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| Up-Graded and feeling Good!! (Fred Smiles!) |
With months of traveling over 13k miles while traversing the USA on dirt, mud and gravel rocky roads the Weoverlander Team, was just getting warmed up! We made base camp in the Poulsbo and Tacoma, WA. area for some house sitting and much needed mods to our rig. But first Trixie and I hit the road and headed to eastern Washington.
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| Sun Lakes Dry Falls 3 times larger than Niagara Falls in NY. |
This area was my favorite place to camp when I lived in Seattle, back in the day! The weather was turning to the NW norm so we had to travel quickly before the cold, wet, dark set in. Our luck the weather was holding pretty well and we were able to visit all the places I previously visited. Heading east over the pass we entered the Sun Lake and Soap Lake recreation area through towns like Vantage, George and Ephrata, WA. Stopping in Soap Lake for lunch, we did a quick walk around this one horse town. Its claim to fame was the coveted healing waters of Soap Lake.
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| Sun Lakes monolith |
This mineral enriched lake has a long history of being a mecca for healing the aged, the crippled, the arthritic, proven by the mountain of discarded crutches, walkers, and other ambulatory devices. Literally, people crawled their way to the lake by any means available. When they couldn't make it to the lakeside healing mud, the many motels in the area had special tubs with water taps straight from the lake for soak in the privacy of your own room. Well, the mountain of crutches are gone, some motels are still operating and the town is still small. The Lake had the same mineral make-up and it's still the focus of the town. Dipping my toes into the cold lake water I started to feel instantly better!!
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| Crossing the Columbia River in WA. |
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| Driving the pot-holes chain |
We continued on 17 north headed to Sun Lakes Dry Falls State Park. The road winds around a beautiful upper dessert scenic drive. Driving along the chain of lakes known as the Sun Lakes, the scenic view unfolded as the road followed the ancient rock river bed where dinosaurs once roamed. Pulling in to the Dry Falls State park was how I remembered it- a small par 3 golf course among the rocks and knolls, a small lodge cabin style resort, a tree lined campground and of course the lake.
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| White Pass on our way to eastern WA. |
With some studying of the map we were able to figure out what campsites were available and which ones were premium priced. Back in the day they were all the same price (a lot cheaper). We chose a familiar site to me and made camp. A small tree for shade and an incredible view of a little pond where at dusk everything came to feed and water, birds, deer, ground hogs and more captivated us.
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| Sun Lakes Back country view |
Bike riding here was pretty good, mountain bike wilderness trails as well as paved roads in and around the several lakes. We took a paved trail to Lost Lake about a 5mi ride up and down, in and out, a quick stop to take in the view as we parked our bikes and took a short hike in- very nice!! Well, not so nice as my bike picked up a couple of Tag-a-longs (sharp thorns) and my front tire was losing air fast. Of course that day the repair kit was forgotten. Sucking it up I carried my bike back to camp 3mi away just as dusk was setting. Boneless country style pork ribs in Achiote with tangy cucumber and tomatillo salad, a bottle of red (Zin) and life is good!!!
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| Perfect spot for a picnic! |
Up the next morning my mission was to fix some flat tires (now both front and back are flat!). Air now holding, we took a morning ride around Sun Lake checking out the park. Trixie called out, "Hey Buddy! check out this dead snake on the road". A nice sized rattle snake stretched across the road with beautiful markings (Golden Rattler) Hmmm! Trixie oh Trixie! a closer inspection, that snake was not dead, just sunning him or herself, never saw Trixie move so fast!!
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| 4-Wheeling, sandy, muddy, Steamboat Rock Eastern WA. |
Me peddling hard to catch up to Trixie we continued on our ride. That afternoon we collapsed the tent and headed out to the Grand Coulee Damn located 15mi north in Coulee City WA., for a picnic, a little 4wheeling and to watch the Lazer light show projected on the damn's water spillage, a nightly show. But first we stopped at Steamboat Rock State Park to check it out, did a little wheeling and had a wonderful picnic. Life is really good!!
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| Lost Lake, Sun Lakes WA. |
As dusk set in, we arrived at the damn and found a parking spot overlooking the spill way. Moments later Grand Coulee's water gates opened and water cascaded down to create a foamy white screen across the entire damn! We sat in the comfort and warmth of our rig as the show started with music and a narrative played on the many JBL speakers surrounding the viewing area. So much fun we got out and cuddled on the benches provided to watch the Lazer show without bug juice smears and chipped windshield dings to blur our vision.
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| Grand Coulee Damn |
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| Grand Coulee Lake |
The show gave us a brief history on the construction of the damn and the massive displacement of the Native Indians, who were the indigenous people for centuries.
Heading back to our campsite after a full day we slept with a "Zillion", "Million" stars overhead, comfortably warm in our RRT.
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| Campsite Sun Lakes State Park WA |
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| Curving around Banks Lake, Sun Lake Rec Area |
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| Thinking about tackling that Mesa!! |
We were ready to get back on the road after dog and house-sitting in Poulsbo, WA. for a couple of weeks and then Tacoma WA. for some much needed repairs and upgrades on the rig.
See you on the Trail!....
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Big-UP!! to our Tacoma and Poulsbo sponsors!! Cheers!
