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It’s been an interesting summer. Travel plans were tossed due to weather or family issues. Travel that did happen had unexpected events or results.

If you’ve been following along, you will note the canceling of the trip to New Jersey. That was disappointing, to say the least. I had been looking forward and planning for that trip for a while. The main issue with that trip was that winter just did not go away. Winter storm warnings, winter weather warnings covered so much of the beginning of the planned route at the end of May/first of June that it just wasn’t safe to bull through on motorcycles.

Then, we had a somewhat short, wet spring. Fortunately, my fruit trees blossomed and there are apples and pears to harvest a little later, and the strawberries came on like crazy. A planned trip to Central Oregon had to be cancelled due to a death in my wife’s family.

Summer

Then, summer arrived with a vengeance. Normally, in our area, we might get a week with triple digit temperatures. This year we’ve been breaking records through July and August. Fortunately, it hasn’t hurt the wheat crops on The Palouse. Harvest is in full swing as I write this.

Beginning of the Moose fire, near Salmon, ID, July 22, 2022.

I was able to make a family reunion in Pocatello, ID, at the end of July. It was a fast weekend run and I combined it with a stay with my brother in Mackay, ID. The dominant event was the Moose fire near Salmon, ID. It was just getting started as I headed south. It is currently only 34% contained and covers about 36 thousand acres.

EBR-1, Experimental Breeder Reactor

I’ve been on the road from Arco, ID to Pocatello before, and stopped at EBR-1. It wasn’t ever open before. I had hoped to get a quick tour this time, but got to the site just as they closed. DARN! I did get to talk to some folks who had just gone through the site and we had a nice conversation. They were traveling along US 20 heading to Yellowstone, next. We also got a chance to chat with one of the tour guides as she was leaving the site. So, it wasn’t a complete loss.

Weather

The trip back home had some weather. I was tempted to try going over Lolo Pass as a route home. Turns out that wasn’t going to happen. A thunder storm was rolling through that part of the mountains. I managed to skirt the worst of it. Around Salmon there was lots of smoke from the Moose fire. I did log 1,178 miles from that Friday to Sunday.

Paulina Peak, from Paulina Lake, Oregon.

We did finally get to Central Oregon and visited family. We were having a pretty good time until my aunt had a fall and smacked her head on the floor. She spent the next few days in the hospital. She’s okay, but had a concussion. That kind of messed up our plans to visit some places around Bend, OR, but we did get to the Newberry National Volcanic Monument, and got lunch at Paulina Lake. There is a long story about this lake from my high school days. Yeah, not going into that here.

Shaniko, OR. The ghost town with people in it.

On the way home, we stopped at Shaniko, OR. This is a funny little ghost town on US 97 between Madras, OR and Biggs Junction. There are people there, not the ghostly type. They even have a radio station. Shaniko is a cute little stop that might interest kids on a long trip. There are ghost towns in Oregon–even a few in Washington, Idaho, and Montana. Some are historically significant. Others are just plain interesting. That might have to be something to research and post in the future.

Osprey in nest at Long Lake Overlook

I’ve made a few day trips around the Spokane area. Most are the usual runs, like up Mt. Spokane, down the Pend Oreille River, out to Long Lake Overlook to visit the Osprey. The heat lately, though, makes day trips something of a challenge.

We do have some plans for the rest of the summer, and I may share some of that. I do hope to get more time on the motorcycle.

Thanks for putting up with my long breaks and I hope this post makes up for that.

Keep writing!