[Eric]

The Hoon and Lady Vanessa's Up Yonder (USA)
I will keep the story short but run through the whole trip with photo's and a small story to the photo's.
The Northwest sponsor of the Aussie picked us up in Vancover and headed out of the airport to the USA boarder. We were expecting a bit of a wait at the border because it was a long weekend. To our surprise there was only about 3 cars to wait for. Ron was saying, "this will be good".
Security Officer: Where are you from.
Ron: USA and Australia
Security Officer: How do you know these Aussies
Ron: We only know them from online
Security Officer: And where are they staying
Ron: With Us
Security Officer: Is thinking. (Sure thing. I have heard some good stories before and this is one of them.) "Pull over there driver and come inside".
Well we did have to go inside but the Border Security was the best Officer you could have had. He was doing his job but in a friendly way. What a great start to our USA experience.
The photos to start are my intro to 'Bluey'.

 

[Eric]

Day 2 Started with breakfast with the GWRRA that Ron belongs to. The Girls went in the car and the lads (Ron and I) went on big 'Red'. Now Ron had told me to go in and say "Howdy Yall". When it come to a bit of fun I am in. So in I go and it all goes quite (the Aussie are here). Well I put my hand up and go "Howdy Yall". I can tell you it broke them all up. And there was no holding back, everyone was intro and the chatter was great. I know that you have seen these photos. But this is my story.

 

[Eric]

The rest of the day was taken up with getting the bike transfered to me and a first ride on 'Bluey'. Ray was the ower of 'Bluey' and I must say what a good job he had done in looking after 'Bluey'. My first couple of ride's on 'Bluey' were very hard for me. I could not get my head around the boards and I was like a learner. I did love that bike and if you have not seen Ron's Big Red. You will not beleive the mileage of that bike and the condition of it.
Now you may question Ron's wisdom of having two teenagers locked up together. But they were well looked after.
Vanessa did get a good photo opportunity of a Bald Eagle.

 

[EFINREF]

Eric is that your first time as a Pillion.

 

[Eric]

The ride to Winthrop

It is now Sunday and we are going to ride to Winthrop. Now it is a early start because it is going to be a big day. We meet at a service station and there was a (rrrr no moment) from Vanessa. We looked around to find out just what has happened. Vanessa has left her camera battery on the charger and will have to do with my small camera. The photo quality was not as good as it would have been with her camera and we lost a lot of photo because of this.

 

[Eric]

Eric is that your first time as a Pillion.

That was the first time in 35 years that I have been a pillion rider. I can tell you the ladies do a good job of getting on the back. Eric

 

[Eric]

This all posiable because my son inlaw has resize all of the photo of the trip. So you want photos. Well here they come.

 

[EFINREF]

That was the first time in 35 years that I have been a pillion rider. I can tell you the ladies do a good job of getting on the back. Eric

I have done it once and never will again. I take great care to keep my wife calm. The fella I rode with took great care to scare the crap outa me.

 

[crownfire]

This will take a while, but keep em coming.

 

[Eric]

We do not have mountain or rivers like you so expect a lot of mountains and rivers.

 

[Eric]

I had a local guide (Ron) and all I had to do was ride and do my own rubber necking and not have to think about where to stop or what road to take. We did do a gas stop and we didn't take any photos there and I have forgoten how far it was. I think it was about a 350 mile ride and all at about 55 mph.

 

[budoka]

Atta boy Eric. You may need a vacation to get all the pics Lady Vanessa took posted Keep them coming 'please'

 

[Eric]

Stay with me because it is not lunch time yet and we still have a lot of photos yet. Eric

 

[Eric]

Some more photos

 

[Eric]

I will tell you Vanessa was busy back there. So hang in there. Eric

 

[Eric]

The photo of the rock face shows the Skagit Gneiss, seen here as the dark grey colour, which is over 100 million yrs old and was 15 miles underground having been formed from granite and sandstone under enormous heat and pressure. About 40 million yrs ago it was cut through by the feldspar and quartz **** which is seen here as the light/whitish colour. The rusty brown colour is iron rich minerals left behind by groundwater slowly working its way through the cracks in the rocks. Therein ends the geology lesson for the day. the other photos are of the mountians from the Diablo Lookout. if I could stitch the photos together I would, as seen together the view was breathtaking in reality.

 

[BadgerFn64]

Great pictures! Enjoying the tour.

 

[EFINREF]

Keep em coming

 

[BigDaddy]

Great pics Eric! I had to laugh when I was riding. RBI d you and Vanessa on Sunday, her head me er stopped spinning taking pics of one side of the road, and the. The other.

 

[fossil92]

This has been nice so far. As others have said keep up the great work.