Distance today: 511 miles
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| Mt. Shasta |
Today was absolutely stunning scenary-wise & sheer hell mileage-wise!
The scenery continues to be outstanding but we drove wayyyyy too many miles for this old gal! Robert is used to his motorcycle group knocking out 500+ miles each day when they travel. I just don't have that kind of mileage in me. The last couple of hours, was just sheer hell & I really do not want to travel this way. It is all about the journey NOT the destination for me. But we made it to Missoula. I told him...."never again" so hopefully we can compromise on our future day's mileage goals.
Started the morn off with an incredible view of Mt. Shasta & the views justs stayed incredible the remainder of the day! We left the coast & are headed back eastward now. Eastern WA is vastly different from the coast. Gone are the endless conifers & waterways & enter the rolling dry hills of the Cascades. After being in complete & remote wilderness, being back in 'civilization' with the crush of cars, endless lines of stores, homes & businesses was jarring to my senses. I just wanted to go back into the wild.
Fortunately we returned back to the trees & crystal clear streams that feed into the predominant waterways shortly thereafter.
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| WA hwy portion of NW Passage |
Hwy 12, otherwise known as the Northwest Passage, had numerous Lewis & Clark waypoints were along this hwy & I really wanted to stop & read the boards strategically placed along the hwy. But the demands of the pace negated this idea. I will definitely come back another time when I can 'stop & smell the roses'.
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| ID hwy portion of NW Passage |
This hwy apparently cuts quite a ways across the US. Wikipedia states, "U.S. Route 12 (US 12) is a major east-west U.S. Highway, running from Aberdeen, Washington, to Detroit, Michigan. It spans 430.80 miles (693.31 km) across the state of Washington, and is the only numbered highway to span the entire state from west to east, starting near the Pacific Ocean, and crossing the Idaho state line near Clarkston. It crosses the Cascade Range over White Pass, south of Mount Rainier National Park. Portions of it are concurrentwith Interstate 5 (I-5) and Interstate 82 (I-82), although the majority of the route does not parallel any Interstate Highway. " Anyway, we were very happy to have stumbled upon this route.
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| US map of hwy 12 |
I so wanted to jump into this river for it looked completely clear. I could see the rocks thru the water, even speeding by on two wheels! Saw 3 groups of folks on big inner tubes or other inflatables, just floating down the river enjoying themselves. I beeped at them & was wondering how the fishing was!
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| Hermann on the map (at white flag) |
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| Map of route |
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| Eastern WA=VERY different environ!! |
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| Pano of Clearwater River |
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| Clearwater River |
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| Clearwater River |
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| Clearwater River |
Tomorrow we are hoping to check out Yellowstone. Unfortunately to get to Yellowstone we will have to get back on an interstate, as 12 merges with I-90.
We were really worried about finding a room around Yellowstone. Some guy along the way told us he spent $49 for a room there. Then the next week he called to reserve this very same room & the price was $159! So this morning we started calling to find a place for the next two days.
Wonder of wonders, we were able to get rooms for the next couple of days at Whitetail & Red Lodge-both for about $99! Good Karma!!
Stepped outside to get a mileage reading off my bike & saw this crazy ass car parked right next to me! No one could make this kind of stuff up!
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| Crazy ass car! |
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| Someone put alot of work into this vehicle! |
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| Click on (any) photo to enlarge |
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