First stop inside the park,. I almost dropped this beast - note the bit of drop off where my left foot would be. YIKES!
One of the few cars I saw, happily going in the other direction.
Lookit - no clouds this way
But, clouds the other [same overlook]
Hello there...
My turn-off toward Paradise, WA which is at the base of Mt. Rainier.
SNOW!!
So, I'm at this overlook taking pictures. You can see where the road continues on the other side of the canyon and goes up more on the other side. I did take a picture down from the other side. But, I was taking this picture...
A guy, with a truckload of family, asked me if I would like a picture of myself with the bike. OF COURSE I WOULD!! So, I let him know which button to press, and he promptly take a picture of me and the bike - with his finger in the shot
I think it's my favorite picture of the trip.
The picture looking down from the other side:
There were waterfalls and runoff everywhere.
The mountain was shy when I got up there...
Booo!!!
I decided it might be best for me to motor on to Redmond, OR. Method and I played a bit of phone tag - he lives in Portland now, but the timing just wasn't right to meet up. At first it was going to be Monday for happy hour - but after going through the dead zone that is a National Park, I wasn't going to make it in time. I needed to be in Redmond by Tuesday night, just motoring on to get as close as possible made sense.
I got to Welches, OR and thought I should start looking for somewhere to warm up. The sun had gone down, and my Texas butt was starting to get a chill. That is, even with heated handgrips and a heated seat. I found Rendevous Cafe - and the owners and their family were in the pub having dinner. They called a friend of theirs, and hooked me up with a fantastic cabin for the night.
It even had a hot tub, which after wanting to warm up, it was PERFECT!!
I started out in the morning. After stopping in the dark, I had no idea how close I was to Mt. Hood until I went around a little bend in the road - there was a clearing and BAM!! Mountain!!
