Colockum Pass Jun 2021

There is one thing for certain you can count on in this life – and that is – NOTHING – is for certain. My 20+ years in this club (and my 60+ year in this life) there is always a surprise waiting around the corner.

Part the First – Howdy-Doos and Road Time

Saturday was one LOVELY day to do anything – and it dawned brightly at the smokestack in downtown Monroe, the appointed meeting place for the Tamers to start this adventure. Mary and I pulled into quite the crowd of Tamers and friends already milling around. Once parked – we had to discharge the first order of business. At the monthly meeting a few days previous, I got the brilliant idea (brilliant? Just ask me – I’ll tell you!) to bake some homemade brownies and auction them off as a little club fundraiser and something different to do for the month. The bids started at $20 – and after a number of minutes of some spirited back and forth bidding on them – Mihai issued the winning bid – of $50!!! And so it was my task to make sure the brownies were delivered, which Mihai then handed back to me – so that they could be shared around – and further making sure Gary Miller got the first bite. Once he wanders off with a look of supreme satisfaction on his face – I start wandering the crowd with my yellow pad in one hand and brownies in the other – getting names and trying to make out who is who on the trip – because you know – the first few years in the club – you mainly know folks by what they drive – and generally after few years – you start putting names and faces with rigs to make sense of it all. So I’m in this process – when a somewhat familiar face pokes out from around behind someone – saying, “Hey Moose – do you remember me?” (Surprise the first.) I look – and I don’t want to be mistaken – but upon saying – “OMG – are you Jess?” And yes – IT WAS! Jess – or JR as we always called him – was in the house with his lovely wife Christina – and WAY older kids than I think I’d seen in a long, long time. Jess was in the club WAY back when – when I was in my pup days with the Tamers – back when I drove a CJ that was open-open with way-too-tall gears and sporting a street Holley that wouldn’t run worth a hoot up a hill. That means the last time I’d seen him and Christina was like – 18 years previous? And somehow – his red hair is still red. (While my brown hair is now gone AWOL….) But what a treat to see them again! They were all ready to wheel in limo style in a built LJ.

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Green Dot Roads May 2020

….aka – “Is that a Whiskey Dick Wildlife Area in your map pocket – or are you just happy to see me wheeling?”
There is an area of what’s known as “Green Dot Roads” in eastern WA – this run’s particular area between the west side of the Columbia north of I-90 and the Wild Horse Wind Farm located between Vantage and Kittitas. The wind farm is a Puget Sound Energy installation – which has a wonderful visitor’s center – in other than COVID times – open to visitors between April to October. (Currently closed to the general public due to health concerns.) You can stand right up against the base of a wind turbine hearing the big WHOOSH – WHOOSH – WHOOSH of the 60 foot long turbine blades spinning at their optimum 16 RPM. You can even take a tour inside the base of one of the turbine pylons. How do I know this?

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