Spokane and the Grand Coulee Dam

[pdedse]

Glad folks seem to enjoy the pictures...it really is a beautiful area. Several more photos coming before finishing up with this three day trip.

Coulee...it just occurred to me that I had no idea what the word means. I was thinking someone's last name? So I looked it up, and of course now I get it--it's geologically related:

Per Wikipedia: >Coulee, or coulée (/ˈkuːleɪ/ or /ˈkuːliː/) is a term applied rather loosely to different landforms, all of which refer to a kind of valley or drainage zone. The word coulee comes from the Canadian French coulée, from the French word couler meaning "to flow".<

"drainage zone"...kind of a low key phrase to describe the mighty Columbia River, but "coulee"...and "Grand Coulee"...that sounds a bit more impressive.

[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrtLQljT9GI]CLICK HERE for a nice little 2 minute youtube video of coulee specifics.

Right after Coulee City one crosses an earthen dam that makes up the south shore of Banks Lake. I turned south on 17 and thanks to some truck and motor-home traffic, decided to stop at an overlook. Glad I did for the views were impressive at Sun Lakes--Dry Falls State Park.

A total surprise view for me as it's not viewable right from the hiway while traveling north to south nor from the earthen dam I had just crossed. A panoramic view:


The winds were still blowing pretty strong. A lot has been discussed about the portly weight of the CB1100--that overall it's too much, that it's only an issue moving the bike around, etc. Between my '14 CB1100 Standard and the '17ex, I purchased a Triumph Street Twin (traded in the standard for it), but only kept the Triumph a few months. One of the main reasons for selling the Twin and going back to the CB1100 was that on the hiways, the Twin got tossed around quite a bit by head and crosswinds.

It was one of those cases when perhaps you read too much online--that is, lighter the bike, the better handling this and that. But I wanted my "other" bike (I also have a KLR650) to be a road travel bike, and the Twin simply wasn't going to be that bike for me. After I purchased the '17ex and got reminded of the winds on I-84 in the Columbia Gorge, I thanked every one of the 550 odd pounds the CB carries. So stable feeling.

On this trip, trucks traveling in the opposite direction would zoom by me bringing an extra blast of wind and...nada...the CB would barely budge. I think the Twin would have ended up on the shoulder a few times this trip had I kept that bike.

Between Coulee City and Soap Lake:



By 1:30 made it to Soap Lake and now it was time for lunch. Found a bar/restaurant with 3 groups of local-looking folks whose conversation marked their familiarity with the area.


Exiting Soap Lake I had to decide between taking the more direct route and stay on hiway 17 towards Moses Lake or to meander a bit and take 28/283 SW towards no real sizeable town, but a route that would keep me close to the Columbia, so I took the latter.

283 connects with interstate 90, and that will take you to Ellensburg if you cross this bridge across the "Wanapum Lake" which is still the Columbia. STRONG winds! made for sizeable swells out there on the water.