Issue link: http://digital.nexsitepublishing.com/i/1404782
remoteness. Butler maps were found to be disappointing as they fail to rate road quality or maintenance that may definitely ruin your ride. On Thursday, the pair decided to break camp, head to Richland, WA, and spend the night in a motel where it might be a little warmer. Heading east to Union, OR, they stopped for what would be the best breakfast of the trip, at Gravy Daves. Established in 1862, Union is one of those quintessential small towns in eastern Oregon that makes you want to pull up stakes in Western Washington and move there. Jim had the "Blue Skillet Special," and Mike had the chicken fried steak with sausage gravy, both for $11 each which included coffee. It was an epic breakfast surrounded by lots of local residents. One felt very safe as the locals were all packing side arms. After breakfast, the Porsche twosome headed down to Baker City, then east on Hwy 85 along the Powder River, then north on Hwy 86 to Hells Canyon. Hells Canyon turned out to be the best twisty road of the whole trip according to Mike. "It reminded me of the Porsche Driver Skills slalom course at Bremerton." Back and forth, back and forth, right hander then left hander, it went on and on for about 25 miles. The road ends at the Hells Canyon Dam, so they turned around and got to do another epic 25 miles of twisties in reverse. Then things got interesting. According to Jim's account, "I set my overpriced, integral GPS to head towards Elgin, OR which should have been a fun, uneventful, no-frills ride, but some unintended anomaly or 'programmed avoidance' took control like a ghost in the machine for lack of a more technical explanation." Thinking they would take a "shortcut" north on Hwy 39 that "would get us pointed in the direction of our Richland destination." Well, Hwy 39 turned out to be another non-maintained forest service road. Things started out OK with the occasional dodging of rocks, limbs, and pot holes, but as they climbed in elevation, heading up to Salt Creek Summit, it started to snow. The ambient temperature gauge went from 36 degrees down to 31, and the snow kept coming down harder. Eventually, it was sticking to the trees and finally turned into a total white out with the snow sticking to the road. Being that they were the only cars on the road, they just prayed that they wouldn't come across a downed tree or some other obstacle since turning back at that point wasn't really an option 50 miles into the leg of the trip. That turned 38 Spiel – August 2021