2022 NW Starfest Official Thread!

[Duke]

I would really like to get something going in my area, and would like some input as to how many of our members would be interested in a meet around the Four Corners area.
We could talk on this at Starfest 2022, unless members want to have a meet this May or June.
To do this right, it would involve a Two place stay, one in Mexican Hat, Utah, then Durango, Colorado. It would be a beautiful trip, desert to high mountains, and I think everyone would enjoy this. There’s a lot of sites to see and it would be nice if you guys had a little more time for this trip. I promise, you would enjoy this. If some could stay a little longer, I would spend the time to make it fun and worth the trip.
This should be done in May, June or September.

[MidnightRide]

If we were still in Vegas I'd give it a two thumbs up for us. Deserves two thumbs regardless, been through the general area many times. Gorgeous.

We do a lot of road tripping that's work related, ran to Portland and back yesterday, six hours each way, and was in Cali last month, 1000 miles each way. Driving three hours in heavy snow well after midnight last night was stimulating indeed...

But we'd probably be trailering down and we could never plan it until closer to the run. Probably a 'can't do' but definitely something worth considering. I can tell you now that I'd highly recommend that run.

"StarFest SW"?

[MikeyC]

I was thinking if we start talking about it now that it could happen by 2023. The months that it would be best is a good start. I said 'instead of the PNW starfest" because I figured it would take a little more time off from work. We could do a PNW starfest that same year if we kept it close to my home

[MidnightRide]

What if we alternated years? PNW in even years, PSW in odd years? Might be fun.

Or another twist, supplement the theme above with an offsetting 'PNW Light' one year, 'PSW Light' the next, with that being a Saturday-only ride which wouldn't involve vacay days. Geared more toward locals who could leave after work and ride home Sunday evening, perhaps after a lighter Sunday morning ride? If we do the PSW ride in late spring, the PNW Light could be later in August. Vice-versa if the PSW went off in September, pushing PNW Light to late June (to assure 'drier' PNW weather).

Just a thought. That would give a lot of us two rides each year.

That would mean that PSW Light would go off this year...

[MikeyC]

I like the alternating years thing, Not sure about the light and heavy, but NW one year and SW the next year would be cool.

[MikeyC]

Christine booked her room. 4 rooms left at the riverview

[MikeyC]

[MikeyC]

I had to re-read the thread, I got it now

[YamaDave]

Reservations made. 3 rooms left.
yamadave +1

[Shores]

I just got a text from Mark Lindell and he said he just booked a double queen and there are only two rooms left (Single and Double Full).

[MikeyC]

Woohoo Dave! See you guys there!

[MidnightRide]

I just got a text from Mark Lindell and he said he just booked a double queen and there are only two rooms left (Single and Double Full).

Tic tic tic tic tic... You guys are awesome! Remember to head to the Porter's Plaza once we fill the Riverview. We've stayed there a number of times ourselves while renovating our project up there and were always happy with our stay. Everyone will be over at the Riverview until sleep time anyway...

I'll bring the planned routes over from the other thread for those who haven't found them yet.

[MidnightRide]

Friday loop:

First a couple of statements about riding up here. I've ridden or driven most of these roads, and with few exceptions, traffic is virtually nonexistent. Excellent scenery and a wide variety of riding conditions. From gorgeous wide-open pavement along the Columbia river, to challenging twisty mountain climbs. But I need to state that it can rain any day of the year, though it's not so common in the middle of July. Forest fires can close down a section of our route, and the smoke can be a challenge in certain areas. Smoke really isn't much of a problem at our home base, but further west it can be. Also, the lead rider, likely me out of caution, needs to always be aware of wildlife along every route, especially deer and turkey, day or night. I may have five encounters on a single trip from home to vacation home, 135 miles.

Most of these rides are remote highways which offer a lot of freedom. There are plenty of sights along the way. I'd pretty much need to know the comfort range of those who have a limited range between fuel stops so I can calculate that out.

The first route I'd call the mountain-valley route, including plenty of lakes and rivers along the way. It'll take us through the town of Republic, home of nationally acclaimed 2nd Amendment advocate and the former Republican nominee for Governor in Washington State. He's the Chief-of-Police (and only cop) in town but I'm thinking I can get him to meet up with us, perhaps over lunch, if we want to give that a go.

This route starts south along the Pend O'Reille River until we hit the town of Usk, where we head west over a paved mountain road that goes past the 49* North ski area before dropping into the valley below. We then hit the highway for a short run before navigating rolling hills over to the Columbia River. I run that road regularly. Lots of wildlife.

We'll then reach a free ferry which will take us across the Columbia River. We wind around until we start to climb the second mountain, probably the twistiest section of the routes. We drop down the other side to a gorgeous highway that runs us along the San Poil River, with steep walls rising thousands of feet above the valley floor on either side, north to Republic. It's an impressive section. Most of this section is on the Colville Indian Reservation.

We can fuel up in Republic if needed, or plan a meal. Fun little town.

From there we head east on Highway 20 over a mountain range to Kettle Falls, past more lakes and rivers, and a few miles later the town of Colville. Colville is the regional hub so it has stores like Walmart and others, should anyone need something. They also have a Yamaha motorcycle shop and plenty of restaurants and the like.

Once leaving Colville we head up over Tiger Pass, a great highway up on top through the forest which passes a number of lakes. I travel it regularly. It has a looping downhill section on the other side before we hit the Pend O'Reille River valley floor and head north again to Ione, four miles north once we hit the highway.

About 5.5 hours in the saddle, 248 miles.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Ione...48.7410261!3e0

[MikeyC]

That sounds great and lunch with the Chief would be cool.

[MidnightRide]

Saturday loop:

I chose the above route for the first day because it's a bit more physically and mentally challenging, including starting off with the mountain runs while we're perhaps all a bit fresher, other than our rides in. We could reverse the route as well.

This route is what I'm calling the river run. It runs along the Pend O'Reille, Columbia, and Spokane rivers. I designed it around an absolutely awesome ride along the Columbia River that I felt everyone should enjoy while up in the area. It heads south from Kettle Falls and is a fun leisurely ride.

This ride involves overlapping the previous ride in a small way, but this time in the opposite direction. It involves heading west over Tiger Pass, this time riding up the steep looping section rather than down, and back through Colville to Kettle Falls, this time heading west. Colville's about 40 minutes from home base and we could stock up on needed supplies if need be.

At Kettle Falls we hit the Columbia River, but this time we head south along the river to the tiny town of Hunters. Hunters has no fuel, BTW. That's a really nice road with lots of eye candy scenery. I'd be inept if I didn't run you down that road while you're up here. If we were into dirt riding, we could head east over any number of forest service roads to get back to the motels.

From Hunters we head back east over another fun scenic country road that covers a wide variety of terrain, until we hit the town of Springdale. There's fuel in Springdale. We then head south past the town of Ford, and most notably, Ford had a massive wildfire over the summer which devastated part of the town and much of the forest. We continue south until we hit the Long Lake cutoff which is on the Spokane River. If interested we could run another mile to the dam before heading back. The dam has a park with restrooms, picnic tables, etc.

We then head east along a vigorous scenic route along the Spokane River, known as Lake Spokane and Long Lake. There are several ways to run from here (another day) but we'll then hit Suncrest before heading north, then east, then north again, riding up to the town of Newport where we'll once again hit the Pend O'Reille River. We then head north along the Pend O'Reille until we hit our home base in Ione. That last section heads past the tribal casino about half way up. Might be a fun stop about 30 miles before we complete the loop.

Five hours, 250 miles. Every bit of it is fun and awesome. I've driven or ridden most of those roads, and I look forward to it each and every time.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Ione,+WA+99139/Kettle+Falls,+WA/Rice,+WA/Hunters,+WA/Ford,+WA/Suncrest,+Washington+99026/Newport,+WA/Ione,+WA/@48.2498706,-117.6374778,8z/data=!4m55!4m54!1m5!1m1!1s0x5362f85a891fcd1b:0xc25f6e732c8ef4b2!2m2!1d-117.4171886!2d48.7410261!1m5!1m1!1s0x5362840988827b4f:0x8a854fbe7b65ea38!2m2!1d-118.0558218!2d48.6107354!1m5!1m1!1s0x549d83d4d6696ee1:0xa92aec4213a32fa3!2m2!1d-118.1708516!2d48.4288285!1m5!1m1!1s0x549deacd66b68e17:0x4227903b4a3bff50!2m2!1d-118.2022917!2d48.1171945!1m10!1m1!1s0x549de2f1a749f79f:0x41d1e1bece05e5b6!2m2!1d-117.8057919!2d47.9082219!3m4!1m2!1d-117.8448946!2d47.8602655!3s0x549e0a0243d48a1b:0xecbb3e40fcbf861c!1m5!1m1!1s0x549e05020c180bb3:0x8f8784b53f889c7!2m2!1d-117.5742922!2d47.8080155!1m5!1m1!1s0x5362238aa17a0853:0x82b24cc02f17c1c9!2m2!1d-117.0432583!2d48.1796277!1m5!1m1!1s0x5362f85a891fcd1b:0xc25f6e732c8ef4b2!2m2!1d-117.4171886!2d48.7410261!3e0

[MidnightRide]

Regarding fuel stops, I'm good for 250+ miles per tank, but I know a lot of you get nervous a lot sooner than I. Anne and I have discussed her and her sis following in one of our rigs with extra fuel, an ice chest, tools, and the like, but that's not set yet.

At some point in time, assuming we go with the routes above, I'll need to nail down some fuel and food stops, as well as possible points of interest worth checking out. For example, on the limited Colville Rez section of Friday's route, there are often locals who sell freshly smoked salmon (vacuum sealed) that they pulled from the Columbia River the day before. Absolutely delicious.

Anyone have a range below 150 miles, for example, considering average speeds of perhaps 60 MPH or less overall?

[Duke]

VERY GOOD Midnight! It seem like a lot of fun for me and the others. Thanks for you time.

[MikeyC]

Very nice, and yes, my range is about 160 miles

[Jaybo]

Regarding fuel stops, I'm good for 250+ miles per tank, but I know a lot of you get nervous a lot sooner than I. Anne and I have discussed her and her sis following in one of our rigs with extra fuel, an ice chest, tools, and the like, but that's not set yet.

At some point in time, assuming we go with the routes above, I'll need to nail down some fuel and food stops, as well as possible points of interest worth checking out. For example, on the limited Colville Rez section of Friday's route, there are often locals who sell freshly smoked salmon (vacuum sealed) that they pulled from the Columbia River the day before. Absolutely delicious.

Anyone have a range below 150 miles, for example, considering average speeds of perhaps 60 MPH or less overall?

We have always tried to keep our refuel spots around 120 miles just in case. We could easily throw on a 1 gallon can on one of our bikes in case of emergency. I can only think of 1 time someone needed fuel and we just robbed some from another bike. Roadstars should get at least 160+ miles but who knows about the rest of the bikes there. Perhaps figuring out what rides are more than 120 miles and we can put that in the thread and let people decide if they want to carry their own small can?

With planned lunch stops each day we would reach out to the places we were planning to stop at and give them fair warning, and see if they had any issues with the number of people. That has only bit us once when we hit a small place on the coast who assured us they could accommodate us, but turned into a slow 3hr process as they were totally overwhelmed.

Outstanding work on the planning so far though!

[MikeyC]

I still go to that place It's the go to place in Waldport

[Tykes_Place]

I'd agree on the 120 or so range. Not just for potential fuel stops, but also for butt-cheek decompression, hydration and dehydration opportunities.

[MidnightRide]

I'd agree on the 120 or so range. Not just for potential fuel stops, but also for butt-cheek decompression, hydration and dehydration opportunities.

On the Friday run, the only real gas choice at any distance is for Republic, which is 156 miles. So I'm thinking we'll make a quick stop for those with a shorter range at around 35-61 miles, Usk or Chewelah, separate towns with fuel, before pushing the next 100 or so miles to Republic where we'll eat and gas-up. Chewelah, at 61 miles, is probably the best choice. We run over a mountain just before that, and Usk is just before the mountain section. No decent reliable fuel stops to speak of between Chewelah and Republic.

Saturday will be a bit easier to manage.

BTW, we were hoping to meetup with Loren Culp, the former Governor candidate who's the Chief of Police in Republic, but he's now running for Congress and the primary is two weeks after our run, so scheduling him in may be a challenge. I haven't called him yet to see, nor would I even expect him to know his schedule at this point in time. I'll let him know that we're all voters that live in his Congressional District, LOL... His district runs from Canada to Oregon!

[MidnightRide]

Anyone else booked recently? Still two rooms left?

[MikeyC]

Hmmm... I think still 2 rooms left

[MidnightRide]

We ran up there yesterday. Around 26" of snow leading up to Christmas. The snowplow left a 48" snow berm blocking our driveways. My 6x6 Polaris Ranger managed to plow right through it all in most places, but there was a bit of digging involved as well (whew).

Here's the Riverview! Sweep some snow away and fire up the BBQ!

[MikeyC]

Brad and Delfuza booked. Should be one room left at Riverview.

[MidnightRide]

While checking out some news websites I stumbled across some news that Chief Loren Culp of Republic, WA, is now retired and living in Moses Lake, WA!

DAMN! There goes that, unless he happens to ride and we can get him to join us. He is running for Congress so he'll be super busy right about then.

On another hand, while viewing his YouTube page, I noticed that his channel is sponsored by a Naches, WA coffee maker called MinuteMenCoffee who had a pretty unique promo on his channel (sexy chick with a gun). So I went to their website and found a hilarious coffee that they have out, along with several others.

Not for the weak-minded: https://minutemencoffee.com/products...joe-pre-order1

LOL they even have a coffee for Chief Culp:

https://minutemencoffee.com/collecti...39859487309988

This coffee is to honor a best seller that Chief Culp wrote, "American Cop":

https://www.amazon.com/American-Cop-...1896299&sr=8-1

[MidnightRide]

Now that we're into January, I'm wondering if one of us should book the last room, just to lock this place up? We can then surrender the room to anyone who comes on board down the road. Don't they just charge $1 to the card to reserve it?

The motel owner had told me originally that their regular commercial customers start booking in mid-January for the summer months, and they normally reserve several rooms for the entire summer. She said they book by March at the absolute latest.

Anyone?