Homeward Bound

Time to head home and we have some long days ahead of us.

We left Newport on Friday and it was sunny, on this day we are making our way to Kennewick WA.  It was on this day that we had a disaster with GPS.  Our friend Marty will follow a GPS to the letter instead of using it as a tool.  He will not read road signs, which I did so I knew where we were going.  Some how his GPS was all screwy, so he would get on the CB and ask Ron (who had his) which way to go.  It got very tiring.

I should go back here.  Our friends Pat & Sandy Breckenridge were going to go on this trip with us but due to Pat having to have shoulder surgery that was no way he could go.  He is our mapping guru.  He spent alot of time mapping out the route and making sure we would see some sites.  Marty felt that it was important that we follow this route to the letter.

Listening for 2 hours if Marty was headed in the right direction and driving though heavy city traffic near Portland we had about enough of GPS.  It was near Estacada that we all got separated.  At a traffic light we and Marty made it through but Ron got stopped, we pulled over to wait for Ron but he had pulled over further back.  We decided to turn around to find Ron.  This is where we got separated from Marty due to heave holiday traffic.

We didn't see them, so rode up the road about 5 miles before we could pull off in a safe manner.  This was a small two lane road with alot of traffic.  We pulled off into a gas station.  While we were filling up with gas, Gary was asking the attendant how do we get to Hood River as that was our next stop.  He gave us directions.

We all got back together and I told Marty how we are to get to Hood River.  He said that the GPS says we are to go up the road a ways.  I pointed out to the sign that said Hood River.  He reluctantly took it but was determined that we were wrong.  Turned out that the road the GPS wanted us to take took us to the same intersection in this little town.  The route that we took was about 10 miles shorter.  Marty so wanted to follow Pat's route, but I don't think 10 miles is going to hurt Pat's feelings.

Saturday we made our way to Missoula, again listening on which way to turn with the GPS.  Told Gary to just be quiet about it.  We managed to find our way to Missoula.  We had pulled over just before hitting Lolo Pass, when Ron said he wanted to lead.  I had overheard him tell his wife that it was getting monotonous listening to Marty ask which way to turn.  We managed to find our motel without any problems.

Sunday we made our way home.  Gary had told the others that we were going to head down on the interstate as we had 400 miles to go.  They agreed as they wanted to get home too.  Gary was even told to lead the way.  I was surprised because we didn't have a GPS to lead us home.

We do have a GPS unit and we even brought it on the trip but didn't use it.  We don't have the right mount for it on the bike.  Gary has a hard time seeing the screen and he couldn't hear it talk on the bike.  It works ok in the truck because he can hear it.

We had a good time despite GPS.  Our last bike vacation with GPS was 3 years ago and it might be another 3 years before we take another group bike vacation.