Well, this years longest day ride, wasn't very long. However, even being a short ride, it was still longer than that 40.5 mile ride back in 2015. You see, with some major issues at work and the looming need to get ready for my trip to Wyoming, I decided to make it a short ride with lots of curves. Destination, Boggans Oasis!
So, in the morning, I worked. Then I went to Panda Wednesday, meeting up with the guys for lunch. After lunch is when the trip actually begins. As I left from Panda, I rode over to Primeland to fill up.
Remembering to put my helmet on, I headed for and crossed the bridge into Clarkston. For those of you that don't know, Clarkston is in Washington state, which has a helmet law that states: "We don't believe in natural selection, so put your helmet on!" Ok, maybe I misquoted, but you get the idea.
With the construction on the washington side of the Bridge, I had to take a detour. Taking the 13th street exit, I went south until it dropped back down onto WA-129. I did pull off the rode before getting on WA-129, to get the remote to my Drift (action camera) out of the trunk.
Continuing south, I drove into Asotin, pulling off to the side of the road in front of the elementry school. With the short windshield on the trike, the visor on the half helmet rattles like crazy, which in turn would drive one crazy. So, I removed it. (It is attached using snaps)
Now is when the ride gets a little interesting.
You see, up until now, I really haven't taken the Trike on any real winding roads.
So, starting up the Asotin grade, I began getting a real feel for how the trike handles in curves.
The first couple corners that point you off the edge were a little worrisome until I got the hang of it.
Reaching the top of Asotin grade, I then had a long boring stretch before finally reaching the Rattle Snake Grade.
Now, just so you know... Going down a grade is not nearly as fun as going up a grade.
Especially when you are struggling to control the rear brake.
At the bottom of the grade, there is about 1 mile streach that had a slide back in April. They had it cleaned up pretty well. If you didn't already know it had happened, you might not even notice. They've got the bridge put back and the creek area is all cleaned out.
I pulled in to Boggans and had a fight with my Drift camera.
All the footage I thought I was capturing... Well, I wasn't.
When I got home, I did some research, and long story short, it has to do with the micro SD card.
Anyway, I went in and ordered a piece of pie and a milkshake. As I ate, I read about a cowboy that witnessed two trains collide on a blind curve and about a boy that made cougar tracks atop his sisters' foot print which caused a kerfuffle.
After finishing up and paying the bill, I went out and took a picture of the trike in front of the store. A gentlemen asked if I wanted my picture taken. I said, sure and he took a picture of me. We chatted a little about the engine and how it handles compared to a bike. I then headed back towards Lewiston.
I didn't get too far and I was stuck behind a truck hauling logs.
So, when I came to a good pull off that had a good view back towards Boggans, I stopped and took a couple pictures.
I got back on the road and was able to enjoy going up the grade for a little while. But, then I caught up to the truck again. I pulled off and faught with the camera a little bit to give the truck time to get a ways in head of me. Then I climbed back on and was on my way.
It wasn't long before I was back on the long boring stretch again. I did catch back up to that truck as we were going down the Asotin grade. And from Asotin, it's just a quick hop, skip and jump to lewiston.
And thus ended the trip. See, 88 miles is longer than 40.5.
