Hwy to Everett. At
Stevens Pass we had some snow at the edge of the road and the sizzling rain was back.
Majestic mountains with fresh snow. Looked better in nature, I guess the moist air caused some blur.
Skippy did not want to go via the Interstate on our way from Everett to Canada neither did I. I found a nice coastal road and we enjoyed the ride as much as possible. The weather was made for biking: sunny, cloudy ... anyway no rain :)
Cool tree growing roots over this gigantic rock.
Pacific Ocean :)
Leaving USA was again such an extreme opposite compared to entering ... seriously NOBODY gave a darn! No check, no stamp into the passport – I really did not understand it ... well who cares as it is what it is. There was a cue to enter Canada, maybe because it was Friday afternoon and we got into the weekend traffic.
The lady at the Canadian border checkpoint was friendly and asked a few questions which I truthfully answered. A few minutes later we got a new stamp and now we could be for 6 month in Canada.
Tarah - here we come :)
Our track 930km
Skippy is back to travelogue business ... enjoy this one and especially those gorgeous autumn colors along the roads.
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