On July 18th I got out and rode a poker run. It was the Ride Around the Mountain Poker run sponsored by the Abate of Washington South King County Chapter. This is the second year of the run and the proceeds go to the Susan G. Komen Foundation.
Most poker runs don’t have a required route to ride but many provide maps of suggested routes. This particular run there weren’t even any route suggestions just locations for each card draw. The initial gathering point was the Yella Beak Saloon in Enumclaw. This is one of my usual stops when I am in the area. When I arrived there were already a good number of bikes there. I bought in for a couple of poker hands and put $20 into the 50/50 raffle.
I had arrived early enough so I could get a cup of coffee and maybe a bite to eat. I ended up having a fruit plate along with the coffee. I wandered outside and noticed that not many people had left yet. I found out that many were planning on riding the poker run as one large group. 
That explained why the gal was tying pink grid tape on my bike when I pulled in along with all the other bikes in the lot. It also explained why they didn’t have any maps, it was more or less follow the leader.
While I don’t have any problem with group riding it didn’t fit into my original plan and the reason I chose to ride in this function rather than the three or four other functions that were available for this weekend. I knew the weather was going to be awesome and that I was going to be riding all the way around Mt. Rainier. This would be a good chance to get some great pictures and riding in a group would definitely put a crimp in both my timing, stop and go activities and my planned route. I even chose to ride Brutus rather than JDsHog because I was getting off the beaten path on sections of my planned route.
So I made sure it was OK to go it on my own and headed out about 30 minutes before the main group was scheduled to leave. I had already planned to stop at the Greenwater General Store to pick up some refreshments and I needed some Excedrin, just in case. I knew this would likely be a 10 hour day with all the stops and the end of the run activities. There was a pretty constant flow of motorcycle and cars on WA-410 though I was surprised at how few RVs there were. The negative effects of the economy I guess.
I toyed with the idea of running up to the lookout on FS-72 but I decided I just didn’t have the time. 
The destination for the second card draw was Whistlin’ Jack Lodge on WA-410 near the all but invisible community called Cliffdell. I knew there were several other spots with good views of Mt. Rainier that I wanted to stop at along the route so I just rode by the turnoff at FS-72.
There really wasn’t that much traffic after I turned NE on WA-410 
at the junction of WA-123. By the time I had crested Chinook Pass I had already stopped at a few places for some shots. This is probably the most fun section of WA-410 and with the light traffic I was able to keep the fun factor up. I did managed to see some views in my rear view mirrors that I would like to have taken pictures of. I wasn’t sure how I was doing on time so I just kept going. I was the first person from the poker run to Whistlin’ Jack Lodge. The temperatures had risen to the mid 80’s and I just had time for a beer before the large group arrived.
The Abate folks got their tables set up and the people that weren’t fueling up started drawing the cards for their hands. 
I drew my cards, took some pictures of the group, mounted up and headed out. The next destination was Peter’s Inn in Packwood. I actually had two routes planned from this point. Either continue on WA-410 towards Naches and pick up WA-12 then cross over White Pass or backtrack to WA-123 and pick up WA-12 on the West side of White Pass. I chose the latter route because of those views I saw in my rear view mirror and I knew that the fun factor would be higher. I never did find out which way the major group went.
So I headed back the way I had come and picked up a few more views of Mt. Rainier and other landscapes. The traffic was a little heavier on WA-123 which was to be expected. Unfortunately there really aren’t any good photo opportunities along WA-123 or on WA-12 going into Packwood. I had a few stretches of open road after passing slow movers of one variety or another. The weather was perfect, I was on the road and enjoying myself so there was really nothing to complain about.
I arrived at Peters Inn and I figured I was well ahead of the main group. I decided to go ahead at get some lunch and ordered a Club with fries and some iced tea. I was sitting at the lunch bar rather than a table and a man with a pack came in and sat next to me. As it turns out he was recently retired from the Army and he was on a personal discover America type trip. He was presently hiking the bulk of the Pacific Crest trail. He had just come into civilization long enough to get some supplies and have a hot meal. I had time to finish lunch, have a nice conversation and wander around outside for about ten minutes when riders 
started to come in. It looks like at least a few of the other riders decided to go it on their own. About ten minutes after that the main group arrived.
They set up behind Peters Inn and cards for our hands were drawn. When the group arrived the Shell gas station next door was swamped with motorcycles. I had pre-planned fueling up here and thought maybe I should have done it when I came into town. I’m glad I got in and ate when I did because the restaurant filled to capacity within minutes of the main group pulling in. 
It was already pretty busy before they arrived. By the time I took some pictures and got ready to pull out fueling up turned out to be a non-issue. There was an interesting Boss Hoss trike that pulled up but I don’t think they were part of our group. The back end was tricked out as a ‘57 Chevy. While I’m not particularly into the Boss Hoss designs it was still pretty nice looking, especially in red. I looked on the Boss Hoss website and I guess it is actually one of their standard products, the BHC-9 LS3.
The next destination was Brunos in Eatonville. So after fueling up I headed off on an alternate route that is a little less traveled and one I hadn’t been on in 
many years. Rather than continue West on WA-12 I headed NW on Skate Creek Rd. The parts of this road that are in the National Forest are referred to as NF-52. The road is paved all the way but it isn’t in the best condition in a number of places. Brutus had a good time but I imagine that some of the cruiser crowd wouldn’t have been enjoying some of the worst spots. I did find one spot with a view of the South side of Mt. Rainier which was my main reason for taking this route. The rest of the route was essentially an evergreen tunnel. There were quite a few people dry camping inside the National Forest. There are a lot of fun spots on this road but some of the corners can be rough. Perfect for dual sports and sport tourers.
I eventually turn North on Kemahan Rd and then West on WA-706. I rode WA-706 into Elma, headed NW on the Mountain Hwy and then North on Alder Cutoff Rd to Eatonville. I was again the first one to arrive and I decided I would have another beer. I was chatting with folks at the bar and some biker folks came in. Turns out they were looking to join up with the rally as they didn’t have the time to start out earlier in the morning. Eventually a few “independent” riders from the poker run, such as myself, started to trickle in to Brunos. I was getting a little bored and I didn’t want to drink another beer so I went outside to wait for the main group.
They eventually arrived and the process of drawing cards and packing out the bar and restaurant was repeated. I hung around long enough to take a few pictures and decided to head out to the final destination. That was the L & M Firehouse in Orting. I was planning to go the slow route along the lakes and I thought there would be a good place to get a picture of Mt. Rainier somewhere along the way.
So I headed North out of Eatonville and picked up Orville Rd.. 
Most of this stretch is just 35 MPH and the road doesn’t really have much fun factor but it was a great day for a slow ride along Ohop Lake and Lake Kapowsin. I eventually turned East on 264th E and it was there I found my viewpoint. There wasn’t much of any place to get off the road so I just pulled off as far as I could and stayed mounted when I took my pictures.
I eventually got back onto Orville Rd and rode it the rest of the way into Orting. The L & M Firehouse was already rocking 
pretty good when I pulled in, the first of the poker run group. I got dressed down and got all my gear stowed figuring it was going to be quite a while before I would be heading home. I hadn’t even gotten inside when a few of those more independent types pulled in to the parking lot. I sat and chatted with a couple of them and had a beer.
The main group showed up after a while and the place really got packed. The Abate crew got tables set up for both the card drawings and to display all the raffle prizes. There was quite a pile of prizes. They eventually did a last call for turning in card hands and for buying 50/50 tickets. There were probably 80 to 100 participants so it took a little while to 
tally up the hands to determine the high and low hand winners. Once they got that done they started calling raffle numbers, each poker hand also had a raffle ticket so I had two. I ended up with an Abate t-shirt, as if I needed another t-shirt. But of course winning something isn’t why I participate so the t-shirt was more than I was expecting. I think it took an hour to give away all the raffle prizes. Then the high and low poker hand prizes were called and last but not least the 50/50 raffle. Lot’s of fun was had by all and it was still going strong when I left at about 8:00 PM.
All the pictures from the poker run ride can be found in this gallery .
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Rather than do a blow by blow description of all my travels I think I will just capture a few highlights, post a bunch of pictures to the gallery and post my routes in GPX format. Here is a link to the file with all the routes. If you don’t know what a GPX file is then you can look HERE and check their “Who supports GPX?” to see many different ways to work with them. Each route name in the GPX file starts with a “#” followed by a number. That way they should be listed in the order that I rode them in. The total trip was 5571 miles.
My trip down the California coast while interesting from a ride perspective was pretty disappointing from a weather perspective. It was pretty much moderate to heavy rain for much of it. Because of that I really didn’t take any pictures. My schedule was tight so I didn’t stop to take in any attractions. I wanted to maximize the time I was going to have with my dad and I had seen most of these areas on many occasions though not always on a motorcycle. So my dialog really starts in Cathedral City where my dad lives.
I was only going to have five days with my dad before I had to head to Moab to meet up with the MTF gang. Dad and I did a couple of driving side trips during the time I was staying in Cathedral City. One day we went out to the General Patton Memorial Museum located at Chiriaco Summit, CA. It’s not a large museum but there is a lot of militaria from many wars that they have collected over the years. There are a number of tanks and military vehicles both in and outside of the museum. It was only 104 degrees on the day we were there. Yeah I know, but it was a dry heat 
. We also drove a loop into the nearby mountains (CA-74 & CA-243). There are some great looking motorcycle roads up there and it was a little bit cooler. Unfortunately I wasn’t riding, maybe some other time. Pictures from those two side trips can be found in this gallery.
One of the big events I was tying into my trip was my youngest son’s graduation from Loyola Marymount University. My dad and I drove to LA and met my wife who flew down to meet us. That’s my dad and son in this picture taken after the graduation ceremony. More pictures of the commencement activities are in this gallery. We were able to sneak my son away for a couple hours for a private lunch then we were all off to our various destinations. My wife had to fly back home, my son had parties to go to and my dad and I drove back to Cathedral City.
My original plan was to get back to my dad’s early enough on commencement day to get a few hours riding towards Moab which was 800 miles away. I wanted to be there for the initial Moab dinner gathering the next evening. I had actually hoped to get about half way then get a motel and do the interesting parts of that leg, aka the twisties, in the morning. Unfortunately when we got back to his house it was after 6:00 PM and the temperature was still 106 degrees. So I went with plan B and caught a couple restless hours of sleep in one of his easy chairs and headed out at 2:00 AM. It was still 90 degrees but I knew I was climbing into the high desert and things would cool off pretty rapidly. The riding on my route from Cedar City, UT to Hanksville, UT was very enjoyable with lot’s of twisties. I managed to get well off the beaten path in some spots.
I got into Moab, UT in the early afternoon. My home for the next three nights would be the Adventure Inn. For the next two days I ended up riding with three other riders from the MTF group. There were over 50 people there altogether but the MTF discourages large group riding for safety reasons. All I can say is the scenery in that part of the country is awesome. I don’t have the time to describe all that I did and saw so pictures will have to do. The pictures from my arrival through the first days ride and activities, which includes the Colorado National Monument, can be seen in this gallery.
The second day we rode in the La Sal Mountains, Castle Valley and Arches National Park. The pictures from that ride can be seen in this gallery.
The third day I ended up riding alone because most of the other MTF riders were staying one more night in Moab. I needed to move on to my next destination to keep to my schedule. My destination for today would be Mexican Hat, UT in a round about way. I actually followed part of the suggested route for the day down to Natural Bridges National Monument. From there I fulfilled a silly urge to put my foot on the Four Corners Monument. The pictures from this days riding can be found in this gallery.
Mexican Hat was just the closest hotel I could get to Monument Valley. While the riding in this area isn’t particularly exciting the scenery in Monument Valley is well worth the trip. When I was paying to get into the tribal park I learned there was an added bonus. The Navaho and Hopi “Honor Run” was going to be finishing up there on the same day. After my tour and a brief participation in the Honor Rally festivities I headed to the Navaho National Monument and eventually Page, AZ. The pictures from Monument Valley and the Navaho National Monument can be found in this gallery.
OK, I changed my mind and decided to tell a little story on myself 
. I did have a sort of humorous event occur, at least it was humorous after the fact. I pulled up to the entrance of Monument Valley on Rufus, stopped at the pay booth and raised the front of my modular helmet. I paid my entrance fee and then asked the Navajo woman who was at the booth where I could get a tour of the Valley. I was a little concerned that I didn’t make a reservation, no pun intended 
.
So she tells me that wasn’t a problem and that I should take the first left and go out to those buildings. By this time she was pointing to two shacks about 100 yards off the road that look just like the shack, I mean pay booth, that she was in. Now don’t get me wrong, they have built a new lodge and the new visitor center was still under construction. Just the out buildings were in serious need of some TLC.
So I take the first left and head down the dirt road to the buildings doing all of 5 MPH. For some stupid reason I was looking at the buildings and tour vehicles parked by them instead of the road. That’s when top loaded Rufus weighing about 1000 pounds, not counting the lard ass in the saddle, meets six inches of Monument Valley sand covering the full width of the road. North was already heading South before I even knew what was going on and onto the left side did we plop. Unfortunately my left foot and leg rolled under me and I felt something pop in my ankle. (Not to keep anyone in suspense but the x-ray taken after I got home didn’t show anything was broken)
So I managed to pull my leg out from under Rufus and get to my feet. For a few seconds I am just testing my left ankle out but when I finally take look around I saw that just about everyone in the area was watching me. The good news was nothing came off Rufus and I was able to put some weight on my ankle without screaming. The bad news was nothing came off Rufus so how was I going to get the bike off the ground. Actually I got plenty of help from the super nice folks working there. We got it back up and Rufus started right up. I was soon back in the saddle gingerly paddle footing my way through the sand to my destination while everyone there watched JD’s travelling sideshow come onto the scene.
I pulled off next to the shacks and got dismounted. One of the folks working the tour booths came over and I told him I was looking to get on a tour. So he points over to one of the tour trucks, the one that happened to have three people sitting in it, and says they were just about to leave and I could take that tour. So I start rushing to get road gear off and stowed. Then rushed to gather the photo gear, hat, sunglasses, water, lip balm and sunscreen I needed for the 2 1/2 hour tour in the desert. Of course it felt like I was taking forever and when I look over at the truck, sure enough, everyone is still watching me. I am finally ready and hobble over to the truck, climb in and go back to the last row of seats figuring they couldn’t possibly look backwards at me for the whole trip 
.
So I am arranging my gear and getting ready to put on some sunscreen when I look up and, as you can probably guess, everyone was still staring at me. So the driver/guide, who is also staring at me, asks if I was OK. I told him I had twisted my ankle a little but I was good to go. Strangely that didn’t seem to be a good answer because everyone continued to stare at me. Finally the guide said “What about all the blood?”. So I reach up, wipe my hand across my face and it comes away solid red 
. The good news is I discovered that my beard was just as good at catching blood as it is catching the food that I don’t manage to get into my mouth 
. The blood hadn’t start dripping on my chest yet.
The other three people on the tour were a couple and one of their lady friends from Tokyo, Japan. The only one that could speak any English, as I was to find out later, was the lady friend and she proceeds to take a packaged alcohol pad out of her bag and hand it to me. With one swipe it was saturated with blood and I had just managed to smear things around a bit. So I decided I needed a little higher level of first aid and hobble off the truck. I told the guide I had a first aid kit on my bike and I was going to clean myself up. He told me not to bother and that they had medical supplies in the booth.
So we go into the booth and there is a first aid kit, a bottle of alcohol and some paper towels. So I begin cleaning up and I happen to mention that it’s nice that they have medical supplies there. The guide tells me they needed it because a lot of bikes seem to go down on the road 
. Of course my first thought was why the #$@^ don’t you fix the road but in reality not keeping Rufus vertical was totally my fault.
After I had gotten most of the blood cleaned up I discovered I had about a 1/2” laceration on the left side of the bridge of my nose and a smaller one further down on the right side. Because the front of my modular helmet was raised I must have hit my nose on something, I suspect it was the previously mentioned Monument Valley sand. Like a scalp laceration the larger one was bleeding like a stuck pig. The other one had pretty much stopped bleeding on it’s own. The only bandage they had that would cover the 1/2” cut was a full size Band-Aid. So I manage to position it across my face and nose so the gauze pad would just cover the cut. Then I looked in the mirror. Unfortunately all I could see was this dufus looking fellow squinting back at me. So I put on the sunglasses and hat then hobble back to the truck and up into the back seat of the truck. I have no idea what those poor Japanese tourists were thinking 
. Then we go on to have a great tour of Monument Valley 
.
I would end up using Page, AZ as my base of operations for the next two days. So after a good nights sleep I decided to take a day off from riding and do a local photography tour into Antelope Canyon. I was able to arrange the tour right from my hotel and I was picked up right outside the lobby. This is truly an amazing place, particularly for photography. I wished I had brought one of my Nikon D70s but I just didn’t have room for the big gun camera equipment. I hope to get back there and get a second chance at it. The pictures from Antelope Canyon can be found in this gallery.
The other destination I would get to from Page was the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. It’s over 130 miles from Page to the lodge at the North Rim and a good chunk of it is at 35 MPH. So 
it’s a full day event. I left Page at 5:00 AM so I could have a chance of beating the crowds. It actually worked pretty well because I was leaving the main viewing areas about the time 20 bus loads of school kids and tourists showed up from who knows where.
The Grand Canyon is magnificent but it’s really difficult to capture the scale of it with a camera. My wife and I will be spending a week in Sedona in late August so I will likely get to the South Rim then. The pictures from this days activities can be found in this gallery.
The last three days of my trip were basically making tracks back home. I tried to route through as interesting looking roads as I could without making a significant detour. I found a few fun roads here and there. The scenery after passing through Cedar City, UT became increasing less inspiring to downright boring. My plan was to get to Elko, NV and that is what I did. For what they are worth the pictures I took during this leg can be found in this gallery.
The plan for the second day kind of went out the window because of my rear tire. While there wasn’t any chord showing on my rear Metzeler ME880 there wasn’t any tread left on it either. I decided to divert to the West side of Oregon so I would 
at least be closer to a source of a tire if I needed one. So once I got into Southern Oregon I headed West on OR-66 rather than turn North on US-97 as was in my original plan. As it turned out OR-66 was a kick ass ride. The other benefit was I wasn’t on the most worn out part of my rear tire very much. If you go through Adele, OR you might want to check out the Adel Store. It’s a real piece of Americana. I didn’t take any pictures past Adele and this days pictures can be found in this gallery. I finished the day in Medford. The next day I rode I-5 the rest of the way home at conservative speeds to help save whatever was left of my rear tire. I managed to make it home without incident 
.
I would definitely like to spend more time in the Southwest.
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I was planning a four week ride about this year but circumstances intervened. I was planning it around the Motorcycle Tourer’s Forum (MTF) ride called the Moab Cloverleaf Tour & Rough Road Ride. In my original plan I was going to be riding Brutus, my BMW R1200GS, and doing a considerable amount of off-road riding. After my trip got shortened and my back problems resurfaced I decided to just go flower sniffing on Rufus, my BMW K1200LT. As luck would have it I had just installed Wilbers Shocks on Rufus and this would be a good opportunity to give them a workout.
Events conspired to force me to totally re-plan my routing. The primary event was my youngest son’s graduation from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, CA. So I am now going to be heading down I-5 to Grants Pass, OR and cutting over to the California coast. I am going to ride a good deal of CA-1 all the way to Carpinteria. I am then working my way East to some back road riding into the Big Bear area. From there I will be heading to Palm Springs for a few days visit with my Dad and then we will go to Los Angeles for my sons Graduation.
After that event I will boogey to Moab,UT to meet up with 50 to 60 MTF members for three days of flower sniffin’ around Moab. I will then travel South to Monument Valley, the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and possibly Antelope Valley. I will then head home riding through Southern Utah, across Eastern and Northern Nevada and up Central Oregon. Weather conditions may alter my Oregon route but only time will tell. 
I purchased a SPOT Satellite Messenger along the tracking service option. This will be a test post embedding a Spot Trip Manager map into my blog. This is a great tracking application developed and hosted by Jason Jonas.
If everything is working correctly there should be regular updates of my position from May 1st though May 20th. The trip will start and end in Renton, WA. You may need to pan and zoom around the map to see or get better detail of my track. There have been some recent reports that the application that feeds the Trip Manager tracking points, Yahoo Fire Eagle, has been corrupting the data. Hopefully it is fixed by now. If not then my track may not make much sense.
SPOT me if you can! 
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The Pacific NW Road Riders (PNWRR) have been doing an Ice Cycle Run for a number of years. This is a Yahoogroups mail list for riding enthusiasts in the Pacific Northwest. I participated on this run two years ago and decided I would run it again this year. I haven’t had an opportunity to mix and mingle much with the group in the last two years and I wanted to reintroduce myself.
JD’s Route for the 2008 Ice Cycle Run
I didn’t communicate my intension to join in on the mail list as I was planning on just doing my own thing. I wasn’t sure how my back and shoulder were going to hold up and riding solo would allow me to ride my own pace or abort if need be. The plan was for folks to meet at the Olympic Club in Centralia on Sunday November 30th between 1PM and 3PM for the meet and greet. There was a group coming from Lynnwood area, a group coming from the Vancouver area and other smaller groups and individuals from points in between.
Seeing as how I haven’t been able to ride much I decided to get an early start so I could take the “long way down”. The thermometer on our porch indicated it was 48 degrees so I decided I wouldn’t need any heated gear. I had already prepared Brutus, my R1200GS, so I geared up and headed for the garage. I left my home in Kennydale at around 9:00AM and fueled up at a local gas station in the Renton Highlands. I then headed over to Cemetery Road (NE 4th) and headed East to pick up SE May Valley Road. I then turned East on the Issaquah Hobart Road and followed it on out to Ravensdale.
I then worked my way out to Kanasket State Park, Palmer and Cumberland. This is about half of my normal Taco Thursday route, when I ever get an opportunity to do them. After passing Nolte State Park the landscape opens up a little and there was an opportunity to stop and take a few pictures of the valley and Mt. Rainier. As it turns out it would be my only chance to take any “scenic” pictures that day and the last view of any blue sky. 
I continued South into Enumclaw and then made a short hop on Hwy 410 to Buckley. From Buckley I headed South on WA-165 and then turned SW on Pioneer Way E in South Prairie. This follows the Carbon River for a few miles and then I turned South on Orville Road E.. This follows the Puyallup River down to the berg of Electron then turns West along the North side of Lake Kapowsin.
About three mile past the lake there is a Texaco mini mart. I hadn’t had a cup of coffee yet and this was a little shy of half way on my outbound leg. I have stopped here on a number of other occasions. The bar across the street is a biker hangout in the summer but was pretty much a redneck bar (no offense intended, I happen to like rednecks) the rest of the year. I parked in the lot and pretty much had the whole place to myself. I pulled off my helmet and gloves and went in to get a cup of coffee. The gal running the place was by herself and she must have been bored because she followed me outside and we chatted for a while. Well she actually needed a smoke and I was conveniently located nearby .
We had been chatting for about five minutes when a local pulled up. She headed back into the store and the local started talking to me about Brutus. As it turned out he was a biker so we introduced ourselves and then talked about his bikes and then my bikes and so on and so on …
About that time four motorcycles pulled up and stopped at the four way stop intersection in front of the mini mart. They were talking about something, I assumed they were were figuring out which direction to go. They pulled through the intersection, saw me and turned into the parking lot.
So here I was in the middle of nowhere and who should I run into but Randy, Fred, Roland and one other rider that 
were part of the PNWRR group from Lynnwood. They were indeed trying to figure out where they needed to go and as it turned out they had lost almost half of their group somewhere along the way.
While they were figuring out what route they wanted to take I finished my coffee. Then it was kickstands up and we were back on the road. I rode at the back of the pack seeing as how they were already used to the riding order they were in.
We headed West from the Texaco and then turned South on WA-7. There are some nice twisties between here and Alder Lake. WA-7 turns South at Elbe and we stayed on it until we got to Morton. Somewhere along the way the lost sheep from Lynnwood caught up and we were then a group of eight. There are just some slow sweepers along this section but it’s a pretty ride. From Morton we headed West on WA-508.
I think Randy wanted to turn onto the 
Centralia Alpha Road but Fred either missed the turn of didn’t know it was the way to bypass Chehalis and get in couple more twisties. Fortunately we were fine as far as time was concerned even with the stop and go on city streets through Chehalis and on into Centralia. We arrived at the Olympic Club at about 12:45.
There was already a good number of riders parked and milling around on the sidewalk near the cafe. I guess most folks didn’t know that a room had been reserved for the group. Once that info got spread around 
the group congregated in the cafe.
I ordered one of the house brews and it took a little while for everyone to get seated and order refreshments. We kind of broke down into smaller conversation groups with whoever we happened to be sitting next to. It was an informal gathering and a fun environment.
We eventually ordered lunch and a few 
late comers came in from time to time. I had a club sandwich which was pretty good. I think the semi-official tally was 26 people. I guess this is the largest gathering so far and it has grown steadily every year. The good news for most folks is that there has only been one year where they actually had icicles 
.
A few people started to leave around 2:00 and I got up to leave about 2:30. It 
had turned into a pretty gray day but no rain so far. I guess the folks coming from Vancouver had run in the rain most of the way. I knew it would start getting dark around 4:30 so I wanted to get headed home.
I did a not quite direct back roads route home. I ran WA-507, WA-702 and then backtracked part of my outbound route back to South Prairie. Then it was WA-410, WA-167 and finally I-5 for the last couple of miles home. Overall it was about 250 miles and it was probably good that it wasn’t much farther. No lasting ill effects but I am still working back into a “normal” routine. Thinks are looking good so far .
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