Another fun weekend on 2 wheels

[mdtoney]

My wife’s parents drove from Idaho to eastern WA for the weekend, so my wife and I figured it would be a good excuse to get out on the bike for a couple days in the sun to ride over and spend the weekend with them. We took the scenic route, going over 6 mountain passes and took our time getting there.

The route on Google Maps:


Day 1 – Renton to Wenatchee (around Mt. Rainier – Greenwater/Crystal Mt., Cayuse Pass, Chinook Pass, White Pass, Yakima Canyon, Blewett Pass).












Day 2 – Wenatchee to Renton (morning excursion up to Lake Chelan, across Steven’s Pass, then 50 miles of back roads so I could hit some more twisties)

Unfortunately, my in-laws are never on a schedule, and even though I told them a few times that we planned to be on the road by 11:30am, noon at the very latest, before I knew it we were a couple hours behind schedule, so we didn’t stop to take photos on the return trip. My wife snapped a couple (from the bike) as we passed Lake Chelan. There’s a lot of great scenery along the route we took home – rivers, lakes, cliffs, waterfalls, mountains, etc. Next time we’ll get some good photos…




A couple rants from the weekend:
- I understand that the scenery through the mountains is spectacular, and at times can actually be distracting, but if the speed limit is 55 or 60 and you can only go 40, PULL OVER!
- When you go through the mountains the elevation changes – A LOT! You can go from sea level to over 5000 feet. If the speed limit is 60 and traffic is going 75, and you’re pulling a 40 foot trailer with an underpowered truck, and can only go 35 mph… do everyone behind you a favor and PULL OVER! That’s what the slow vehicle turnouts are for!

Overall a greeat weekend!

[rmb]

Great pics! Thanks for sharing.

[Shmoo]

lol, the 'pull-over' etiquette is nowhere to be found, my friend.

[mdtoney]

The average speed limit around the mountain is 55mph and the rest or the route is 60mph. Many people drive 5-10 over, but it's crazy how many times over two days I got stuck behind someone driving as much as 15mph UNDER the speed limit, with a line of a dozen or more cars behind them. And the guys pulling trailers through the mountain passes are even worse - up to 25mph UNDER the speed limit with a long line of cars behind them and no thought of pulling over to let anyone by.

I can't really complain too much - despite some slow drivers, the weather was great, the scenery was fantastic, and I was out on my bike the entire weekend!