Wanting to ride route 3 since the 2005 ride of route 5. There were 5 riders then and we all had a great time doing the dual sport ride. http://www.oohva.org/ Route 3 on the west side ot the Cascade mtn range has some higher track elevations and some what less heat than east side route 5 especially the desert sections of route 5. This required a later start in July vs June. We did hit a patch of snowbank at 6800 ft on the north section of route 3. A week before had a heat wave and likely then it may not have been passable. The north section of 3 that we planned on passing later was reported on ADV to still be imapassable that week (east of Detroit Lake). Ride arounds are possible of course. Met Keith COG WYAAD on a 2009 KLR 650, Steve on a DRZ400S with 4 gal tank from here in Puyallup and brother Al on a 2008 KLR 650 from Grants Pass, OR at the start in Dorris CA on July 10. Me from Graham WA, on a 2008 KLR 650. We all had many years of dual sport, off road riding and street cred. Al had a 25 year gap of dirt riding. Keith was a numbered expert level offroad competition rider when he was living in Ridegcrest CA in the 80's. Steve got back into dual sport riding a couple years ago. We all have street rides also. Me, pretty much have been riding since 1960 with a year or two here and there without a ride. Dirt, dualsport, sport touring.. I want it all. I am the old man on the trip comimng into my 60th birthday next month. Out of shape, over weight.... but willing! Keith asked me mid trip If I realized this was an optomistic expedition. Yes. Set goals high but attainable... I Guess.. I was pressing hard the first two days. I later realized that we are here to have a good time with good memories so go with the flow as far as missing a few segments and geting motels more often than the one out of three I was expecting. My riding pals were right. Sometimes as a ride organizer/leader we push too hard. Naturally we all wanted this to be successful and to completion. Keith measured 1100 miles for our combined routes 3,4,5 leaving off the north section of route 3 to head east on route 4 to join and ride the north section of route 5 to Walla Walla WA. Started the ride from Dorris CA on July 11. Keith had the longer total miles I am sure to/from Cody WY. It was 1900 miles total for me from Graham WA. Keith also said it was 700 miles of fr's some paved but most not. I estimated it to take 6 days and we did it in 5 1/2. Also bypassed a few sections due to wanting to head more directly to a camp or motel and then joing the route on the other side. Flexible we were! Some fr's were unimproved and considerede to be moderate 4/4 difficulty. No single track with a couple exceptions. A couple short quad sections thrown in. Steep gully in/out, steep downhill slider to backtrack slightly from a closed road down to the lower fr. We ended up camping every other day. The motel was realy fine getting the accrued trail dust off. It was very dusty especially route 3 (volcanic ash soil) tho as leader I was in front 4 of the 6 days. Keith led the other 2 days. I followed those two days 1/4-1/2 mile to the rear to stay out of the dust. Also used a medical dust mask. With the rear rider having the GPS track we did not have to stop at the many turns for that last rider but the leader had to stop for the 2nd rider which was usually only about a minute. I used the TrekNow GPS cd on a Garmin 276C gps. Just two days before the trip it was (finally!) loaded as compressed files down to 15 tracks which is the limit for this GPS unit. Thanks to Jim Robinsom at TrekNow for the assistance over the phone! Whew! JIT! Keith had to use a smaller number of tracks on his Garmin 660, Al had it loaded but as he had trans problem the first day and opted out just 60 miles from hom, not sure if his Garmin 550 was set up to follow the route or not. I had one rear flat just north out of Sumpter. Had a new tube to install. Steve has a tool using two threaded rods with a long coupler. This lifted the right footpeg and with sidesatnd down rear tire wa up. Simpple, cheap, effective! Having trail buds sure makes it go easier/faster. Thanks guys! The right rear bolt for luggage rack had thread damage and was able to get a smaller dia, longer sae hardened bolt with additional nut across street at NAPA from the Motel 6 in Redmond. No problem! Al was very dissapointed in his trans mechanical problems and we supported his decison even if we had to tow him later. He made the right decision as I would likey have done to head for home. Photos and messages at: http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/OBDRROUTE32010/ Yahoo Groups OBDRROUTE32010