Bali Hi Motel Richland

So as I set off from San Francisco alone in the car, the open road my only friend, the birds in the sky my only guides, an all to familiar feeling began to wash over me. Hunger. I had been too lazy to get up for breakfast again. Having decided some weeks back not to exist solely on fast food, I finally decided to take that decision seriously and drove in search of a health ...

We flew from SF to Seattle to pick up the bikes. It wasn't the greatest weather to ride in, a bit rainy and cold, but we went over some great mountains. We managed to get about 400km done and quite far east. We wanted to get away from the bad weather as quick as possible.

... above . . . these pictures are just a drop in the bucket and while I understood what Mr Savage was saying I can barely explain it to you.











There were a half a dozen cotton tail rabits on the only patch of green grass at the LIGO

There was a fire road across one leg of the LIGO where we were able to get a ...

On Sa**************ed south along the Columbia River, past irrigated orchards of apples, cherries, potatoes (?), grapes. Arrived in Tri-Cities, set up camp in Hood Park (Army Corps of Engineers) where Snake and Yakima rivers join the Columbia.
Today we visited Ice Harbor Lock & Dam, saw huge salmon and carp move through the fish ladder on their way upriver. Had ...

... I should have said "giants"!). The Richland Hampton Inn was a welcome sight by the time we got off the road.

We went back to dinner at the nearby Anthony's Restaurant. I had a glass of champagne and Chris had a Washington cab. We had a wonderful ahi tempura appetizer. I ate the salmon/halibut duo while Chris had halibut simply prepared. Everything tasted great!


Title Language: English (limited to Pacific Northwest)

It's our 1st day on the road, As I'm laying on my bunk I feel like I've driven right out of the pages of the "Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" minus the debauchery of course. Not to brag but our bus is awesome! 3 bunk beds and a table the only thing that can top it has been the scenery. The Cascades have to be the most beautiful mountains I have every seen up close. The pine trees there grow so thick and close together they look like blades of grass on a lawn ...

... adventure! Not sure why they schedule it that way, we have to go through customs and security again there... oh, well, adventure waiting for us even on the plane ride ;-) I still have a few Paris metro tickets left over, I put them in my purse just in case we get "stuck" in Paris, too bad! Will see you later!

... to go under the bridge, I noticed some guys putting on parachutes (very small packs). It turns out that this is one of the bridges in the US where it is still legal to BASE jump without a permit. I asked for permission to take their photos and as they jumped off the bridge, I was able to get some great shots. What an exciting morning for us and although it will make the day longer because we spent a much longer time than we expected to at Twin Falls, it was very much worth the ...

... ex: Monte Cristo :-), everyone was more than kind to us.. I have to give God the credit for this as He provided someone every step of the way when we needed some guidance! Wonderful to know we are never alone!! Didn't see screens on windows and you need to open the windows, it's kind of muggy there, but we didn't have any bug problems because of the lack of screens. Maybe they spray? Graffiti not a problem in the tourist areas we were in, lots more in Italy ...

... to figure that out! I'm planning on using the ones at Fat Tire Bike Tours in Paris, they are owned by Americans I believe and you can use their facilities to get on the internet, so hopefully all will go well with posting this trip. If not I'll do the best I can!