We're Almost All Here

It was very cold last night but I got a great night's sleep in my warm sleeping bag on my cot. Cuppa Joe (Joe Smith) had been up since 5:00 a.m. brewing his favourite coffee from Baton Rouge, LA, and like most of us, I was very happy to fill my mug and and enjoy morning conversation with people that I have never met before. We are all connected by our love of Norton motorcycles, most of them Commandos. So far I have met people from Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, and one participant even rode his Commando from Atlanta, Georgia. It is a widely varied group but everyone is friendly and only to happy to sit and have a conversation, not always about Nortons, either.

Banners from the Washington Norton Owners' association and the Ontario (Canada) Norton Owners

The Wifi at this campground is glacially slow so, on Wednesday morning I hiked into a coffee shop in down Winthrop. The wi-fi was not much better there, but the coffee was good and I was able to complete an abbreviated blog entry from the previous day.

Not much was happening in the campsite except for checking out other Commandos and visiting so I took part of the time to detail and polish my Commando. Two days of rain left marks on the aluminum casings and the disk brake was a bright orange.

This morning many of the rally participants arrived with their Nortons. Some of them were beautifully maintained, with their original paint. One such machine was Mike Tyler's with gold metal flake paint. The painting done by Norton in the 1970s doesn't seem to be reproduceable now, so original paint is somewhat of a rarity.

Mike Tyler's gold metal flake Commando

One of the things I noticed as people arrived was the number of Toyota Tundras and Tacomas in which people were bringing their Commandos to the rally. In my small area of the campground, there were five Toyotas with several more scattered throughout the rest of the campground. It seems that there may be an affinity for Toyota pickup trucks by those who ride Nortons. 

Toyotas lined up in the campsite

Downtown Winthrop

I hiked into downtown Winthrop so that I could use the wifi in a local coffee shop, but I discovered that internet speed was almost as slow as in the campground. I can see how the US government has allocated billions of dollars to improve rural access to high speed internet. The couple who camped next to me, Ann and Chuck Horton live in southwestern Colorado and they said that they have the same issues with their internet as well. It certainly has delayed my postings.

One of the regular attendees of previous rallies was Doug MacAdam, a fascinating character who loved Norton Commandos and who founded Colorado Norton Works which he sold to Matt Rambo before opening a restaurant which he later sold. Doug then moved to Baja Mexico where he continued to build one or two Commandos each year. When I first met him, was driving a retired hearse. He would pull the sliding table out, turn the handlebars down, put two Commandos on the table, then slide it into the hearse. A very effective way to load his motorcycles.

One evening I had the privilege of sitting and talking with him for at least an hour. As he sipped on his Five Roses whiskey, he expounded on his views of the importance effort, perseverance, and quality. He made sense and the quality of his motorcycle builds speaks to his commitment to those qualities. Sadly, Doug passed away this past spring. He was and will be sorely missed.

Doug MacAdam's first Commando build.

Spectacular paint

More great paint

A newer 961 Norton Commando

Canadian Army WWII Norton motorcycle

Butch Ambrosius much travelled customized Norton Commando

As I wandered taking photos, I came across Rich, a guy from Olympia, who camped beside Clint Campbell and me at the Elma Rally. In his campsite, he had a large cutout of Austin Powers that I first saw at the 2014 rally near Ashland, OR. Austin has weathered the ravages of time very well.

Rich's Austin Power's display

Bikes lined up at Colin Kelly's campsite

During the day many more people arrived at the rally with their motorcycles and as they settled in, they parked, set up their areas and brought their motorcycles out. I wandered around the campsites taking photos of the various motorcycles just because they looked so good. The above photos are some of the examples of the motorcycles that people brought. It is apparent that there were no 'trailer queens' at the rally. As good as the motorcycles looked, most, if not all were ridden on a regular basis.

I spent a good deal of time cleaning and polishing my motorcycle, because the the previous days of rain had stained the aluminum cases. It took some time, but I was able to clean everything up so that the bike looked like it should. I also came across Ken Davies, a Norton Atlas rider who lived quite close to me and his group, who had ridden in from Victoria, BC. The weather in the Washington and  Rainy passes which reach an altitude of 1650 metres was wet and cold. They had the foresight to rent one of the tipis on site and seemed to have a comfortable setup. I was able to spend time with his group and they were a great bunch to hang out with.

Tomorrow, we will doing a group ride to Patros, Wa, on the Columbia River. Should be a great ride.

I'm Singin' In the Rain (Not)

 So, I'm posting this a day late because internet speed at the campsite is very slow. 

Yesterday morning I left Burlington in the rain. The four guys who rolled in the night before were preparing to hit the road south to California in their rain gear. I have to admire their fortitude but they are younger and perhaps a little more determined than I would be. 

The drive was only 138 miles (about 240 km) and I had all day to do it, so I planned on a leisurely drive to Winthrop on the North Cascades Highway. I have driven and ridden it before and it is well worth the time to do it. The route is interspaced with small towns like Concrete, Newhalem, and Marblemount. Newhalems has a static display of a 2-6-2 steam locomotive that had been used to bring much of the material for the three dams that harness the Skagit River. 

If you are not in a hurry, the drive is terrific. The highway is in good condition and there is surprisingly little traffic with many pullouts and viewpoints. Considering how beautiful this landscape is, it is a great way to spend part of a day. Along the route there are a large number of waterfalls, and the lakes and rivers are a light blue colour. I was able to stop many times along the way and that added some time to the trip. As you can see from the photos, the rain never relented until just before I arrived at Winthrop and the sun even made a valiant effort to pierce the clouds.

Even though I live on the east coast of Vancouver Island and we have a great deal of rain for the greatest part of the year, the drive through the forest at the base of the Cascades gave me a good idea about the lushness and variety of plant life of this area. The trees and other plant life on either side of the highway is incredibly dense with everything from thick moss growing on tree trunks, to wildflowers and other plants as well as snails, mushrooms and undergrowth give a palette of green that is as close to a jungle as you will find in our part of the world. 

The highway runs along the Skagit River and the water id a beautiful light green colour, probably as a result of its origins in the Coastal Mountains of BC and the Cascades in Washington State. With the rain and the late spring we had this year, the river was running strong and it is a beautiful river.

Foxglove Blossoms

Roadside Waterfall

With the amount of rain that has fallen over the past two days, there is a myriad of small waterfalls cascading down the steep rock faces, each beautiful in its own way

Ross Dam

On this stretch of the Skagit river there are three dams, the Gorge, Diablo and Ross Dams. When the dams were being constructed in the 1950s the Skagit River was known as 'The Million Horsepower River'. These dams provide much of the electricity that powers Seattle, and if 'm correct, they are owned by the Seatlle Light and Power Company.

Roadside Waterfall

Diablo Lake

East side of the Cascade Mountains

At a height of 1600 metres, there is still snow in shaded spots.

The campground was easy to find and because I had registered early, I scored a pretty good campsite on a slope above the main grounds. Many of the rally goers had already arrived before I did, so it was great to see some familiar faces. 

I was able to set up my tent, cot, and sleeping bag, and then unload my Commando. I found a small slope and asked two guys to help me unload it. A third guy jumped in as well so it went very easily.

My campsite at the Pine Near campground, Winthrop, WA.

Buttoned up for the rain with a Harley cover.

Chuck 'I don't give a f@&k' Horton's 1975 Commando Roadster

Shortly after, the rain began. It seems that it had chased my from the west side of the Cascades so we had an evening of steady rain with the promise of sun on Wednesday. Dinner was really fine with steak, corn and salad. Along with beverages.

When I arrived, Colon Kelly, the Canadian INOA representative had already set up his tent with two well turned Norton motorcycles, on of which is a beautifully restored 1967 Norton Atlas. It is amazing the time, care and money that the people who own many of these old motorcycles invest in keeping them, not only in running condition, but also in almost showroom condition. More remarkably, these motorcycles are not just 'trailer queens' but they are actually ridden, then lovingly cleaned up between rides. The number of well cared for Nortons at the rally is outstanding, and the Concours on Saturday will give people an idea about this when they are all together in one spot.

Colin Kelly with two of his Nortons

Mark Zenor's Commando Interstate

Another fine pair of Nortons

I saw Joe Smith (Cuppa Joe) and sat with him for dinner. He is really into the spirit of the rally and had brought a bottle of Norton Malbec wine that he shared with the table. Prior to dinner a man named Jim showed up with a bottle of Shackelton blende malt whisky which he also shared. He said that he wasn't taking it home so many people took advantage of the offer. His story was that the 1907 Shackelton polar expedition to the south pole had left two cases of whisky in a hut which was buried in snow. When it was discovered and excavated one hundred years later the whisky was found and brought back to Scotland where the original distillers had pierced the cork with a needle, drawn a sample, analyzed it and produced a perfect duplicate of the original. It's a great story.

The covered area is a great place to meet people and have some good conversations. Most of the people are past middle age and many have great stories. That's what happens at these rallies. There is also a large number of 50+ year-old motorcycles that are kept in good running condition and it is a real joy to see the care with which their owners treat them.

At about 9:30 I wrapped it up for the day because the temperature had dropped and in addition to being wet, it was quite chilly. More to come tomorrow.