Bird’s eye view of the guys camping at Lewis & Clark, Dayton WA
Welcome
The Border Riders Motorcycle Club (BRMC) is an organized group of guys who like to ride and camp. Our membership spans the Pacific Northwest, with the greatest participation in Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver B.C. We have one of the largest memberships of gay clubs in North America, and welcome like-minded guests to join us on our monthly club events and local activities during the riding months. Check the main page of the website at http://borderriders.com for additional information.
Contents
Lewis & Clark Trail State Park Recap
July Photo Gallery
From the Handle Bars of the President
Liability Insurance
Road Captain Rumblings
August Run
Day Rides
Treasurer Ramblings
Club Finances
Portland Meet & Greet/Day Ride
More Treasurer Ramblings
50th Anniversary Events
Calendar of Events
Member Birthdays
Meet & Greets
Reader’s Corner
Lewis & Clark Trail State Park - Recap
This campsite located in S. E. Washington is about half way between Pasco, WA and Lewiston, ID on US Highway 12. The thirty six acre site is like an oasis in the middle of wheat fields and hills of grassland. Its location on the Touchet River provides enough moisture to support old growth forest sporting some very old ponderosa pines. Our campsite even though it was not far from the entrance to the park was very private. There wasn’t much noise, even from the highway. There were showers available if you didn’t mind taking a long quiet walk to get there. Because there was not a burn ban, the thirteen members and six guests were able to enjoy conversations around a real campfire both evenings.
The campsite is located between the towns of Waitsburg and Dayton. Neither was a long ride from the campground and the towns provided good places to find food, and other necessities. On Friday evening a large group enjoyed a meal and libations at the Whiskey Canyon Bar and Restaurant in Waitsburg. It is located on the highway and has an open patio facing the road so the people who first found the place were able to wave to other riders to get them to join the festivities. On Saturday our dining shifted to Dayton. In the morning some of us had breakfast at the Moose Creek Café and Bakery. The bakery furnished an incredible choice of sinful pastries and delicious quiches. That evening all of the riders filled My Dad’s Place where they feasted on some great Italian cuisine. All in all, the men were more than satisfied with the weekend’s dining.
The location of the campground provides many exceptional choices for day rides. Options include rides through the Palouse Hills, or east up Highway 12 to the mountains above Lewiston, or south to the Blue Mountains in Oregon, or north across the Snake River. There were three day rides taken by our campers. One was a ride of 280 miles to Enterprise, OR. Another was to Colfax then south to Rattle Snake Ridge overlooking the Snake River Canyon .
A third ride went 186 miles to Palouse Falls and Little Goose Dam. One guest rode to the Spokane area as well. On the other hand, our V.P. stayed back in camp to dream about his perfect day ride.
During the Saturday meeting the members discussed and evaluated the Pride Parade ride in Portland. There was some discussion about what we can do to secure a place in the Seattle Parade. The Fiftieth Anniversary activities were reviewed and members were encouraged to join the September Rally. Finally, the issue of nonmembers riding to camp sites in cars was discussed, and a decision about what to do about this is upcoming.
The general feeling among the campers was that the Lewis and Clark Trail Campground would be a good place to explore again. They liked the privacy of the camp site, nearness to amenities, the many riding options for day rides and this site provided new adventures that we had not explored before.
Submitted by John Dunn, Secretary
BRMC Group photo @ Lewis & Clark campground
July Photo Gallery
Submit your photos to news@borderriders.com to be included in the Gallery. We all like to see what our members and guests did during the past month.
From the Handlebars of the President
Yet another month has come and gone. Where does the time go? We had another successful camp out at Lewis and Clark Trail State Park between Waitsburg and Dayton, WA. I took off from work in Everett about 2:30 Friday afternoon and arrived in camp a bit after 8:00. I had a good ride though it was slow going over Snoqualmie Pass. Two lanes were closed for miles up to the top of the pass as they are working to replace some of the damaged concrete panels in the road. A couple of notable sites were an overturned east bound semi in the median and firemen were just finishing up putting out a fire along the east bound lanes just east of Thorp. I stopped for grabbed some dinner in Richland on my way.
Saturday morning the second wave to depart camp joined up with the first group for breakfast at the bakery in Dayton. As John previously mentioned, the bakery did have some delicious goodies. After filling up five of us, Andrew, Dennis, John, David H, and myself, headed out for a day ride. It was class reunion weekend in Dayton and while we were eating breakfast the town closed main street for the parade and our bikes were the only vehicles still parked on the street. We had to dodge the barricades to make it to the gas station and hit the road out of town. We headed north on Hwy 12 for Hay, WA to explore the areas north of the Snake River. We reached Hay with our next destination being Little Goose Dam, however, after turning onto the road towards the damn discovered that it was gravel. I stopped and talked to an elderly man moving the sprinkler on his lawn about the road conditions. He stated that if it was him, he wouldn’t ride a bike on the road we were planning to go down. He also said the road across the dam was closed. He was a chatting fellow with his corn cob pipe.
Palouse Falls
Dennis pulled out his map, yes a honest to goodness paper map, and decided to head up the Hay-Lacrosse Road to Lacrosse. We then took Hwy 26 to Washtucna. We encountered several miles of fairly new chip and seal on the highway but fortunately it was pretty well packed down. We gassed up in Washtucna and headed down Hwy 261 to Palouse Falls State Park. We took some time to enjoy the view of the falls and the shade of a tree at the park. Some found the shaved ice truck to be a good source of refreshment. From there we made our way to Little Goose Dam. We planned to take a back road at Starbuck back towards camp but didn’t venture into Starbuck from Hwy 261 so missed the road and ended up taking 261 back to Hwy 12 and into Dayton. We stopped for a late lunch at My Dad’s Place. There was only one lady working the restaurant. We each ordered from her at the counter and then she prepared our food and brought it out to us. I was a bit concerned about dinner Saturday night as we were eating at the same place but I was glad to find out when we arrived for dinner that they had additional staff on hand.
Sunday morning found everyone up early breaking camp and heading for home. I had a good ride home with traffic slow over Snoqualmie Pass before and along Keechelus Lake and another slowdown between Everett and Marysville.
I am looking forward to another great camp out at Willows Creek Campground outside Lillooet, BC. It is a great ride along the Fraser River and is our last camp out of the season!
Liability Insurance Now Required In Washington
Effective July 28, 2019, the 2019 Washington State Legislature passed a new law that all motorcycle drivers must carry liability coverage and proof they have insurance. This is mandatory coverage for the state of Washington. Motorcycle drivers are no longer exempt from the state’s Mandatory auto insurance law.
What is liability insurance? Liability insurance covers the other party in an accident if you cause the accident or are liable. For example, the state minimum liability limits for Washington state are $25,000 Per Person, $50,000 Per Accident for Bodily Injury, and $10,000 for Property Damage. This means that if you cause an accident, your insurance company will pay $25,000 per person for their bodily injury and a maximum of $50,000 for the entire accident. They will also pay the other person up to $10,000 for the property damage you cause their vehicle.
Your company sends you a proof-of-insurance card when you start or renew your auto or motorcycle policy. The card shows that you or your vehicle/motorcycle are covered by liability insurance. Remember, if you’re stopped by a law enforcement officer, you must show proof that you have auto/motorcycle insurance. If you don’t have proof, he or she will give you a ticket.
BRMC members - according to the club bylaws one of the qualifications of membership is that you must have motorcycle liability insurance.
Seattle Meet and Greet
BRMC members at the July Meet & Greet
We had five members and two guests at the Meet and Greet on July 17th. The next meet and greet will be on August 21st at 7:00 pm at the Cuff. Come and join us.
Road Captain Rumblings
John did a great recap of the July trip to Lewis and Clark Trail State Park. I was concerned being that it was a site we haven’t been to before nor had a chance to scout out. Aside from not being able to park the bikes in the campsite (I knew in advance it was a tent only campsite and we needed to park the bikes at the entrance) the location exceeded our expectations in every criterion. We even had LTE so everyone could stay in contact with the outside world.
Looking ahead to August we are up in Lillooet, British Columbia at Willows Campground – same place as a few years ago. August average high temperatures for the area are 82f or 28c so comfortable riding weather, cooling off to 58f or 14c in the evenings. The choices for riding in the area are more limited than many areas we go to, but the riding is spectacular including the ride up the Fraser River Canyon to get there. For those coming from further south a few hours ride on Thursday after work can make Friday a more pleasant day by avoiding some rush hour traffic and shortening up the saddle time. Many members north of your location I’m sure will offer you a place to crash on Thursday night. Preliminary interest shows a good turnout, Come Ride with Us!
Seattle Area Day Ride
Thanks to all that caught my mistake that the August day ride was Saturday August 6th - It is actually August 3rd - but why not take the 6th off from work and ride too? Seattle and Portland riders will meet for lunch at noon at Las Maracas Mexican Restaurant in Raymond WA. Stan is working on a meeting point for Portland riders and I will be arranging a meeting point for Seattle for those that want to ride as a group – watch Facebook for locations.
Treasurer’s Ramblings
Club Finances & Such
Club finances are healthy. Account balances are where I expect them to be. Account Receivables are acceptable and our Liabilities are practically non-existent.
Our CD matured at the end of June, so I took advantage of the opportunity and restructured where we keep club finances. I closed the CD due to the penalty ($179) if we needed to access the funds outside the annual 4-day window of opportunity in June. I moved this money into the general fund.
I also opened a savings account designed to hold our patch deposits, so these funds are always available when it is needed to refund the deposit on a surrendered patch.
This cleans up how our finances were structured. I only have 1 more change I would like to make but that will be another day.
As always, contact me at our next event for more details.
Portland’s M&G & Day Ride
Portland’s July M&G was well attended with a couple new guests stopping by to check us out. A big thanks to Richard, Rudy, Josh, Gabe, Larry & Blue for keeping me company.
Portland’s next M&G will be Wednesday August 7th at the Eagle on Lombard at 7:00. I hope to see you there.
Keep in mind that if you decide to go for a ride you can always reach out to the club by posting something on our FB page. Hopefully, you’ll get a response and have someone to ride with.
Upcoming Motorcycle Class Schedule & Other Information
2019
The next & FINAL training opportunity for us will be the Advanced Motors Training “AMT” on September 14th. This is the 1st day of our 50th Anniversary Rally and you can’t register for this class by calling Team Oregon. The only way to get into this class is to register for the Rally.
The Rally Registration is about $35 +/- $10 for guest and Canadians. There is no additional fee for the class making this is an extremely affordable way to get to experience this kind of training. It will only last a couple hours but still, it’s a hell of a good deal and should be a blast.
I continue to hear people say, “But I can’t attend the whole Rally.” Keep in mind, you are not required to attend the whole Rally. You may come and go as you wish. I know people who are only coming in for the 1st weekend because that is all they can attend. I know one member who plans on attending the 1st weekend, ride home Monday, work the rest of the week and meet back up with everyone in Bellingham on Saturday for the closing celebration. Again, you are free to come and go as you please.
I know it will be a stretch for some of you more northern riders to get to the AMT course in Albany by noon so I am hoping the Portland people will open their homes on Friday night. This will make it possible for the northerners who want to play on this course but live too far north to get to the course on time.
Registration for the Rally “CLOSED” on July 31st, 2019 as did the hotel pricing. If you wanted to go and missed the opportunity contact Dennis our Road Captain or Stan the Treasurer and let’s see if there is anything we can do to help you register late.
For those who registered, you should receive an e-mail from me shortly asking about the dates you plan to join the festivities. Please be ready with that information and get it back to me ASAP. I am not set up for that data yet so please wait until I send out that e-mail before responding.
About the Upcoming AMT/Rally Class
Team Oregon trains the police and they are offering a version of their police training class to us to kick off our 50th Anniversary Rally. This special AMT class is on Saturday the 14th of September at their course in Albany Oregon. I am still working out the time, but it’ll be around noon.
The version Team Oregon is putting together for us is the one we all watch on You Tube and wish we could do. It’s their competition obstacle course on that field of orange cones. Doing those tight maneuvers, a clock ticking, music playing on a loudspeaker and people cheering us onto a finish line. I doubt we will have a loudspeaker and we will probably need to be our own cheering crowd, but the course is real, and it’ll still be fun. As Collin would have said, Bounce, Bounce, Bounce.
AMT Class
To be less intimidating, they are setting up 2 courses. They will start with 2 easy courses and then as we improve, they will make one course more and more difficult. We will get to decide as individuals if we want to move onto the more difficult course or continue to exercise our skills on the original course. Remember, we are just there to play so no pressure, just have fun.
As if it couldn’t get any better, an anonymous donor has donated the entire class for anyone who registers for the 50th Anniversary Rally. Albany is on the way to our 1st 50th Anniversary Rally check-in, which is that Saturday night in Roseburg, OR. I believe it would be a horrible loss if we didn’t take advantage of this opportunity. What a hoot this should be. I can’t wait, and I hope you are excited too.
2020
Motorcycle Classes in 2020, already? Yes, I’m already looking into motorcycle classes for the summer of 2020. Due to the demand from Seattle and BC, I am going to organize as many of these classes to happen in the Seattle area.
I predict people from Portland & BC will converge on Seattle and I expect Seattle people to register in mass. The results, I expect these classes in Seattle to fill up very fast. Information about these classes will be discussed in future newsletters so stay tuned.
I will be happy to organize whatever classes there is enough interest in so please talk to me about what classes you want to see offered in 2020. For example;
I found a class for Group Riding. Not only riding in group formation but also how to park smoothly and quickly. How many would be interested in this class in 2020?
I found a class that runs for 8-hours a day for 5 days. The classes run Monday/Friday and cost $1,200. This class is a police training class open to the public near Seattle. You will be able to use their police bikes for this class. Anybody interested in taking this class in 2020?
BTW, these motorcycle training events I put together are not a BRMC sanctioned event. This is just me organizing these classes because I keep getting request for it, I love them, and I learn something every time I go.
I hope you all are taking advantage of the beautiful weather we are having and I hope to see you at one of our upcoming events. If you should have any questions or comments about anything I am dealing with, please feel encouraged to contact me & let us chat.
Sincerely,
Stan C
2019 Treasurer
50th Anniversary Celebration
The 50th Anniversary Celebration Committee is busy planning one heck of a year for us that will not soon be forgotten. Among the events planned are:
50th Anniversary Rally, September 14-21 - come ride with us for an 8 day journey through Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. Join for all or part of the journey, ride as far and long as you wish. Guests welcomed.
50th Anniversary Banquet, February 15, 2020 - we will wind down the year with a grand finale event.
Registration for the Rally has opened. There is a sheet on our web-site “Summary Packet” that contains a list of all the hotels we will be staying at and their contact information so you can make your reservations. There is also a day by day description of each days ride and maps for each day. You can find the “Summary Packet” and “Maps with notes” at the bottom of the day by day description.
Registration Closes July 31st but we may be able to sneak you in.
2019 Calendar of Events
January 19 Annual General Meeting - Seattle, WA
February 16 Anniversary Banquet - Portland, OR
March 16 Club Meeting - Don W, Lynnwood, WA
April 20 Club Meeting - Dan S, Oakville, WA
May 17-20 Victoria Day Weekend Camp - Pine Flats Campground, Ardenvoir, WA
June 14-16 Bear Springs Group Campground, Maupin, OR
June 16 - BRMC rides in Portland Pride Parade
July19-21 Lewis & Clark Trail State Park, Dayton, WA
August 16-18, Willows Campground, Lillooet, BC
September 14-21 50th Anniversary Ride - OR, WA, BC
September 21 Club Meeting, Bellingham, WA
October 19 Club Meeting - TBD
November 16 Club Meeting - TBD
December 14 Holiday Party - TBD
Birthdays
We have 7 members with birthdays this month. Please take a moment to wish them a great day.
Troy A - 21
Stan C - 24
John D - 26
Dave J - 16
Bill L - 10
Jack O -26
Buck W - 14
Meet & Greets
BRMC members will be available for new and returning guys to connect and learn more about the club and opportunities to participate. If you are interested, check out when and where in the cities listed below. Also, in addition to the club's monthly events, local rides may be organized, weather permitting. To lean more, email the Road Captain for specific details, or to ensure a member to meet you, at captain@borderriders.com.
Portland: Meet & Greet - 1st Wednesday of the month, 7 pm at The Portland Eagle
Vancouver BC Meet & Greet - 2nd Wednesday of the month. 4 to 6 pm at The Met Hotel, New Westminster
Seattle: Meet & Greet - 3rd Wednesday of the month, 7 pm at The Cuff
Reader’s Corner
A place for you the reader, member or guest, to contribute. Tell us about your travels, adventures, mishaps, etc.
Digital Archives by Don W
“A picture is worth a thousand words.” Photos are a snapshot of a moment in time. Each photo represents so much in terms of the people in it, the place it was taken, and the physical elements throughout. In the moment the picture is a representation of that place and time. Five, ten, or twenty years from now, that image represents so much more; emotions, history, nostalgia, and memories.
Many of us take lots of photos and videos. As our culture changes from traditional pint images to digital artifacts, it is more difficult to share these, especially when the count and size go beyond capabilities of a simple email. As the club works to address the changing needs of image archiving, we as members can try to keep the club in mind when it comes to our image and video collections.
First, we can share the highlighted images and videos in the short term with the club via email to news@borderriders.com. Larger folders can be shared via a USB drive. One additional idea is to leave a note on your files or last will and testament that any images in a certain folder or of a certain type be sent to the club. I personally have thousands of images and videos over the past decade plus at club events. Only a fraction has been shared with the club. In my will, I have a specific call out that images in my “trips” and “motorcycle” image directories be shared with the club.
LightHouse tour By Stan C
Every year Alan and I do (1) group ride with some close friends. When I map out these group rides, I tend to map out points of interest that would allow/require us to sit in the saddle for some long days. For example, Burley ID to Durango CO, 9 hours in the saddle and 574 miles.
Alan asked me to put together a different kind of group ride for 2019. A slower ride with fewer miles and more time looking at stuff. After some brain storming Alan came up with the idea of touring all the lighthouses between Port Townsend and the OR/CA border. My first thought was, “BORING”, but as a good partner I did as asked and researched this possible ride.
I was shocked to find that there were a lot more lighthouses along this route that I thought. At one point I counted 17 lighthouses, but some had been sold to private parties and others had been removed or destroyed. The eventual route had us visiting about 12 lighthouses over an 8-day to 10-day period.
I found the website, friends of Washington Lighthouses and Friends of Oregon Lighthouses to be full of information. These websites ended up being my source of information and they were interesting enough that I spent hours reading about all the different lighthouses. I highly recommend them.
Attending this ride would be Alan H, Chris L, Richard A, David F & myself. David decided to join us a couple days into the trip and depending on how things went he may finish with us or may break off at some point and pursue other interest.
Alan and I meet up with Chris and Richard in Port Townsend on the morning of July 4th. The first lighthouse was in Port Townsend, so it wasn’t long after we meet for coffee that we were standing in front of a lighthouse. We didn’t want to pay $10ea to park and tour the lighthouse so we took a quick picture and rode on.
Several of the lighthouses charged $10 to walk to the top but we found that we could see so much just by reading the placards and walking around the grounds. I sometimes wonder if we shouldn’t have just paid the $10 and gone on the tour, but it’s a little late now that we are back home.
I think we each had a different favorite lighthouse so it’s difficult to pick a winner. You’ll just need to go see them for yourself.
We didn’t have a strict schedule and as a result, we got a little ahead of schedule and were able to add a tour of the Redwoods and a ride north on CA-96. We also added a night in Ashland and walked around downtown Ash. This was followed by a fun ride into Bend to see some friends and an afternoon playing around downtown Bend.
Since I’ve been accused of being a little long winded in my writing, I’ll stop here, make this one brief and just say it turned out to be one of my favorite group rides. I was surprised at how different each lighthouse was and how beautiful the areas they were built were. Additionally, I enjoyed Highway 101 along the coast and the beautiful views of the various beaches and of course, the ocean.
If you are thinking about a fun thing to do next summer, I highly recommend this lighthouse ride. It might just be one of my favorite group rides so far.
Contributions of Photos & Stories
If you have photos and stories to share, please send to news@borderriders.com