Finally! HOG weather!

Do we go left or right at the intersection? We turned left on Hwy. 26. Right on Tribal road to Simnasho.

The 2 year old burns have left blackened pines on Beaver Grade, but there is now lots of space for the buttercups (ranunculus). It reminds me of when I was much younger, my dad would bring home buttercups for my mom. I brought buttercups to my parents' home when they were older and he was not able to drive and pick flowers any more. My sister had arrived just before me bearing a huge bouquet of various flowers from her husband's garden! We learned to bring flowers from our father who was always bringing the prettiest flowers to home - buttercups, tiger lilies, white lilies, lady slippers; probably flowers that are not in the woods any more (where he always worked) because of the logging that has occurred.

We arrived at Simnasho, where the gas is reasonably priced, turned left past Levi's house, on to Wapinitia. In Sahaptin, Wapinitia means 'flat place' which it is. As others came forth, not understanding the meaning of the word, they 'moved' the name further west to the mountains and called it Wapinitia Pass. Not too fitting! One of the dangers of motorcycling is cattle! A whole herd was entering Wapinitia as we were, but the HOG scared them right back into their pasture.

We have not been to Pine Grove for years so it was left at Highway 216. There isn't much left of Pine Grove, not even a store. There are fond memories, though. During the flood of 1964, the bridges around home were washed out. Some fools drove a pink cadillac to Pine Grove for the necessities that are, necessarily, packaged in cases. There are also stories of meeting up with a Chief there, but those will not be repeated at this time.

Turning around, we headed east on the highway to the intersection, then left to The Dalles. There was one recent kill of a deer beside the highway. The Circle of Life goes on - the turkey vultures were feasting.

There is usually at least one deer in the fields around Tygh Valley, but not on this trip. There was a calf out beside the road, we suggested that he go back to join his herd.

We motored, loudly and quickly, up the Tygh grade towards The Dalles via Dufur. The trip was beautiful and we started meeting other cyclists.

Cherry trees are almost in full bloom in The Dalles. As we drove towards the Columbia River I thought about my parents. Mom was raised in the Indian cabins (shacks) behind what is now the Shilo Inn. After their marriage and many children, my parents frequently visited the 'development' where my grandparents and other members of the family lived until The Dalles Dam was built in 1958. Mom said as they came by horse and wagon, the kids had a song they sang to the river as they approached. Every time I drove my parents to visit the area, I'd try to get her to remember the song. She never did, we have to come up with our own.

Arrow leaf balsamroot is is full bloom everywhere. That's a sign that the salmon are coming! Yay! Good travels for them!

One of Mom's stories concerned apple orchards that used to be on the road to The Dalles. Grandma was driving the horse and wagon and mom and her brother were riding horses. The kids stopped to pick a few apples. A policeman stopped grandma and told her that her kids were stealing. She said her kids do not steal and threated the man with her bullwhip! She went on her way.

It was always fun to go there. The banks of the river were like the beach back them. There was lots of sand and red 'flowers' that we called sandflowers. The 'big' house (I realized later in life it wasn't very big) was where my grandparents lived. It had a big porch where the women would sit outside and get food ready. Apparently all I could do was peel 'taters because that's all I remember doing. They cut them in large chunks and we had boiled potatoes and salmon. Yum! The scraps would be thrown out the window right back into the river.

Today we went on to Burgerville in The Dalles, one of our favorite places to eat. We then crossed the bridge over the River we turned east, past Maryhill Museum, and on to Goldendale. I had driven past Goldendale but never stopped. We did today and it is a very nice little town. When my children were younger, we drove by Goldendale once and there was a huge 'junkyard' of old used cars. My daughter asked what it was so we told her it was a place for old bodies (we must have forgotten to say car bodies) where you could take body parts if you needed them. She said that was GROSS.

Anyway, on back to the bridge at Biggs Junction where we gassed up. The super was $2.43, the cheapest we'd seen. We went west on I-84, back to The Dalles. As we passed the old shacks again, I was reminded that where the OSP now is, used to be a peach orchard. We'd drive by it to see Uncle Joe and Aunt Ruth.

We went on to Cousins Restaurant to have apple and strawberry cream pie. Expensive but very good! In Tygh Valley, we saw a coyote where we expected to see deer in the pasture, but there were none.

Onward to home the way we came! The temp today when we started was in the 60's (F) and in the 80's when we arrived home, from 11 AM to 6 PM. We met about 100 other riders. Good Ride! Go War Pony!