Wow has this ever been a fast paced and exciting season,and DamTour 2008, is officially over, but not all the fun is over. A can't miss event is the 2008 Awards Party at Action Motor Sports in Gresham.

Everyone is "Welcome", grab some q free" eats and talk bike with DamTour riders. Share with others what DamTour is all about. Learn more at the welcome & introduction, and hear a few "Stats" from 2008 and past seasons, join in on the Q & A session and hear some "Open Mike" Interviews. See the long awaited "All Dam Twenty" presentations. Find out where next year’s Bonus Dams will be.

Meet and visit NW Motorcycle personalities like: Steve & Eric Folkestad, the founders of Hells Canyon Motorcycle Rally, and Tom Mehren, Sport Bike NW founder, and watch a great slide show "Motorcycling in the Columbia River Gorge".

In the news in our last week, Rich Davis - 8079, made his swoop of five dams to finish all the state dams and earning his WA pin. Last week he earned his OR pin. Congratulations Rich. A nice finish of the season.

On a different note, we had a sad rider that was scheduled to make the grand finish this last weekend, only to have bike troubles.. so sorry to hear Fred Dykins - 8010, had to cancel his planned trip. And . . .I heard from rider Doug Williams (8117), that his DamTour plans had to be scraped after an accident on August 15th, when someone decided there was room for both of them in his lane. Doug says he hasn't' been able to ride since. Best Wishes go out to Doug that it is a full and speedy recovery.

Invitations will be coming out soon, by mail and email. See ya all there. Be there or be square...

Okay guys, we are down to the wire here and boy has this been a great and exciting season. Only "7" more days to the end of our DamTour season. Four more riders have finished since the last news report and we have more pin earners too. Rider, Terry Morris, who got his placard on August 24th, finished on September 14th. (See his ride report here) Andy Spicer made a 650 mile, 14 hour run on September 18th to get his last three dams. And Just this last Saturday, Jeff Graham and Mark MacConaghy rode to Gorge dam to join the "All Twenty" club.

Papa Rich Davis made his first MC camping trip to pick up Antelope Dam and his OR pin, and says he had fun and might camp more, and that he is hoping to still earn his WA pin. Go Papa Rich.

Speaking of pins... I now owe, or need to send 10 State pins. I am holding off to give them out at the Awards Party, October 18th at Action Motor Sports in Gresham. If you would rather I send them out... please send me a note and I will get them out to you, ASAP.

Keep Riding... try and get some "goose eggs" out on the road this last week of the season. Find some motorcycle riders that need to learn more about DamTour and bring them as guests to the Awards Party, and maybe win a surprise for bringing the most guests.

Invitations will be coming out the 1st. See ya all there. Be there or be square...

First off, sorry for missing last week. I have been painting the outside of the house, and yes... the hard way(no sprayers). I should finish it today, if I get in gear. :-) So now I will cover that last couple of weeks. We have added two new finishers, Brian and Brad Sitton who did a long weekend swoop of five dams, and I received photos for Joe Bronaugh and Chuck Ingham finishing with Bob Newkirk a couple of weeks ago. Also in the news is Terry Morris, who signed-up less than a month ago and has 12 dams as of today. He picked up his placard on Aug. 25th at the SBNW event, and got three dams on the way home and three more the following weekend and sent in six more this past week. Way to go Terry. Jerry Rodgers did another run this last week getting two more, Cougar, and Walterville.

Besides finishers, we have four who have earned their WA pins. Brian and Brad above, and Rich & Sherri Hensler with their Gnome riding partner, who on a 974 miles, two day trip, turned in four more dams, and ex-gimp Colin Prior who, with the help of "De Dam Bear", found his way to John Day Dam to receive their WA pin from DamDan.

With two weeks left to go, we have 26 finishers, 34 WA pin earners, and 32 OR pin earners The most visited dam so far is John Day with 60 visits, and the least visited dam is Rye Patch, 33 visits, but both hold that ranking by small margins.

The 5th Annual Awards Party will be held on Oct. 18th, at Action Motor Sports(Honda store) in Gresham. Plan to arrive bike or cage... for some great fun, 11:00AM to 4:00PM. BRing friends, family and guests that might want to know more about DamTour. We will have food, provided by our great hosts Action Motor Sports, and other fun surprises. Awards of the beautiful 2008 crystal trophies will be given out and next years Bonus Dams will be announced. Don't miss this fun event.

More information and invitations will be coming out shortly. See ya all there.

Okay all, we have 27 days left and I need to remind you that all photos must be turned in by Oct. 2nd at the latest. If you don't get your dams turned in by then "no trophy". Hate to be the hard ass here...but that is the rule. Please don’t expect to arrive at the awards party with your late submissions and expect to get a trophy. All dams must be visited by the end of day September 30th, but I will give you a bit of time to send them in. Oct. 2nd is the DEADLINE !!!   

Please, please, don't wait until the last minute to send photos in. If you are expecting to finish and it will be down to the wire for you on dates... I would appreciate a heads up that they will be forthcoming. If there are other concerns or questions please send me a note. If you know someone that doesn't do digital or you know has ridden and not sent them in, pleeeeasssse, give them a nudge, remind them, or help them get them in. Especially those that are sitting in the "0" section of the rankings. And, I know for a fact there are some.  

Now for a note on John Day dam... That dam is on our Washington Dam list , therefore it is a WA dam, and the photo, as stated on the dam list, needs to be from the WA side of the river. For those of you that did the "oops", and took your photo from the OR side, and you expect to earn a trophy, you better be sure I receive your WA side photo of that dam or it is a no.... go. I think I warned all that did the oops, that I will give current credit for that dam, but if their were going to finish, they needed to redo that dam. It is only fair to the rest of the riders that made the extra miles and crossed the river.

On to fun news.... As expected the long weekend was a busy and interesting one for DamTour riders. Four more riders finished this last weekend, Bryan Townsend (1), Tony Pavlakis (1), Bill Lynes (5), and Lori Magers (5), all managed to pick up their last dams to join the " all twenty" club. Jeff Graham added four more dams to be sitting one away from the finish line. Jerry Rodgers, went to Round Butte having a rainy ride over Mt Hood pass but met sun on the east side and even sent in a photo from on the lake... he said they wouldn't let me launch the bike.  

This week we had 17 state pins to send out to 11 riders, but I got a visit from rider Randy Ohno, the guy that did all twenty dams in 8 days along with Pav Virk last month. Monday morning, Randy and his lovely wife Chris dropped by for a visit on their way to the coast for a short vacation and picked up his and Pav's. It was really great to meet them and really sorry they will not be able to attend the awards party so you guys could meet them too. The pins should go out today. Sorry for the delay, I am out of envelopes (so was the local store...LOL).

It sounds like there were some great rides this last week, so hope you are posting a report of things. Don't be bashful, jump right in and post your new life experience.

What an exciting week this was,and adding an extra news brief because of it. Not only was I slow in getting the site updated, but every time I thought I had it done and ready to go up, in popped another email, with more news or damtour photos. So on Thursday late afternoon, I finally get the last weeks rides and news uploaded to the site. *sigh* So, in my moments of calm, I ponder those that still appear in the "goose egg" division and wonder if we will hear from any of them. Those of particular interest to me are our very distant sign-ups that have been so very quiet. We had three riders sign-up from Canada this year, one from Alberta, and two from B.C., and had only hear from Alberta. We also have riders signed-up from Nevada and you gotta know they could a least get one...  So, I'm hoping they are riding, but not turning them in. In any case, it is still good to see so many people interested enough in DamTour to sign-up and give it a try.

Well, no rest for the wicked.    After dinner, the activity began again. I get some promised photos that were forgotten, and Keith Spicer sent in his last four to join the "20 Down" team of finishers. Andy Spicer sent in a few more photos and earned his OR pin, and Bob Newkirk sent in a big batch earning both OR & WA pins leaving only one more to go. But the big surprise of the night was hearing an amazing saga from Randy Ohno and Pav Virk of B.C. Canada.... as if they heard me thinking.

I get th message below from Randy Ohno - 8106...

"Completed all twenty dams 8 days 10 hours 3550 miles and 70 gals of gas. Started tour through Northern Cascades to Montana then south through Idaho, Nevada and zig zagged back and forth through Oregon, Washington to Port Angeles and Vancouver Island. .....
..... This trip was great fun as we added many other sights along the way, backroads north of Grand Coulee, Crater lake, Old scenic Highway, Stonehenge, Yakima Canyon, Leavenworth."

then a bit later I get the photos from his riding partner in crime, Pav Virk - 8029. Way to go Canada.... three riders and 56 dams total. Nice showing, and an impressive ride.... wonder if they saw Keith last year on his "8 day" wonder trip. BTW. . . Keith if you are reading this... you are responsible for our Alberta couple, Al & Kathy Lund, signing up. They met you last year on your 8 day wonder ride, sent an email inquiring if Canadians could join in on the fun, signed up and picked up a quick 9 dams, signed-up again this year, made the picnic, the Montana group ride, and snagged 16 dams before heading home. They were hoping to meet you again at the picnic. But now I know where you were.

I have a feeling this long weekend may prove to be adding a few more finishers, and maybe we will see more flights out of the nest.

Maybe we should have a small challenge here... see who can get together with the most goose egg riders (or few dams numbers) and get them out riding. Make contact with the "zero damers", and lead a ride and send in some group rider shots. Should this be individual or state against state? What do ya say?

Ride On DamTour Riders

Busy and fun week we had. As you know DamTour along with HCMR sponsored the bike barn at SBNW and we went there to promote DamTour. With a little more than a month left to go we signed up two new riders (Terry Morris and Doug Dean) and talked with several riders that are planning to sign up for next year. We are growing. Terry Morris picked up his placard Sunday and has already picked up three dams, and plans to get Cascade and Kerr this coming weekend and, says he hopes to ace this tour with all twenty.

Jim and I took the motor home, and as Tom Mehren put it, commandeered the information booth to promote DamTour. :-) Worked out great too. A lot of interest in joining DamTour was sparked as well as interest in being one of next year's sponsors. Friday night was the trivia game at the Beer Garden. Jim and I were having a beer, and thought, well we are here... a team of two. We called ourselves DamTour. When Bob and son Louis Dash, that we met earlier at our booth showed up, we asked them to join us. Another late comer Leslie came later and we were a team of five. To make the story short, it was a blast and we won $100.00, taking top honors getting 32 out of the 60 questions. .

Saturday night, after my personal BMW demo ride, we sat around the motor home and our booth, listening to all the activities at the main stage (a few yards away). A gentleman walked over and sat down to visit with us. We talked about birds, bees, (sounds kinky doesn't it, but it wasn't) and DamTour, and some how when I was answering some questions about DamTour with a passer by, Jim mentions these great books we had bought about four years ago, and asked me who they were by, as he couldn't remember. I said they were by a David H something or other, like Houg.... well our guest pronounced it for me, by introducing himself as the David Hough (pronounced Huff). I about fell over. I had been excited that he was going to give a clinic Sunday and was hoping we could stay for it. And here he sat.

If you haven't heard of his books.. check them out at Sound Rider, or Amazon ... "Proficient Motorcycling", "More Proficient Motorcycling", and "Street Strategies". All in all a good weekend.

On the DamTour front, we had 5 more pin earners and one finisher. Ed Recknagle finished his twenty and earned both OR & WA, Chuck Ingham turned in 9 dams and earned both his OR & WA pins, Bryan Townsend turned in nine dams getting both his WA & OR pin, and Tony Ward added Nine Mile to get his WA pin, and Kelly Page turned in eight dams, earning his OR pin.

The awards party date has been set for October 18th. Location TBD. Please get your photos in soon, and if you are getting close, and hoping to make the goal of "Twenty" dams,. please let us know so we can be expecting photos. All your photos must be in by October 2nd to receive credit.

We have 33 more days left so get out there and ride.

Wow... we had 41 dam visits reported this last week. Some from new rides over the weekend and some from those of you that were sitting on them for a while. To those that finally got their photos sent in... thank you, thank you. Rod Kehmeier was rumored to have been on some rides, and was responsible for 15 of those dam visit photos. Thank you Rod (and Tim).

Two more finishers this week. Bill Barker and Tim Watts, both finished their "20" dams with John Hart Dam, and not together. Dave Korrell finally was found after going missing inside a pipe at Walterville a while back, and when he surfaced again, it appears he found 7 dams to add to his total. Dave Capps got three dams and this time I think he had a more pleasant ride experience ... LOL On the other hand Kurt and Linda Wilke picked up two more dams each but ran into a bit of trouble. Perhaps Kurt might want to take his ST to Stevenson this weekend for the SBNW event, and check out the "how-to-pack" for camping clinic. Ask Kurt all about it, or better yet, read his post on the forum. Hey Kurt, maybe it is time for Linda to get an ST, so you don't need to swap gas.

Ride on Riders.... see ya in Stevenson.

PS.... I have more '08 picnic photos, that Tony sent in, to go up soon. I over looked them in a different folder. Sorry.

Well riders we have 48 more days to seasons end. Still lots of time to get out there and explore the back roads of the pacific northwest. And plenty of time to earn a "8 -in a - State" pin or even finish all twenty and earn that coveted and beautiful crystal trophy.

Five more pins went out this week and we have added three more finishes. Dennis York, Lloyd Gardner, and Charles Katopodis getting 23 dams among them, finished their 20. Keith and birthday boy Andy Spicier had a great week long ride getting 10 for Andy and 8 for dad Keith. I can't think of a better way to spend a birthday. Dave Capps... had a harrowing story (another reason to have a ride companion) making short-cuts through the desert. Maybe we should take a collection for a metal detector.

Quick Stats for the second week in August....

We have 19 Oregon pin earners, and 18 Washington pin earners. We have 11 finishers and several very close. We have a total of 721 dam visits reported ( and I know there are many others unreported as yet). Of those 721 dam visits, 16 are from Canadian riders, 288 are from Oregon riders, and 417 are from Washington riders. And ... so far a total of 53 or our 104 registered riders have reported at lease one dam. (That is another hint to those of you that haven't turned in your photos and ride reports yet.)

Ride on Riders.... see ya in Stevenson.

Big news for DamTour. We (and HCMR) are a primary sponsor for Sound Riders great annual event - Sportbike Northwest 2008. You couldn't ask for a more beautiful area to ride and the scheduled clinic, rides, vendors and great activities are well worth the time. A great opportunity to check out he latest in sport and sport touring bikes, as well. Do you have to own/ride a sport bike to enjoy this... heck no.
It's all about the ride....

With our support this year the bike barn couldn't be called just the bike barn, so they've christened it The" Dam" Bike Barn.  So take a look at the schedule and details of the event and enjoy the covered parking.

How many DamTour riders can we fit in the barn? Let's find out.
Join us Aug. 21 - 24th.

Today I sent out 8 more State pins that were recently earned by 7 riders. New to the finish line this weekend were Ken Hattan, and Steve Folkstad, congrats to both of them. Riders Billie-Jean Williams, Ken Hattan, Steve Folkstad, Tony Pavlakis, Dave Waldron, Heather & Rob Newcomer, Mark MacConaghy, and Tim Watts earned a pin in the last two weeks of riding. Congrats to all of them.

Out of the nest this week getting his first dam of the season was Duane Northrup. I expect to be seeing many more dam reports from that direction soon. Lots of season left. Also newly reported were dams by Bob Newkirk's riding buddy, Chuck Ingham, who picked up ten dams last week. Rich & Sherri Hensler went out over the 4th, and snagged a nice total of 7 dams. Way to fly.

Okay all we have 64 days left.... get those bikes revved up and if you have dam photos out there, not turned in yet.... Please...please....please, get them turned in. Also, if you have taken your photo from the OR side for John Day, and expect to earn a crystal trophy, get back out there and get your WA side photo.

Now... get busy and plan your next trip... drag some others with you... or not.... but get out there and ride.

You riders have been really busy getting dams and adding miles and miles of life experiences with those bikes of yours. We had a great picnic, but those that didn't attend were having fun too. We had several groups out hitting quite a few dams.

Brad and Brian Sitton were out and got 7 dams each, Doug Williams picked up 2, and Galen Fries snag his first dam. The team of Jeff Graham, Mark MacConaghy,Tim Watts, and Rod Kehmeier (whom I have not heard from yet) had great time riding to Nevada hitting 4 dams along the way and enjoying a fun, but I hear, very dirty ride on Jungo Rd. Also out, was new to the rankings, Ed Recknagle getting 10, and Bob Newkirk (both riders out with fellow DT rider) snagged 10. Hope to hear from the other riders soon. Bill Lynes was on a weekend Rally trip and picked up 6 dams to add to his total. And Ken and Sandy Hattan got back from their week long trip with 10 dams each.

That makes 165 photos turned in this week... and that wasn't all of them. We now have a reported 634 rides so far this year, and that is not all because I know for a fact we have several that have not been reported yet. Of those rides, 16 are from Canada, 260 are from Oregon, and 358 are from Washington. So far we have 63 of our 104 registered riders that have reported rides and ranked on the rankings table. Wow... and still lots of time to go. What a year.

Let's all encourage riders to get their rankings updated, and let see what we can do to help the "goose eggs" out of the nest.

Oregon Burn Center Motorcycle Benefit Ride

Date : 19 July 2008 (Saturday)       From : 09:00
Category : Run

Event Description :

Sponsored by US Bank, Action Motorsports, and Best Buy.

The ride will begin at:
The Oregon Burn Center
3001 N. Gantenbein Avenue
Portland, OR.

On site registration begins at 8:00 am.

Ride fee is $25.00 per person which includes a t-shirt and meal.

The 220 mile ride through western Washington and Oregon will begin at 9:00 am. The ride ends with prizes, and a meal. For more information call (503) 413-4187

Motorcycle Charity Ride

The Bethel Church chapter of HonorBound Motor Ministries, “Band of Brothers” is hosting a charity motorcycle ride July 19. The day will start at 8:45 a.m. at the Bethel Church parking lot with registration and check in, with the ride to start at 9:30 a.m.

The cost for single riders is $25 and $30 for doubles. Lunch will be provided at the church at 1 p.m. To register, visit bethel-church.com, click on ministries, HonorBound Men’s Ministries, then Band of Brothers Charity Run. All proceeds go to the recent flood victims of Lewis County.

Bethel Church is located at 132 Kirkland Drive, Exit 72, Chehalis. For more information call 748-0119.

Jim and I were gone for 11 days to finish off our dams and take the great group ride and stay in Philipsburg, MT. It was fantastic. More on that later. I am sure it will be a repeat, and if so... mark your calendar now, and join in on the fun. After we got back we spent the next few days getting ready for the picnic so lots has happened. I hope I can remember it all.

It has been a busy few weeks and lots has been going on since the last news. We have had "five" new finishers. Angel Jackson took second spot, then Cheryll and Jim Malisch, Cary funk , and Lou Nozsar, in that order. We now have six finishers, and a lot are sitting so close, a small breeze will get them to their next dam for a finish.

For several of those that were out there dam chasing, there were rewards as well. Earning pins these last few weeks were Lou Nozsar (OR,WA), Tony Pavlakis (OR), Tim Watts (OR), Mark MacConaghy (OR), Cary Funk (WA), and Jim & Cheryll Malisch (OR, WA). Hope I didn't miss someone. Not sure I can list all the riders that have been getting dams, but will mention that Brad and Brain Sitton, snagged 7 dams over the picnic weekend, and a new "out of the nest rider" was Galen Fries getting Cle Elum.

The picnic was great and all went well in spite of some delay in getting things scheduled and the change to an early morning dam tour. Tacoma Power once again were really great, with a deal on parking and a wonderful informative tour of Mayfield Dam. While the dam was only ten miles down the road from the park, Steve made it more enjoyable by leading all the riders along the "scenic" route. And Angel Jackson added a bit of entertainment getting a few men to lay down at her feet, while lined up for the tour.

We still have about 2 1/2 month left to get out there and explore the world of damtour riding. Grab a friend and take them along, or grab a damtour rider and make them a friend, either way, let's get out there and ride and see how many "goose eggs" we can get to fly.

Sorry I got a bit delayed and distracted, but we have had some good rider news. A few riders were really out there and hit some dams. Some new to join those ranked, are Jeffry Graham, hitting 7 dams, and Kevin Russell got 4 this last week. Doug Williams also got out of the next with Powerdale. Now on to Lou Nozsar, who took off on a saddle sore/bun burner ride and picked up 9 dams and earning his OR pin and both the saddle sore and the bun burner. Wow. Congrats to all. Nest week will be even a bit later (I think) as we are heading out for about 11 days of fun riding vacation. We will meeting up with Steve and Dan in Philipsburg and any who chose to join.

We have a new sponsor this week and I hope to be adding some more after I get back.

News on the picnic. . . I was hoping to have another tour surprise, but as of tonight I have not gotten the okay. This year, if it works out we will get to tour Mayfield Dam. I will probably add a RSVP for that as well, so we will know if we have enough to make it worthwhile. Really sorry, but I can only control myself and that isn't an easy things to do...LOL so still waiting to hear on the tour...but the picnic is for sure...at Mossy Rock Park (same as last year). Times I will add as I know the schedule. But plan for the day. Hope to have a few games , a DT feast (well sort of) and maybe a tour.

Just a note... Picnic news, date and details, coming soon. Known facts so far:

• Location: Mossy Rock Park, WA - Off Hwy 12 (same as last year)
• Date: July 13th
• Parking Fee: $5.00 each unless I can finagle another break this year.
• Picnic: "free"

Click here for the Picnic RSVP page...

Well, we are close to the half way mark, of DamTour Season. And if you look at the rankings table to see how many are near finish, you can see there is still lots of time to get those goose eggs out of the nest and in the rankings.

This week, we had Scott Crosson and Bernhard Sandberg picking up 9 dams each on their weekend run. Angel Jackson picked up her 19th dam along with Cary Funk at John Hart for his 15th. Others riders out and about were Dave Waldron(1), Bill Lynes(4),and Kurt & Linda Wilke(1each). Get the wheels are turning, and rubber burning... lets get out there and ride.

More exciting news. . . . . Hells Canyon Rally was a great success once again. Great job and kudos go to Steve and Eric Folkestad, founders. In the news, one of our own great long time DamTour riders Duane Northrup was recognizes at the rally with a "Life Time Achievement Award". Congratulations Duane... See photo here. If you don't know Duane, you should.

Just a note... Picnic news, date and details, coming soon. Know facts so far:

• Location: Mossy Rock Park, WA - Off Hwy 12 (same as last year)
• Date: Not final yet, but 12th, 13th, or 20th of July.
• Parking Fee: $5.00 each unless I can finagle another break this year.
• Picnic: "free"

Going to "Hell"?

Then meet up at "Action Motor Sports" (Fairview) for a big breakfast ride-off on June 13th. Come kick-off the Hells Canyon Rally to Baker City at 8:00AM. Our great sponsor, Action motor Sports has some super summer savings going on, so check it out while you are there.

Don't forget, DamTour riders get a 10% discount.

Well gang, we are still growing. Here are a few current stats. We now have 101 riders registered. And so far 416 rides are reported. Of those 416 rides, 196 are from Oregon riders and 220, are from Washington riders. The most visited so far is the "lovely" Powerdale, and the least visited (and we are all chomping at the bit to get there) is "Kerr Dam". Be watching for news on a planned group ride to Kerr soon.

New this last week, we had a new pin earner, Bill Barker earned his WA and OR pin and is now sitting at 17 dams. Way to go. His travels were, shall we say, a bit less than ideal. Some day these storms and rain will stop, won't they?

Riders, Terry and Lynda Lahman, Dave Waldron, Charles Katopodis, Fred Dykins, Tony Pavlakis, Bill Barker, and Bill Lynes were all out braving the varying weather conditions racking up the dams, this last week. Still waiting to hear from a few... like Bryan and Dean.... unless they are still out there in the dirt somewhere...LOL

Lots of rides are in the making, some soon for the Hells Canyon Rally trip... dams near by... make it fun. Check out the forum and don't be shy, tag along with some one. Remember, your best friends were total strangers before you met them.

PS... I have added some season stats of which dams have been visited how many times, to a link on the rankings table.

Okay... if you haven't checked it out or signed up this could be your last chance. Hells Canyon Rally is near. Hurry before it is too late. It is another great motorcycle event worth the trip and the rides are great. check it out here at www.hellscanyonrally.com . Pre-registration ends today.

Also to find out more now about the "Folkestad's" check out their recent interview by Sound Rider.

Well I got what I expected, in spite of all the advise weather. We had 14 (more not reported yet, Dean, Bryan... you out there?) riders out that racked up 64 dam visits. Lloyd Gardner got out of the of nest with his first two dams, Antelope, and Rye Patch. And this last week we have a few pin earners. Bill Mallory earned his WA pin picking up Gorge Dam. Jim and I picked up our OR pins getting Antelope. Lori Magers picked up Upper Pony Creek and Antelope to earn hers, and Dennis York was also picking up Antelope for his OR pin.

Didn't hear of any terrible mishaps, but two riders had a bit of tire trouble, one had a bit of GPS trouble, and more than one of us, had some exciting weather conditions to ride through. We had to wait out golf ball sized hail for 1/2 an hour south of Cascade and lightening that stuck so close my body hair stood up, on the other side of Cascade, then later that evening, the town of Grangeville, ID, went momentarily black while we were eating dinner.

Hope everybody is keeping track of the forums for tips and news about the dam runs and routes. It could save you a lot of grief.

Next week sounds like it will be another go getter... Ride On ! ! !

Are we still in Oregon? Weather in the northwest (if not the whole country) has been a bit wacky this year. In spite of never knowing just what weather they will encounter, riders are still braving the elements to find the dams. From dam runs to bun burners riders were everywhere. Jim and I opted out as we were planning Rye Patch, Cascade and beyond until we noticed that the eye of this relentless weather was hanging right over the whole "dam" area, and with that and it being a holiday weekend, and my getting sick on departure day, we delayed our trip. I'm better, weather is getting there, and the dams are waiting, so looks like we leave Thursday, the 29th... Yippee.

I expect lots of photos and ride reports when I get back....

Wow was it a warm weekend. I thought I would melt Saturday at Action's Anniversary. Got some new riders sign-up and it sounded like there will be more. While I didn't get any riding in, I see that did not stop the rest of you.

Thought it was about time for a few stats for our first couple of month. Just for info, Kerr is now off the unvisited list as of Sunday. Dan Stombaugh snagged Kerr, finishing his "Twenty Dams".

Ask him how his legs are doing after his visit to Kerr Dam.

We have 295 reported rides so far, and of that number, 57 of them were between May 15th and the 18th. And. . . I know of a few others that were out there that have not reported their rides yet. Of the 295 rides reported by 49 of our 95 total riders, 159 visits are from Oregon riders, and 136 are from Washington riders. This of course does not include unreported rides nor any repeats. The most visited dam so far with 34 visits, is the lovely Powerdale Dam and it potential for challenge to some of our riders. The least visited (of course) is now Kerr with only 1 visit.

On a sad, yet grateful note, rider Angel Jackson, narrowly missed what could have been an end to her riding fun, when a cage decided to swap more than paint with her on the highway in the Seattle area. Check out the forum for more details. She is fine, so she says (if not a bit shaken) and the bike remained ride able, but in need of repair. I would say Angel has an angel watching over her. Really glad you are okay Angel.

Sorry this weeks report is so late. Not sure where these last few days have gone, but I know a few riders took advantage of the nicer weather. Six riders were out and about, visiting 13 dams.  We are into our 11th week, almost 12th, as it has taken me so long to get this week updated, and our count is  93 registered riders and 244 rides reported.  I can imagine we will have lots of riders out this hot weekend.

This week Steve Folkestad doubled his rankings getting 5 more dams, Billie-Jean added three, Bill Lynes got two, Lou Nozsar picked up three, Jerry Rodgers visited 4 dams, and Andy Spicer got another dam, with no mishaps. 

I know a lot of you will be out riding in this great weather, but if you are looking for something to do this Saturday, drop by Action's Honda store and help celebrate their 1st Anniversary.  I hear there will be good things to eat, some special sales and DamTour (me) will be there to promote DamTour and sign up new riders.  So...  if you have that friend that needs to know more, or is ready to sign up... drop in and say hi. 

In to our tenth week and still growing. We now have 91 riders with our newest riders being Sherry Cook from Spokane, Tony Ward and Dennis Montgomery from Kelso, WA, and Dave(BigWaveDave) from Hillsboro. Welcome to all. We have riders from Oregon, Washington, Nevada, and Canada. Wow. Bikes signed up with stand at 29 Yamaha's, 18 Hondas, 11 Kawasaki's, 11 BMW's, 10 Harley's, 8 Suzuki's, 3 Ducati's, and 1 Buell. So far 37 of our 91 riders have made 226 dam visits to 19 of our twenty dams. That's a lot of riding, with lots more to come.

Speaking of bike types, we had two group rides last weekend that had a common theme. Three Concours and a BMW (the other bike) visited John Hart Dam. I hear he was allowed to ride behind. And four Stars, three of those being Road Stars, and one Royal Star, visited Upper Pony Creek.

This last week we had 13 riders out making 11 dam visits to 5 different dams. And two of those riders got pinned with their Oregon Dam Pin at their final Oregon dam. Angel Jackson and Cary Funk received their"Oregon" pin at Upper Pony Creek by "C". Congratulations!

Be watching the news, as rumor has it there may be some group rides in the planning for the "Goose Eggs" on the list. Of course riders that are already in the rankings can come along too, and may be needed to lead some of the groups. Hopefully more to follow. :-)

Finally a break in the weather. This last weekend had 11 riders out searching for dams and a higher ranking. Angel Jackson earned her WA pin(the first one) for getting all 8 Washington dams by visiting Nine Mile Dam, then rode along with Cary Funk to snag a couple WA repeats. Congrats Angel. With the dams visited this weekend I am surprised we didn't have more DT encounters along the way. Charles Katopodis grabbed six more dams making his total 10, and had a DT encounter with (just out of the goose egg nest) Jim & Cheryll Malisch at Powerdale. Kurt and Linda Wilke took flight from the nest to pick up their first two dams, as did Larry Madsen who rode out of the nest getting two dams. Keith Spicer nabbed another three dams, and the Newcomer's with pillion riders, Sam and Dan, visited Gorge Dam and enjoyed some world famous buffalo eats. Looks like fun was had by all.

Congrats to all, and thanks for getting your photos and ride reports in. :-) I also got some great extra shots that I hope to add to our Two-Wheeled Adventures album soon.

The weather looks like it will be nice enough for some more adventures this coming weekend. I hear there is a planned ride to John Hart with an over-night in Campbell. Who's signing up for that one? Catch the forum thread if you haven't already.

Last week I mentioned that maybe spring had sprung, but hold on, what happened? This last weeks weather has been a real bummer, if they still use that phrase.

Unusual weather for this time of year, hit the northwest with a big punch. Just check out the photos posted on the forum by Slybones last Friday. We have had record cold, rain, sleet, hail and nasty winds to boot.

In spite of all the unpredictable weather this last week we had a few riders out and a few new reports. Lori Magers got her five dam photos turned in both with, and without the windshield that had the misfortune to getting in the way of her lip on April 11th. Bryan Townsend and Dean Scheel picked up 7 dams last week, and Bill Mallory picked up his first five dams.

Lets hope the weather is ready to turn "Spring" as I hear several trips are in the planning stages.

Wow...  the signs of spring are; all the bikes that crawled out of the garages this last weekend. They were everywhere, damtour or not. But we all know the DamTour Riders were having more fun. If you don't know that just read the forum.

We have a heated race going on this year. Well, this heated race may be a cooled race... as they were partly in the snow. Angel Jackson and DamDan rush neck and neck in the rankings, even crossing paths along the way to Cascade Dam. DamDan, Angel and Cary Funk (who is climbing the rankings quickly riding with Angel) had a roadside meeting between Rye Patch (Angel's second visit) and Cascade Dams. Dan's 1600 mile plus ride snagged him his last Oregon dam to be the first to get all eight and earn the Oregon pin.

While DamDan, Angel and Cary made some butt tiring miles on far reaching dams, we had three riders that really made a swoop of dams, or should that be scoop? Tim Watkins and Brian Hahn picked up nine dams this weekend (Tumwater, Rocky Reach, Horn Rapids, Ice harbor, Cold Springs, McNary, John Day, Powerdale, and Cle Elum). Fred Dykins rounded up 6 more dams, getting Powerdale, Cold Springs, Horn Rapids, Ice harbor, John Day, and McNary. Then Dennis York did a big loop on a three day weekend with four dams, several GT stops and a family visit.

All in all, we had 16 riders (that have reported or I heard about) out riding to 16 different dams this weekend. From reading the forums this morning it looks like there were a few more, but have not received any reports or photos, so hope they get them sent in soon. :-) I am pretty sure a lot of you crossed paths during your rides as there were multiple dam hits on several dams.

Here's the hit list:

• Tumwater  (9)
• Cle Elum  (9
• Rocky Reach  (9)
• Powerdale  (4)
• Antelope  (3)
• Cascade  (3)
• Cold Springs  (3)
• Cougar  (3)
• Horn Rapids  (3)
• Ice harbor  (3)
• John Day  (3)
• McNary  (3)
• Rye Patch (3) 1 was a repeat,
• Walterville  (3)
• Round Butte  (2)
• Gorge  (2)
• Total = 65 dam visits.

That's a lot of miles for sure. And while the weekend started out a bit promising with great weather, as you will see in the albums and on the forum, it changed dramatically and quickly at the end. Burr. Such is "Spring"!

This last weekend leaves only one dam on the tour that has not been visited. I think you all will enjoy this dam.  It is fantastic.  There is just under 1/2 mile of gravel to the vista and parking, but I think it is worth it. Then it is a "must" to go down the stairs to the viewpoint(but be in good health and physical shape...LOL) .  I suggest this last dam  wait for warmer weather. It is worth the wait.  (And then there is next year's Montana dam... wow!)

Wow, we are into our sixth week of the 2008 DamTour season and we are really close to having all of the dams visited already. And, by the sounds of things, it will be "all" after this coming weekend. We gained five new riders this week and four already signed-up riders snagged a dam or two.. Dennis York visited Round Butte, Angel Jackson, visited Horn Rapids and Ice Harbor, and riders, Tim Watkins(along with daughter Manah) and Brian Hahn made a trip Gorge Dam. Rookie Brian forgot his card(like many do) so check out his photo.

Looks like this coming weekend is going to be a busy one. Weather is reported to be improving,(but we shall see...LOL) so there should be lots of opportunity to get going. Still not for some of us. :-(

Well, while most of us were sanely doing other things at home and waiting out the on-going winter weather, DamDan made a major snow filled run getting four more dams this weekend. Dan picked up Cle elum, Tumwater, Rocky Reach, and Nine Mile. He also did some of his typical "Repeats", visiting McNary and Ice Harbor and John Day. I am sure you have all read about it by now what his great posts of the excitement filled adventure. If not go there and hear all about it.

The only other rider reporting any dam visits this last week was "Papa Rich" Davis who snagged Upper Pony Creek. I think we will have a flurry (no, not snow, I hope) of ride reports coming soon.

We added two more riders this last week, bringing our sign-up total to 71 riders. Wow! A welcome to DamTour for Joe Bronaugh and Chuck Ingham.

I suspect there are some other riders out there that may be sitting on some ride photos... please get them in and lets get your rankings updated.

PS. . . If any riders have important news/events to share, or not so important, send to me to include in the latest news.

Wow, what a week since the last ride reports. Eight riders reporting on some great rides with Angel Jackson being a notable and surprising one getting Rye Patch Dam. Of course most of you already know this as she has posted to the forum with her "blackberry" from Nevada. Angel has topped the list for now with 11 dams, after adding Rye Patch, Walterville(funny story here, see the forum)and Cougar .

"Papa Rich" went out on his birthday (67th) and got John Day and Powerdale. Happy Birthday Rich. Rider Fred Dykins picked up three dams with Cle Elum, Rocky Reach and Tumwater, and Rider Cary Funk, snagged Walterville and Cougar. Eric Folkstad hit his first two dams getting Powerdale and John Day. A family of riders, Brad and Shirlee Sitton, and Brian Sitton, picked up four dams each putting them on the rankings table this week with Cold Springs, Mc Nary, John Day and Powerdale. Way to go.

Here we are four weeks into DamTour 2008 and we have 68 riders signed-up and 19 riders have reported 75 dam visits so far. What a way to start the season, and we still ave five months to go, and hopefully some great riding weather. We are sitting in the nest with all the other "goose eggs" this year. *sigh*, but am hoping it will change next month. Things are getting better around here and daughter has been given the okay to walk again... yippee. She is doing great by the way.

Congrats to all, keep up the riding (I live through these vicarioult...LOL).

Well all.... a big "Happy St Patrick's Day" to you!

We had six riders out this last weekend snagging five different dams. One of those was a first visit. Dan Stombaugh took out for a Sunday ride and hit Round Butte and Cougar. Angel Jackson and Cary Funk grabbed John Day and Cold Springs, and McNary. Rob Newcomer and son Dan rode along with Fred Dykins to Gorge Dam, making it Fred's first of the season (got rid of his goose eeg) and Rob's second. New sign-up Bill Lynes got Gorge as well but I did not hear of any run-ins.

Thursday night was Factories DamTour sign-ups and the Hells Canyon's presentation to the Baker City Police of two new motorcycles. It was a big night and lots of fun. Miss Oregon was there to hand over the keys.

We had our DamTour table there for new sign-ups and each rider received a $20 gift certificate from Factory. We added nine more riders for the nights total. Jim, Billie-Jean (and Joey), and I, manned the sign-up table for the evening. Hells Canyon Motorcycle Rally had a good night as well for new sign-ups.

Tucker Rocky Distributing was there to show some bike communication and helmet options and some great looking new heated jacket and gloves by First Gear. Factory Motor Sports had lots of drawing and gave out lots of great prizes.

Wow, I hate to use the words busy "beavers" in a note about dams, but "dam", were the damtour riders busy this last week. Riders hit "dam firsts" on nine more dams, leaving only six dams that haven't been visited yet.

Angel Jackson made a cool run getting four dams, including Gorge, Tumwater, Rocky Reach and Cle Elum. New sign-up Francisco Rios got five dam visits on his first day, riding with Dan Stombaugh snagging his famous 1st Re-Peat of the season. Stephen Mustoe, snagged his first two dams getting Cougar, and Walterville. Rider Dennis York, made a days run...LOL adding Cold Springs, Ice Harbor, John Day and McNary.

I am starting to wonder what will be left to do when the weather gets nice. Of course I am a bit jealous about the rides. We are still getting things together here and daughter is settling in. I do hope to have some riding in our future ... soon! Or I may forget how to ride.

Be sure to check out the new photos sent in. For those of you that have photos you haven't sent in, I hope you will get them in to share with us, soon.

Well the first weekend for DamTour season wasn't the prettiest weekend we have had lately, but we still managed to see nine riders out and about (that have reported so far) that visited five different dams, which included one of our bonus dams.

Rob and Heather Newcomer with the boys, along with rider Tim Watkins and daughter, visited John Hart Dam this weekend. Other riders hit Powerdale (and it's blankity blank road), Walterville, John Day and Upper Pony Creek Dams.

Way to go, and a big Congrats to all.

Don't forget the Factory special sign ups next week. Steve is planning some big things going on.

Note: The PayPal warning issue has been fixed thanks to Tim Woolley hosting our DamTour Logo on his server. Thank you Tim.

Okay, ready or not, here it comes! Really nervous about this years launch of the new site. I have been so scattered lately that I worry I forgot something big time.

Let's hope not, so here it is, a new look and many changes. I hope you like it. We are hoping to add some new and exciting things for the DamTour riders. Including getting more sponsors in other areas, all to the benefit of "you" the riders. Got any ideas for your area?

I am very grateful for Jim and Steve's patience and help, and a big thank you to rider Tim Woolley, as I don't think I could have gotten the on-line sign up going the way I needed it without his help.

Note: If you sign up on line using our sign up form, you will notice when you get to the PayPal page you will get a warning about both "secure and non-secure" content. Please be assured it is okay.It is because the "logo" at the top is being called from our server , but the page and the transaction are indeed secure.

Now... start your bikes and get ready to ride.

Good News.

Factory Motor Sports(Oregon city) is having a Spring Opener celebration on March 13th. This is a Thursday nite at 7 pm. DamTour has been invited to be there - attendance will be 400+. DamTour will have a booth and EVERYONE who signs up that nite for DamTour will get a Factory gift card worth $20. That means if you sign up there you get DamTour for FREE. Plus they will give a 10% discount to ANYONE who presents a current DamTour rider card for parts and service. This will be great kick-off event.

HCMR is presenting two KLR 650's to the Baker City Police and Miss Oregon will be there as well. We may be having area news coverage as well.

Don't miss this great opportunity.

As you might have guessed from the new background, header and menu of our "rider Talk" page, there will be a lot of changes coming this year for DamTour. Steve and I are working on a few new things and will be announcing them and adding them as we go along. You will notice a new look to the web site this year and I have added a easier way to check out the latest news with the scrolling links on the home page.

We are hoping to expand the DamTour to allow more sponsors and encourage the love and passion of motorcycle riding. Stay tuned for more changes as we go along.

As the natives get more restless as the winter drags on, Steve throws out some crumbs by posting a Google Map of the Proposed dams for 2008. Hoping I didn't kill him for it, and I didn't. :-) Dams listed below. Check out the Google Map: Check it out here.

Washington Dams

Horn Rapids, Tumwater Canyon, Ice Harbor, Rocky Reach, Gorge, Nine Mile, Cle Elum, and John Day(from WA side).

Oregon Dams

Powerdale, Round Butte, Walterville, Cougar, Mc Nary (OR side), Cold Springs, Upper Pony Creek, and Antelope Flats.

What a great year 2007 turned out to be. In spite of bad weather for so some of the earlier rides, we had more riders than ever racking up lots of miles on their bikes. We had riders from all over the place, and almost made the "100" mark for rider sign-ups. Next year should be even better than ever.

This year is the first to expand out of the PDX/Vancouver area riders.The on slot of riders from the Seattle area was amazing and they gave the old timers to Damtour's past a run for their money on butt-burners and a real "get on the bike and ride" attitude. Also this year we had our first ever "out of country" sigh up, with Al and Kathy Lund, of Alberta Canada signing up and visiting 10 dams. Wow! Check out all the forum entries and hear the other stories and accomplishments for the 2007 season.

It will be interesting to see what 2008 brings.

The awards party was held and hosted by Action Motor Sports in Fairview, Or. We had a great turnout and the weather held for us in spite of some difficulty setting a late date. We had sunshine and lots of story telling and laughs. This year we passed out several award certificates to riders for lots of different milestones, and sometimes, "funny experiences". From the first to finish (John Deurbrouck) all twenty dams, to Keith Spicer's all twenty dams in his 8 day trip, to Cheryl Madsen for the pillion rider to visit the most dams (15). That is a lot of miles sitting on the back staring at a helmet. We gave away 14 beautiful crystal trophies to all 14 riders that visited all 20 dams.

Big turn out, great food, games, story telling (or is that lie swapping) and a big surprise of a real dam tour. This year we had our picnic at Mossyrock Park, which overlooks the Mossyrock Dam. Mossyrock dam was on our 2005 DamTour. The park was beautiful, with great parking, covered shelter and as an added surprise and special bonus, a tour inside the dam and a ride across the dam on our motorcycles.

Thanks to Randy Stearns of Tacoma Power, and a lot of hard work and coordination by me, we had a fantastic tour in the depths of the dam(even under the water) and a private escorted ride across the actual dam. For those that missed this great event. . . eat your hearts out. .