Sonja Takes us Hunting for Fruit, Flowers and Bats in Leavenworth, Washington

They said it was gonna rain, and had in the night, but what can I say, when ya gotta ride, ya gotta ride. I put the Raider on the ground and we headed off in search of... Fruit! ;)

From where we're camped above Coles Corner you run fifteen miles or so down along the river dropping east back down to Leavenworth.

That's a pretty little town... but not one you go to if you're searching for quiet serenity. ;) Now, if you're hungry, or thirsty Leavenworth, Washington is the place to go. You can gain weight there as fast as on any cruise boat.

The Cheese place, with I forget how many different varieties of cheeses and 150 different BEERS caught my attention. Hooua!

But... on down below the town a couple miles there's a "Fruit Stand" we were aiming for... Preys Fruit Barn...

Am I just twisted? or is there truly a bit of dark humor in that name for a touristy place? ;)

The main thing 'bout the Leavenworth area that always gets my attention is the flowers. Everywhere you look are hanging baskets, window boxes and beds of bright flowers... Even on an overcast day they just pop...

We loaded up our fresh picked nectarines and apples and backtracked to another spot between Preys and the town... Heidi saw something there that's her life's ambition...

*Cow Train*

With her experience hauling drunk rednecks at NASCAR, she wants her own place where she can drive her own COW Train...

In Leavenworth we found a spot to park the scooter protected by a curb from the milling Toyotas and errant Buicks... and took a short stroll to find a turnover, a cup of Americano... and...

Bats!

If you look just above the lil' gal wearing the striped shirt... can you see a dark spot on the wall?

The boy says; "I'm gonna touch it! Can I touch it?"

Yeah, well... when a shy critter like a bat, decides to roost in a spot like that it says one thing to this old drifter... "He ain't right"

Best keep your fingers to yourself!

*Leavenworth Bats*

It's a good place to grab a bite... and a sip of something hot, or some cold brew... and then hightail it back to the relative quiet of squealing kids cutting loose in a campground! arrrrgggghhhhh.... :)

That's a skill I've got to learn... to be able to tolerate kids... squealing and playing... and being kids... Shoot me in the head should I ever get to be one of those grumpy old rock chuckin' hermits that grouses about kids kickin' it up in the woods. ;) ... and I'm pretty sure I'll live to regret sayin' that!!! :)

Yup... it's pretty lush over here on the "dry side" of the Cascades... and that's not even countin' all the wineries scattered about. ;) The hillsides are adorned with orchards and vineyards... the pastures are full of horses and cattle... the roads wind through river valleys that are filled with fresh scented wind...

... yeah... it's the small bits that keep you goin.

Brian

Drifters, Wanderers... The Hidden Fist

Wanderers, rovers, drifters, gypsies, star gazers, adventurers. All different, all the same... 

What is it that pushes a man to leave behind all he knew, all he built, and just go? Where does the urge come from that is so strong that he abandons comfort and supposed security... to Wander?

How is it that a man can feel more secure, more serene, more whole; the less he has?...  When with nothing but a back pack, or the small bit of gear packed on a motorcycle... He feels stronger and more complete, than in a house and shop stuffed with all manner of tools and trinkets?

Everything those around him assure him are too valuable to leave are sold, given or discarded and he goes, and in the going his feelings of being closer to some internal answer seem to swell.

It's an odd sensation. When those "Things" which he's been trained his whole life, to treasure and pursue are cut away; each new loss, results in a lessened pressure in his chest and a gain in self worth. That nauseous squirming deep in his guts, that had grown for so many years recedes...

The fear of losing that which he has discovered is merely a facade that serves others... evaporates.

There are the occasional pangs of guilt for seeing the teachings of his "Masters" as false. But then he thinks a moment and can only smile. He can only look at the great majority of things as mere tools. If they do not serve they are a master. If their benefit is a greater cost of life and honor than what they provide, they are a cancer.

He refuses to sit around tallying up his "Net worth" in terms of dollars and goods or his productivity to the hive. His "Worth", in his own eyes, is in the visions he's seen. The wind he's tasted. The Freedom he reveres and those who call him Friend.

Wanderers, rovers, drifters, gypsies, star gazers, adventurers; all seek the same thing in their own many and unique ways. LIFE. They seek to grasp the most precious possessions of all... LIFE and Joy.

They are a strange and mysterious blend of humility and righteous rage.

Eschewing comfort and stability, they seek life unfettered by the arrogant chains of a fearful society. Unburdened by the false security of things and phony promises. Unstained by the imposition of the grasping values of others. Un-imprisoned by a pompous world that says; Your life is ours. We Own You.

Seekers of Life. Preferring laughter and friendship around a campfire... but uncowed by the requirement that they fight to strike down the would be "Masters" hand should he be so arrogant as to try...

Yup... Wanderers and Rovers... the Grinning Junk Yard Dog sleeping in the sun, who looks up with a single open eye and quietly says; "You own me? I WILL obey you or else? Really? ha ha ha... Or else what? Reach out and grab my collar then! Go Ahead. Take a grip! Do it! Please! I need the exercise!"  

~~~ 

We made a night camp in a FS site just SE of Rainier... Our intention had been to stay in the area for a few days... but, the smoke in the sky had me saying "meh... I'll just keep moving."

In the morning, we said goodbye to the camp Dragon... and moved on...

The smoky haze was thinning as we dropped into Ellensburg but still too far south to be out of it...

Above Ellensburg the air cleared a lot. We stopped alongside the road, on a high and windy ridge for lunch... with a nice and long view of Washington Ranch country.

It stirs a melancholy "homesick" remembrance of good times...

Where we sat, looking the other way, was amidst a wind farm. I've always wondered, curious, at the descriptions I've read of the things. They always describe the woosh of the blades. Truth is, I've always been too far off to hear a thing. This day, sitting just below these machines, even over the wind, If I listened careful, the throbbing sound of the blades could be heard over the wind...

Finally, late in the afternoon we made a short sideways adjustment to our track and sidled up the highway back to the west a bit beyond Leavenworth. We stayed in the area a couple of years ago... and know of a FS camp there that's easy and convenient... I believe I may be getting soft ;) ...

We'll lay up here, pretty much clear of the smoke... suck up some of that life... gather in some of the small bits... and then we'll move on down the road... always seeking...

Life as I see it... thoughts thunk along the way...
Brian

Yeah It's Smoky... But This Time It Ain't The Truck!

We hauled out of Longview yesterday morning rolling a short ways up I-5 to make our turn east at Hwy 12. Bound for Idaho, Lolo Pass and Montana!

Uh huh. Why don't I never learn? Don't say so loud in public, where I'm headin'?! It just makes Murphy's job that much easier for him... 'course, I suppose a fella could have looked at news and such a little better... to see what lay ahead. ;)

At first I just thought it was just cloudy and foggy, but after a bit it started to sink in, these clouds aren't grey... these suckers are blue... and then, the occasional faint scent of burnt pine trees. Yeah... forest fires.

Got a text from some friends down near Cottage Grove in Oregon.  We apparently went through southern Oregon just before a surge of fires erupted all through there.

Up where we're running now, it turns out there's a good sized blaze north west of Yakima and another south west. Maybe it's just me, but when there's enough smoke to have my delicate ol' eyes burning, it takes the shine off a mountain trip.

No problem right? Just keep her pointed east and drive away from 'em! Not so easy. There's six fires straddling the country we were heading for... and four more down below those! I pulled it up on the smartphone... and there's Icons for fires all the way to Yellowstone.

A lot of the same country that was on fire when I rode through in September last year. I guess I/we should get used to it. There's many millions of more acres that have to burn to erase the mess built at the Sierra Clubs et al. behest... The woods themselves are beyond saving. Gonna take a few years to burn all that up so we can start over with a clean forest. Our only hope can be that few more men sacrifice their lives fighting the inevitable blazes.

You either CHOOSE to do proper logging operations to do the work that natural fire does or you CHOOSE to let natural fire burn... or you are CHOOSING to have the forest grow to a thick, sickly, badly overgrown mess that burns with catastrophic rage.

I admire the WISH to nurture a "Natural" forest. It's a pretty fantasy. There's only one problem with it. There are few, if any, natural, un-impacted by man, forests remaining on this continent. 370,000,000 people have a way of spreading their "Impact" around a bit. That means, we have a responsibility to "Manage" the land we live on properly. To make it as abundant and healthy as is possible.

That doesn't mean leaving it to the "whatever happens happens" mindless Disney World fantasy of Fire Fighting Grizzly Bears playing with Rabbits in a sunny meadow. It means realizing that using the products of a forest for the betterment of mankind is NOT an evil, and doesn't require the destruction of the forest either.

The curious thing here is, the devastation of these fires; largely the consequence of litigious intervention by the previously mentioned et al's ... is far deeper and longer lasting than that which even improper logging ever did...  kind of like plugging in a non-native, invasive, species of wolf...

Ahhhhh... In the mean time... in an effort to climb out of the smoke we're taking advantage of that bit of hardware we've got on this rig, a steering wheel. So, when we hit the boundaries of Yakima sometime early today I'm gonna cut it hard to port? I think that's sailor talk for left? and roll up the eastern face of the Cascades a ways. Likely cut back east again along Highway 2.

I've heard that the air is clear along through there. Rather than dropping into the Valley between Lolo Pass and Lost Trail pass, around Hamilton... it looks like we'll go through Lake Pend Orielle in Idaho and maybe the Kalispell country of Montana...

It's a rough life when your back-up travel option is Glacier!

Just Rolling Along
Brian