Jim's Motorcycle Trips: USA4CT - Ride Day 18 - Tour Day 15 - June 15, 2013

Start Time: 0630 PDT
Stop Time: 1800 PDT
Start Location: Yakima, WA
Stop Location: Winthrop, WA
Lodging: Hotel Rio Vista
Dinner: Carlos 1800 Mexican Grill
Miles Traveled Today: 478
Weather: 65-85, Sunny

Well today would be the day to complete the USA4CT by visiting Blaine, Washington. I had read about the North Cascades Highway (WA-20) and about the town of Winthrop, WA. It looked like we could make it to Blaine and then head on east on WA-20 to Winthrop for the night.

I had also "met" another USA4CT rider, Charles, who lived near Seattle through the Southern California Motorcycling Association. He had completed the tour solo back in May of this year. We became Facebook friends and I had got several "tips" from him about the tour. I called Charles yesterday and told him we planned to be in Blaine today, so he said he would plan to meet us in Everett, WA and ride up to Blaine with us. Charles also has a very unique motorcycle that is truly his as you will see later!

We had a beautiful ride up to Everett. First thing this morning we took scenic route 821 along the Yakima River between Yakima and Ellensburg. I had ridden this route back in 2007 and knew it was good. It was a refreshing start to our ride today! We also crossed Steven's Pass on US-2. All of US-2 was a beautiful ride.

We met Charles at a rest stop on I-5. Spent some time talking about our trip and Charles' customized Road King. Charles is a retired US Army Miltary Policeman and current works as a police officer at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. His bike is "customized" for a military policeman!! Pretty cool as you can see in the pictures below.

Somewhat surprising he was only stopped on his USA4CT one time by the state police and that was in Illinois (someone had called 911 about a motorcycle going down the road with guns!!). After he showed the state police his bike and that he himself was a career police officer they all had a good laugh about it!

Charles is a great guy. We really enjoyed meeting him and having his company & direction along our way to Blaine. He was a real asset in leading us through the detour on I-5 near Mount Vernon where the interstate bridge had fallen into the river back in May. Took us only about 30 minutes of stop and go traffic to get through the detour.

BTW, Charles tells us his current base commander where he works will not allow his motorcycle on base!!

Well, here we are, at our final corner of the USA4CT!!! And in 15 days too, since we left Madawaska, ME! Bill and I both felt a great relief and a sense of achievement at the same time. I had been planning and thinking about this tour for several years and had it set in place for last year when I had my accident coming back from Daytona. This was a big ticket item on Bill's "bucket list"!! We both felt the achievement, since this official tour sponsored by the Southern California Motorcycling Association (SCMA) has been running for 29 years. It started in 1984. 1,300 people have completed the challenge over the 29 years. That is an average of only 45 people per year. As Blake Anderson, the chairman of the SCMA said, more people climb Mt. Everest every year than ride the USA Four Corners Tour!!! Now we just need to get our documentation sent out in the mail and get the official certification and plaque sent to us as well as our name on the SCMA US4CT web site!!! That does feel good!!!!

Had to get a pic of all three of us at Blaine too!!

After the documentation pictures and gas receipts we all headed back south on I-5. Bill and I headed east at Bellingham. WA-20 was pretty straight and flat for several miles until we hit the North Cascades National Park and the scenery and road really changed as you can see below!! Hardly any traffic so it was a fun, enjoyable motorcycle ride!

Note in this picture the railroad track well about the road. This was a pretty good grade. I was hoping to see a train coming and to see how many engines it would take to get up this grade. I am sure it was a lot. We didn't see a train.

We made it to Winthrop and our lodging for the night, Hotel Rio Vista. Lots of motorcycles there!!

The desk clerk gave Bill and I a prime parking location for our motorcycles!!

This is the river right outside our room balcony.

Here is where Bill and I had our now, traditional cigar and Scotch for finishing our fourth corner.

We were hungry so next on the agenda was dinner. We wore our USA4CT hats & pins with pride this evening too!!

I think we really celebrated with dinner too!!

Winthrop was a very authenic looking Western town. It was hard to walk down the board walkway without putting your thumbs in your pockets or walk bowlegged (that was pretty easy for us after now about 9,000 miles in the motorcycle saddle over the past 3 weeks!!)