Washington's SR 20 Opens Today at Noon

From the WSDOT North Cascades Highway Update, "Nine feet of snowfall in March and a record seven-and-a-half feet in April on the western slopes of the Cascades kept avalanche control technicians and snow clearing equipment on Stevens Pass until the avalanche threat eased and allowed the team to move up to the North Cascades. There, they found SR 20 buried in snow as deep as 75 feet. This is the second latest opening of the highway surpassed only by the June 14, 1974 opening."

I think I'll skip the opening this year, since the weather forecast for today is mostly cloudy with a chance of rain this morning...then rain likely this afternoon. Not that riding in the rain bothers me but I'd rather do that particular ride on a sunny day.

Maybe I'll change my mind later - I would like to get one of Tootsie Clark's cinnamon rolls, for the first drivers at the gate.

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I got up to the gate about 11:30 but Tootsie was all out of cinnamon rolls. I did get a couple of free granola bars and a double espresso at Cascadian Farm on my way which helped make up for no free cinnamon rolls. I spent an hour or so in Winthrop and got an offer from an old guy to trade my ride for his ride (a cane). That's one thing I like about being on a motorcycle - your out in the open which tends to make human to human interaction much more likely than in a car. No rain until just outside of Twisp and then it rained all the way home. I took Highway 20 east and came back west on Highway 2. Coming off Stevens Pass on 2 was interesting because there was ground fog and rain. Nice ride and as always good to get out on the road.

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