A ride to the Grand Coulee Dam

April 24, 2013

The weather was nice this morning and Eric decided to unload Big Red so we could take a ride.  Last year we took the scenic route north via the Grand Coulee Dam and highway 155 north to Omak.  It was a great plan but it was raining so hard we couldn’t see a thing.  We ended up doing about 20 miles an hour for a lot of the trip so it was worth another look. 

We put on our heated jackets (better safe than sorry) and headed off. 

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As we road along we are amazed by the rock formations.  The camera doesn’t do them justice.

Lake Lenore on our left as we road along.

Riding up to Dry Falls overlook looking back down the highway towards Lake Lenore and Soap Lake. 

Heading over the Dry Falls Dam with Banks Lake on our left.   

That’s Steamboat Rock out in the middle of Banks Lake.

Coming towards the Grand Coulee Dam.

The Grand Coulee is just one of the Dams on the Columbia River that starts out in British Columbia, Canada and ends up in the ocean at Astoria, Oregon.  A huge water system.  The most heavily dammed river in the world!

Beautiful street in Grand Coulee City.

Heading over the bridge to the Colville Indian Reservation and Omak. 

Looking back down at the bridge.  We missed the restaurant on our right and decided to head back up to Electric City to eat. 

Crossing the bridge looking at the Dam.

This restaurant had smelled delicious when we passed by so we stopped here for lunch.  Note the “Motorcycles Only” parking….gotta love that.  It is just a small local pub serving good food with people meeting and playing cards and crib.  A really good lunch.

Riding along the highway with Banks Lake on our right and Steamboat Rock in the distance. 

We continued back to Soap Lake and decided to take a ride up to Ephrata and see what was there.  It is only about six miles southwest of Soap Lake. 

Downtown Ephrata.  Reminded me of towns like Oliver, B.C. and it was probably built in the same era. 

Coming back along the highway to Soap Lake and the RV park.  The green trees you can see are the RV park. 

A nice day and a good ride.  We have decided to stay an extra day here as you get the third day free here when you pay for two.  You are supposed to listen to some promotion that they offer but they didn’t ask us to do that.  We paid for two nights with Passport America and that was half price so the whole thing is a bargain!

Tomorrow we will go to Leavenworth  (not the prison….the town in Washington!)  There is a couple here in the park from Oregon with a trike and the guy suggested that Leavenworth would be a nice ride.  So that’s what we’ll do. 

Oh and by the way we have the replacement suspension parts for the rig sorted out as well.  It turns out that it wasn’t Yahoo that wouldn’t send my email to Dexter when we were in Boise.  Turns out it was a slow internet connection.  The internet speed here in this park is smoking fast and the email went in about 30 seconds.  Sweet.  David from Dexter replied immediately and said that although are parts are out of warranty (over two years) that they would replace the parts and pay the shipping free of charge.  They wouldn’t go good for the installation but Eric would prefer to do that himself anyway.  After checking the internet Eric knows that there has been a huge failure with the rubber in the E-Z Flex suspension so Dexter is replacing them as a courtesy.  David from Dexter was efficient and quick to reply.  Not a usual thing these days.