Day Three-Set the Dial to Broil

There wasn't much truly cool air to be found on Sunday morning, although it was pleasant enough when we got started. Once again Norman was eager to ride and thought we didn't progress from putting on motorcycle boots to leaving the parking lot fast enough. The boots are apparently his cue that a ride is in store. And don't touch his leash, or most especially, his sidecar harness until you want to use them. He doesn't understand the need to pack up stuff and load bikes. He just wants to ride.

What a beautiful road we found this morning! Curvy and hilly and scrumptious. We stopped at the overlook atop the mountain above Lewiston/Clarkston. This is another sequence we'd like to try to make into a panorama.











Take a look at that road and drool! You know you want to ride that road.









Now isn't that a lovely way to start a day?

We traveled on very nicely curved state highways to break time in a small town called Garfield. We found a small city park (flush toilets! a nice change from porta-potties and sorta-potties) and dismounted to stretch knees and rest the motorcycle seats, and drink some water. Twas getting warmer.



Norman was starting to feel the heat and enjoyed the cool concrete and irrigated (wet)green grass in the picnic shelter area.



It got hotter and hotter and hotter. And then it got hotter still. Norman's tongue hung out further and further. He's got even more black spots waaaay back there. As long as we travelled at highway speeds, we didn't feel the heat too much. But when we had to slow for a small town then we heated up pretty quickly. By the time the day was done, every piece of clothing I was wearing was stuck to me. Ick.

It must have been very miserable for Normie in his fur coat. Gas stops in the little towns (and one out in the country-nothing there but a farm road meeting the highway and a gas station/minimart--the minimart building looked like it had been there since the turn of the century) occasioned The Travelling Road Show. One time we had to stop at a shady place along the road to rest and have a drink because we could find no place else. It's really quiet out there and nobody wanted to ask The Questions. We stopped quite frequently, altho there are no pictures for the rest of the day. No spectacular scenery, but pretty farms and rolling hills alongside curvy roads took us to a junction with I-90 out of Spokane. One exit later and we were on Highway 2 and on the way to our hotel. This day was always planned to be our shortest day, and I'm glad it was because poor Norman was lying in his 'car panting like mad.

We couldn't find any place with shaded outdoor seating so we carried out from Subway. It's handy to have underseat storage at times like that. To the hotel, have lunch in our room, cool down, unload. We checked in at 2 pm, and were more than ready to retreat to the a/c and take a nap. Norman stretched out on the floor until he was cooled down and then curled up in his bed and didn't wake until pizza was delivered at 7-ish. Norman loves pizza bones (the crust edge) We didn't do much other than walk the dog the rest of the day. We needed a rest. Norman spent most of the time sleeping.

It seems to us we'll need to plan 3 days riding and a day off, 2 days riding and a day off, repeat as necessary, for our 2010 Grand Tour. We are also looking into cooling methods for the Normster. He can't perform for The Travelling Road Show if he's got heat exhaustion. Right now we're leaning toward the kind of vest the working dogs in Iraq wear, but we'll confer with the vet first.

I'm also having extreme trouble with my right arm/hand. It goes to sleep about 15 minutes into the ride. How it can be so numb and so painful at the same time, I do not understand. By this day of the trip I've tried different gloves, no gloves, different hand placement on the grip, wearing Therma Cares on my hands, everything I can think of. Sometimes I have trouble maintaining a speed because I can't tell if I've got a grip on the throttle or not. This night I woke up 3 times with the same thing going on. It has been waking me up early in the mornings ever since we got home and I even feel it during the day from time to time. A trip to the doctor is in store for me too, I can tell. It is extremely painful, all the way from my fingertips to above my elbow.

Lessons were learned the third day too. And we got to ride some truly fun roads!

Text by Susan, Photos by Ray, copyright 2009, all rights reserved