FLIRTING WITH ANOTHER STORM

Woke up this morning at 5am to the sound of very loud thunder. Crap! Turned the television on and went back to sleep. Awoke at 7am and the sun was shining. Another beautiful day. Lucky me.
Again, just me and the road.
Who would have thought one would see landscape like the following in Oregon.
Seems like the road is getting more narrow with each passing mile.
Starting to look a little ominous in the distance.
I don't think I'm going to be too happy in a while.
AW, CRAP!!! Out in the middle of nowhere, not enough gas to turn back, no cover......
I was heading west and the storm was moving towards the north. I caught the tail end of the storm before I was able to head south. Didn't get too wet, but the wind was strong, gusty and coming from the side. Almost blew me off the bike a couple of times. When I got to the next town, water was a foot deep on some of the streets. Please traffic light, don't turn red on me now. I don't want to get my shoes wet! Got to a service station, but they wouldn't pump gas because of the lighting in the area. Bunch of wusses. 40 miles down the road it was bright and sunny again.

THUNDER STORMS FORCAST - BUMMER!

Weather report forecasts thunderstorms moving in from the south. Of course, I'm headed south towards Baker City via Hell's Canyon byway.
No way am I heading into those clouds ahead.
Turned around and did the byway from the south side.
I didn't make it the whole way because another storm was moving in from the south and if don't turn back, I'm gonna get rained on big time. Started to drizzle on me about five miles from town, but fortunately, I was traveling away from the storm, so I got hit with just a few drops. Can't complain, weather has been great up to now.

HEADING SOUTHWEST

Days are starting to get quite warm, unusual for this time of year, I'm told. Lots of crops through this part of the country. Unlike the flat wind blown crop land in the mid-west, the crops here are grown on gentle rolling hills and make for nicer views.
Lots of "HIGH TRAFFIC CORRIDORS" along the way.
Then into the semi-arid region of Washington State.
Long walk if the bike breaks down.
Then on through the Washington apple orchids.
The best kind of place for lunch. Tacos were good and the orange soda came from Mexico in a much used bottle that looked like it had been filled and capped a thousand times. Gotta love it.
There is a very large Hispanic presence throughout the area, many of them working in the fields and service industry. Kudos to those from across the border busting their humps in the fields to put food on tables in America. I care not about the right-wing extremists arguments regarding the border issues, for if we relied on Americans to do the grunt work in the fields, we would starve. Then again, starving might not be a bad thing considering the size of some people.

COEUR d'ALENE

This is not how I remember Coeur d'Alene back when I was stationed in Spokane during the early 60's. For you "smart alecks" that was 1960 and not 1860. The city park and beach walk is really attractive at this time of year.
Doesn't look like Waikiki, but I bet the people are having just as much fun.
The boat marina is close by and houses some real fancy boats.
A large u-shaped floating dock encompasses the boat slips and the boats along the right side in the first picture are for sale.
Think I'll check some prices and maybe buy one.
$410,000. Hmmm.....I'm going to have to pass on this one.
285k...Pass as well.
$200,000.....Crap! I should not have goofed off in school. I don't see any row boats anywhere.
Let me assure you, the only thing I'm looking at is boats. Oh mama, what a lovely boat.

Okay, let's look at something else.
Aw hell......This is boring. Let's go back to looking at boats!