Rich & Skip's Excellent Adventure 6.2

[Rich Lambert]

What do snow, deserts, mountains, rivers, old 911’s, marmots, mayonnaise, dead birds, drones, and ghost towns have in common? They’re all part of this year’s Excellent Adventure.

Car prep
My car had been running poorly lately and getting worse. My hope that it would just kind of fix itself didn’t happen in time for the drive and that necessitated a couple of days of car love. Between the wash & wax, tune up, extracting the little piece of **** from the #2 idle jet, timing adjust, oil change, and valve adjust, the car runs better than it has in years. My newly reflective fiberglass heat tape wrapped fuel pump should help curb the urge to vapor lock (again) too. I also aired up the tires and went over the bottom of the car with a flashlight checking for things that might kill me.

Logistics
Since Skip and I are both between engagements at the moment, we decided on a 2-day (Monday/Tuesday) adventure this year and actually did some pretty extensive pre-planning for this one. We decided on the general direction we were heading, made a list of non-ethanol gas stations in that area of the state, and motel reservations at the luxurious Caraway Motel in Oroville, WA. We have radios too. We decided on Northeastern Washington as a destination because, hell, no one ever goes there. In the fall/winter/spring seasons, unless you’re a hunter or a fisherman, there’s really no reason to.

Day 1


Day 1 started by getting up at the ungodly hour of 4:30am in order to make it to the rendezvous point in Arlington by 6:00. From there, we headed over the North Cascades on Highway 20, as we have so many times before, because it’s a beautiful drive that never-gets-old. The roads were even more deserted than in previous years and big fun was had driving at the posted speed limit. We passed all the usual photo-op locations because…been there, done that. First stop was the diabolical town of Diablo. Of the 3 trips there, we have yet to see a human being; there’s cars, houses, and the lawns are mowed by…some entity, but no people. We went down to a riverfront park-like place so I could throw rocks and Skip could get some much needed drone practice. His new deal is just holding the drone and, while filming, zoom it around stuff by hand. We’ll see how those videos turn out.

Down by the river


The dronemaster


Uncomfortably close drone


A brief moment of flight


Up towards the mountains


From there, it was up and over Rainy Pass and a stop at a very chilly Washington Pass with a short cold hike up to the overlook. The overlook overlooks a massive straight down drop to the highway below.

In the mountains


View from the "overlook"


Overlook Skip

[Rich Lambert]

It was time to start thinking about getting gas. The list of non-ethanol gas places that we had was taken off the Internet and even though the Internet never lies, the list could be out of date. Next stop, Mazama. The last time I was in Mazama was to go helicopter skiing on Silver Star Mt., which is directly across the valley from the “overlook”. Mazama proper is pretty much a wide spot in the road, but is a very cool place surrounded by woods and a stone’s throw from the Methow River. The Mazama Store seems an unlikely spot for corn-free 92, but there it was!

Thanks Mazama Store


They also had great coffee, a giant LaMarzocco espresso machine, and killer, still warm in the middle, cranberry rhubarb scones. The ’66 911 was getting 22 mpg with 50-year-old Webers and Skip’s ’72 with 44-year-old MFI was netting him 21mpg. Skip had recently adjusted his MFI and the result was heaven for anyone behind him. Previous outings resulted in burning eyes and my clothes smelling like unburned gas when I got home. I do miss the flames shooting out his exhaust though.

From Mazama we went to Winthrop, which used to be a really cool, kinda scary to young long hairs in the ’70’s, western place. Now it’s full of tourists and old hippies that sell them stuff. We blew through there headed to Twisp for lunch. The bar we had lunch at in Twisp was kinda weird…aside from the patrons. They had punchboards behind the bar and the some of the prizes were mayonnaise, box knives, 409, Vienna sausage, A1 sauce, and big bags of Jolly Ranchers.

Punch board weirdness


We had some good burgers, good beer, and took off for Okanogan, where we turned off Highway 20 and onto North 97. Just outside Twisp are the charred remains from the catastrophic Carlton Complex wild fire 2 years ago. It’s heartbreaking to see what used to be beautiful forests reduced to black sticks.

Black sticks


A little farther down the road we turned off the highway trying to get to the Loup Loup ski area. I’ve heard this place was pretty good, but have never been there…and wouldn’t get there today as the road was closed off. We continued up a not very good single track paved road for a while looking for a place for Skip to practice droning again. It didn’t go well…the wind was blowing and the downwind side of the road was a swamp. More fake flying was done.

The road to Loup Loup


Really? More droning?


No matter how many times he tried, steering by tilting the controller didn't work


Next stop, Oroville and the luxurious Caraway Motel.

Caraway Motel


Oroville has yet to recover from the crash. There’s one main road through town and at least half the buildings are empty. Even the Alpine Brewing Company went belly up…very sad.



The Caraway Motel seems to be pretty popular with ADV riders and people in town on orchard business. It was almost full. When we checked in the manager lady forced a bunch of delicious fresh picked cherries on us and tried to talk us into buying a building and starting a business in town…I don’t think so. The rooms weren’t ready yet, so we drove up to a park on Lake Osoyoos which is an 11 mile long lake that runs up into Canada and the town of Osoyoos. If you ever want to sneak into Canada, this is your spot. The park was very quiet and the view was nice. Back at the Caraway…Skip had a single queen and, for the outrageous upgrade price of $5, I had 2 queens (they were the only rooms available). The rooms were nice and clean and had some brand of flat screen I’d never heard of. One fun feature of the room was the bathroom heater. Usually you see a heat lamp, but these were old exposed wire coils in the light fixture. You don’t want to accidentally stretch in the morning and BZZZZT! For dinner we hit a great Mexican place up the road and I ate the best chimichanga I’ve ever had and washed it down with a cold Modelo. We went back to the motel, sat by the pool, and had a couple of single malts for dessert. Next stop in the morning…the ghost town of Molson.

Skip's passenger


Morning dew at the Caraway


More to come...

[daepp]

Inspiring - no lie.

I need a road trip!

Thanks for sharing.

[carreradpt]

Oh, how I miss driving those roads. Thanks for sharing.

[blee]

Most excellent! I'm gonna have to remember to visit those roads from "the overlook." They look like pictures from somewhere in Europe. Very nice.

[gtc]

I took us on these roads on the Can-Am a few years ago. It was a nice route.

There is also a cool little auto museum in Curlew.

[Canada Kev]

Originally Posted by Rich Lambert

...The rooms weren’t ready yet, so we drove up to a park on Lake Osoyoos which is an 11 mile long lake that runs up into Canada and the town of Osoyoos. If you ever want to sneak into Canada, this is your spot.

I wouldn't count on it. If you're on the lake and cross that invisible line at the 49th parallel, you'll get a visit, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, from a boat containing some unsmiling Homeland Security types asking a bunch of questions...

And you're likely being observed by an "invisible" drone that actually flies...

Cool adventure, though. The roads around Loup Loup are pretty good. Nice country.

[Roger at Pelican Parts]

This is awe inspiring! Thanks for sharing, Rich!

[RSBob]

Rich, is this another of your fake made-up trips, where you take the shots from clip art and photoshop your cars into? If so, keep up the good work because reading them is great fun.

Anon

[Rich Lambert]

Day 2
Day 2 started at a normal hour…about 9:00am. We walked up the street to the American Family Grill which despite the sign saying they are, were not open. We wandered aimlessly for a bit, ending up at Eva’s Diner & Bakery where we had a great breakfast. We ran into one of the ADV riders from the motel there. He’s from Ventura, CA and was into week 2 of a 6 week solo round trip to Prudhoe Bay, AK on a Super Tenere. It wasn’t going to be all riding, he was meeting his wife for a week long Alaskan cruise at some point. Smart man. Next stop…Molson.

Along the road to Molson




Molson


Serious off-road tires


Early turbo


Steam powered Case thresher


And yes, one of the founders was part of the Molson beer family. It’s about a 15 mile trip from Oroville to Molson and the road was made for old 911’s. There was no traffic on the way up and none, until I turned on the GoPro, on the way down. Calling Molson a town is a bit of a stretch, it’s more a small group of buildings and a lot of early 1900’s farm implements. There was no one around, no tour guides, no caretakers, nobody. The weatherbeaten old buildings are a little rough on the outside, but the insides look like someone left for lunch in 1910 and never came back. It’s very cool. We hung out there for about an hour and a half.

Outside the bank


Inside the bank

[Rich Lambert]

Next stop…Omak, for some non-ethanol gas. This was a non-event, except for the guy filling up about 10 5-gallon gas cans and putting them inside his SUV and leaving. Next stop…fruit stand outside Okanogan, as Skip now has a Bing cherry monkey on his back. We drove through Twisp again and almost made it through Winthrop, but Skip spotted a suspension bridge he wanted to check out. It was part of a walking trail that connected the town to a housing development. The houses had okay views and big price tags, but uninspired architecture. The highlights were swinging the bridge back and forth and spotting a marmot. We are easily amused. Next stop…Mazama…again.

Skip on a bridge


Right in the middle of the picture is a marmot head. He disappeared when Skip walked up to him making, what he thought to be, marmot noises.


The previous day’s breakfast was so good, we decided to hit the Mazama Store for lunch and more real gas. We got some turkey sandwiches to go and took off up FSR 9140 to find a place to eat on the Methow river. We’re speeding along, round a corner, and come up on a bunch of sheriffs, firemen, mountain rescue guys, and gawkers all looking up. We didn’t stop, but there’s a lot of rock climbing areas up there, so nothing good was probably happening. After maybe 5 miles, we found an awesome spot on the river to eat lunch. We took out the folding chairs and plopped down for a very enjoyable lunch amid the river, the woods, and the smell of old 911’s that had been run hard. Dessert was a beer and a cigar and, at the time, I couldn’t think of anywhere I’d rather be. Next stop…big snow.

Lunch on the Methow


I noticed this avalanche chute on way over and wanted to get a shot of my car against a snow background…it didn’t turn out like I imagined, but it was a cool spot. Next stop…Diablo Dam.

911 & snow


Looking the other direction


This 1930’s dam is one of my favorite places. It’s so massive and so retro and accessible. It’s beautiful country too. We got out, walked the length of the dam, and ooo’ed and ahh’ed at how cool it was. Next stop…another closed restaurant.

After we drove over the dam


Dam with a house in the middle


From the top of the dam, down river


Skip knows a place in Arlington that’s a really, really impressive horse ranch with a pub, but they’re closed on Tuesdays. It was on this leg of the trip that a bird bounced off my windshield…it made kind of a “poof” noise. Next stop…home.

This was, without a doubt, the best Excellent Adventure yet. We put about 600 miles on the old Porsches, saw cool stuff, and had a blast.

[combatic]

Excellent adventures! Thanks for the primer. I am about to soak up some of that country on the duck this weekend! Can't wait!


last years tour

[RSBob]

Most excellent. Thank you for taking us along. I could smell those hot engines...

Already looking forward to next year's edition.

[al lkosmal]

Great adventure...good pix...dyno

regards,
al