It always seems to start the same. This yearning desire to hit the road. It’s early April and the forecast is good for the first time all year. So with the help of DamTour 2009 (www.damtour.com) and Rose City Motorcycle Club’s Grand Tour (www.rose-city-mc.org) I had figured out a route that would net me 7 dams and 1 RCMC checkpoint. Mission launch is set for Saturday at 7. A quick little bit of computer time with google maps and it looks to be 1,000 miles plus in two days. Perfect! My Yamaha FJR-AE is fueled, packed and ready.

Kickstand is up at 7:15 Saturday morning. Forecast is clear and sunny with a high temp of 70 or so. But, morning fog is looming and the temp is 34 when I leave. It doesn’t get much better as I take I-5 north to Deschutes Dam in Olympia, WA. The digital readout on the FJR is anywhere from 30 to 34 degrees and the heated grips are on HIGH! It’s this way until just before the dam, when the bright sunshine finally takes over. What a relief. Cold isn’t too bad if you can get some sunlight shed on the situation. 35 and sunny is way better than 45 and light rain.

Deschutes Dam forms Capitol Lake which is framed by the Washington State Capitol in the background. Really a nice place, I’m impressed. Now I’m off to Mud Mountain Dam. This is NE near Enumclaw, WA and after a little bit of freeway I get on some pretty good motorcycle roads. Access to Mud Mountain Dam is closed on weekends, go figure! Anyway, I get my picture at the gate and that will be fine, many others have had to do the same thing, it is after all, about the ride more than the dam and the ride is getting better.

Next up is Rock Island Dam. The GPS says I-90 is the way and the “ROAD CLOSED” sign for Cayuse Pass confirms this. I-90, over Snoqualmie, is probably the best freeway for motorcycles I’ve ever ridden. Not much traffic, lots of curves because it’s a high mountain pass, good pavement and sunshine! Speed limit is posted at 70 but everyone is going 80, so I am too! Great fun. I stay on I-90 for well over 100 miles, crossing the Columbia River at Vantage. Just as I turn North there is a sign for a scenic viewpoint. I take it and am surprised to see a herd of beautiful rusted steel horses atop the bluff. Soon Rock Island Dam comes into view and I stop for the mandatory picture. Three down and 4 to go.

Now my Zumo 550 GPS tells me the closest dam is Dry Falls. Dry Falls Dam is a rockfaced earthfill-type dam located in Grant County near Coulee City. It was built as part of the Bureau of Reclamation’s Columbia Basin Project. Water from the Columbia River, impounded by Grand Coulee Dam, is pumped into Grand Coulee, a formerly dry canyon, via the short Feeder Canal. Grand Coulee’s north end is sealed by North Dam and its south end by Dry Falls Dam. This allows the water pumped from the Columbia River to fill Grand Coulee, creating a large equalizing reservoir known as Banks Lake. Water from the reservoir is fed into the irrigation project’s Main Canal, which runs south from Dry Falls Dam to another reservoir called Billy Clap Lake, formed by Pinto Dam. Hwy 2 runs right on top of the dam. Now the GPS has me backtrack to Scooteney Dike Dam. More good motorcycle roads and they are remote and pretty much anything goes! I get my picture and it is now 6pm. I don’t really want to ride too much longer as the deer strike danger goes way up at dusk. Connell, WA is 30 minutes away and on Hwy 395, so I plot a route straight for the nearest motel. 540 miles, one great day of riding and 5 dams, not too bad! Typical biker motel, cheap! But one I’m glad to stay at anyhow.

Sunday there is frost on the FJR seat but the sun is out and as soon as I move the bike out of the shade, everything warms up nicely. McKay Dam just south of Pendleton on Hwy 395 is the next target. One view point is on Cheryl Ave. This has been a DamTour joke from the beginning of the season. Cheryll Malisch is co-promoter and head web grunt for the DamTour and pretty much everyone is making a big deal out of using Cheryl Ave for this dam. I get the picture and then start thinking about how I want to work my way west towards Rock Creek Dam. I decide to take Hwy 395 south to Hwy 74 west and Heppner. Then Condon, Wasco, Grass Valley and Wamic which is the last burg before Rock Creek Dam. This route is all great motorcycle territory and I pass at least 1500 of the new windmills making green power! Finally, after several hundred miles and pumping my adrenaline supply dry, I make Rock Creek Dam, my seventh for this two day trip. Now the last leg which is the return to the bonds of daily life. Home safe at 5:30pm Sunday. No traffic issues, 1049 trouble free miles on the FJR and another great motorcycle adventure is in the books.