It's early on the 10th, and we're packed and ready to GO! It's been too long since we've been on a 'wander'.

The first day's ride was up highway 49 to Graeagle then 89 to Lassen, all in unusually HOT weather!. After setting up camp at Manzanita Lake, off came the boots and we relaxed in cooler temperature with a glass of wine.

Leaving Lassen, we continued up 89 to Bartle for breakfast, then onto some deserted forest service roads to Medicine Lake. After backtracking a bit when the road turned to a dirt track, we wound around to Lava Beds NP.

Although we've been to the lava tube caves before, they are so utterly unlike limestone caves, they are always worth a visit! They are formed when a lava stream crusts over, then the hot core drains leaving a long 'subway' tube. Sometimes the walls look like dripping chocolate!

There are also fields of broken lava chunks where it flowed out onto a plain and cooled in place. And yes, those are cinder cones in the background.

We continued into Oregon to Crater Lake for our second night's camp. Crater Lake is also the result of volcanic activity (as are most of the Cascades). It has no river inlet or outlet, so snow, rainfall and evaporation have reached an equilibrium and the lake level doesn't vary more than a few inches. Wizard Island is a cinder cone that rises from the depths.

The tent was too far away from the bikes, so we had to inflate the air mattress while keeping it out of the dirt.

On the way north to Sisters for the 27th annual Outdoor Quilt Show, we couldn't resist a last 'photo op' on the rim in early morning light.

The Stichin' Post quilt shop takes over the town (or at least 15 square blocks of it) on the second Saturday of July. More quilts than we've ever seen in one place are hung from any and all buildings and the event draws a crowd the size of LA (or so it seems) into the hamlet!

Although we took 270 pictures, we'll only post these three here so you can get a small taste. Some of the others will eventually find their way to our fiber arts page.

Leaving Madras the next morning (and the heat, the smoke from wild fires, and nighttime thunder showers), we headed up towards Mount Hood. As we got closer, it cooled right down and we started into fog, so we went around it to the east.

Crossing the Columbia at Hood River is always an adventure. The winds are legendary and the bridge deck is steel grating, but the views from along the north side are worth it.

Further east is a stonehenge replica (actually a WW I war memorial). Jym checks out the comfort of the altar while Ann watches out for stray Druids - wouldn't want him sacrificed.

Running north into Washington, the area around Mount Rainier are a rider's paradise. The trick was to pay attention to the roads and stop when you wanted to view the scenics.

For a couple of days, Joe on his Harley was our tour guide in the south Puget Sound area. The areas he led us through were gorgeous and a treat for us both. It's great to make new friends who enjoy the same things!

On a trip out to Windy Ridge, we looked over the devastation of the three minute event of Mount St. Helens. It blew a large portion of the mountain sideways, and has taken over 20 years to recover to this point, and it's still smoking!

Coming back on one of our day trips, we went from the Olympic Peninsula across the Hood Canal on the floating bridge, which slides in on itself to allow boats to pass.

Leaving the Tacoma area, we went north to just east of Everett for a couple of days with Ann's cousin, Margo and her husband Bruno. Her brother John happened to be there with his Valkyre from Colorado. While we were there, we went by ferry to the bottom of Whidbey Island to visit with more cousins. Eric happened to be visiting his brother Ro.

On the way back from Ro's, we rode up the length of Whidbey Island to cross over the bridge at Deception Pass with it's swift currents.