Finishing Dam Tour

Note my FJR Forum name is Fontanaman.

During the wonderful NAFO banquet dinner on Saturday night Fontanaman was lucky enough to win two prizes, a tee-shirt size M and a LED flashlight. The tee shirt became a present to his wife for he will never fit in a size M. Fontanaman was large even back in the day and those days are long gone and he is still a large today – yeah!

The return to Seattle ride was set up as a two day affair to snag all the remaining Dam Tour targets. 

The first day plan was an ambitious ride on back roads to Hood River Oregon. Fontanaman routed it out on the GPS and found it was 593 miles and 13 hours plus in riding time. This does not include any stops. Going against better judgment he was going to try riding this route in one day and arrive in time for dinner at Hood River and decided on leaving Castlegar at 5:00am.

Fontanaman’s room was next to MEM’s and when he walked outside he found this:



Fontanaman was off at 5:05am with threatening skies. Screw the rain. His Rev-it Jacket and Pants may look like hell but they keep Fontanaman warm and dry.
The plan was to cross the border at Rossland and road down Hwy 25 then following the Onion Creek Road south to Colville then 395 south to Long Lake Dam. 

It is hard to nail Fontanaman down to anything, he changes his mind often, much to the dismay of fellow riders. So be it and with this in mind and not looking to riding in the rain unless he has to Fontanaman noticed brighter skies at Northport skies in the slot looking south along Lake Roosevelt than to the east along the Onion road. Further US 395 out of Colville is a complete dud.

Despite Hwy 25 being a deer infested road, especially at such an early hour, Fontanaman who already had his near run in with a Forest Rat earlier in the morning, decided to take the drier, scenic and Forest Rat infested Hwy 25 down to Fruitland then to Wellpinit and Long Lake Dam. Sometimes Fontanaman dreams of a bike with a left hand throttle and a Glock…… especially when a Forest Rat appears.

Here of the photos of this leg:










A bit or rain near Long Lake Dam


Long Lake Dam


After stopping at Long Lake Dam Fontanamnan changed the route again to follow the roads less travelled, to roads never traveled and take the scenic option. This dropped him into Spokane for a fuel stop and the realization Hood River was unobtanium-able. So he whipped out his backup plan and called his sister-in-law in Pasco. Sure you can spend the night and we will feed you a BBQ dinner too. Perfect!

This was the last route revision and this become my route.

Here are the final photos from Sunday:

Notice the skies are now crystal clear blue. This series of photos are where shot long Hwy 27. Look where we have been Ma! 







Curl Lake Dam



A barn with a wood roof near Dayton



Zintel Canyon Dam at Kennewick



Monday 
Prosser Dam in Prosser (who’d a thunk)


Badger Gulch along the Bickleton Hwy



Mill Pond Dam near Glenwood Wa.



Crossing the Columbia River at Hood River



A bit of construction delay on the Hood River Bridge provides an opportunity to take a unique photo of the Columbia River



Upper Green Point Dam in Oregon where I enjoy a cigar to celebrate completing all 20 Dam Tour target for 2012. Yeah!



A road near Upper Green Point Dam. Nice views of Mt. Adam and Mt. Hood on a clear day. This was not a clear day.



It was a great ride to Seattle from NAFO. In his next ride report Fontanaman will write about riding in the box.

The End