Morning riders, tomorrow is the big day. Pro Caliber is excited and gearing up for the almost 100 DamTour riders that will be showing up. Last night we set up tables and chairs, and hung the photo boards, with the help of ever faithful Doug Glidden of Pro Caliber. This is the man to see if you are looking for a new or new to you bike. He knows his bikes, he rides, and is an all around nice guy.

Steve delivered the three big boxes of awards yesterday. Robyn and Keith Hackett, of KR Family Catering , have started on the beans and salads. Today, I am working on stats, updating the RSVP list (get yours in if you haven't yet), and of course getting the final groceries. We are almost there. :-)

A note to those earring the all twenty award, plan a safe way to take them home. They do break. :-)

Thank you to all the riders for making this another successful DamTour season. See ya tomorrow... it will be a great day. The sun is even supposed to cooperate with us.

This is the last call for ride reporting.. Tomorrow, September 30th, is the end of the 2011 season and your last chance to turn in you "dam" submissions. As of last night, all but one, of the riders sending in their intent to finish have now finished.

Since the 23rd we have received submission to finish off the twenty for "11" more riders. Four Washington, and three Oregon pins were also earned by another "6" of our riders. Our new finishers include: Wayne Horner, Chuck Ingham, Nicole Ellis, Mike McClure, Dwight Gladden, Ken Hattan, Ken Olson, Adam Keeling, Dan Stombaugh, Shirley Garland, and Tim Macy. Down to the wire, but what a nice ending. This gives us a total of "81" to get to all twenty of this year's dams. That breaks down to "73" riders and "8" pillions, and two of those pillions are a very special sort of mascot/stuffed pillion riding companion. Larry D Bear, tagging along with Angel Jackson, and Jerry Damcia hanging out with Joe Thomas.

This season has record breaking year. Even in the area of how many made it to at least one dam for the season in comparison to the number of "goose eggs" in the past. The most to ever sign up in our 8 years of this event, the most to have reached the all twenty mark, and the most pillions to sing up and finish, since we first opened sign ups to pillions. That is a lots of dam good riding I'd say.

So this brings us to our final event of the 2011 season. The "End of Season Party". The email invitations will go out tomorrow. Please be sure to RSVP for this so we can be sure to have enough food. It will again be at our great sponsor, Pro Caliber, in Longview, WA. The date is October 8th. Details will follow tomorrow.

That is it for this quick bit of news, until after the weekend. Hope to see a lot of you on the 8th. :-)

As we approach the end of our season (less than 3 weeks left) we are seeing some major scrambling for last minute dams. These last nine days have really had some interesting stories to tell as well. From frustration and defeat to amazing adventures of success. And I thought last week had some drama. LOL

We had 24 riders and pillions turn in their ride photos and reports.This was 110 dam visits and everyone of our dams had at least one visit. Out of this we added another 10 above the finish line. The eight riders that got all twenty (23) dams are: Gary Jarl, from Mission, BC, Joe Thomas from Seattle, Crystal Chase of Tacoma, Bill Mallory from Yakima, Tom Woodard of Bothell, Steve Swenning of Kennewick, and Denise and Mike Harchuck of Eugene. Our pillions to reach the 20(23) mark this week are: Deb Clarke of Kennewick, and a special pillion, Jerry Damcia of the "Grateful Dams" from Seattle. We had a total of 13 OR pins earned and 7 WA pins. Earning jut the state pins this week are: Ken Hattan, Rocky Baker, Steven Vogt, Ritch Davis, Bob Sonn, David Norris, and Shirley Garland for Oregon. For Washington: Steven Vogt, Ken Olsson, Pete Schriner, David Norris, and Brian Sitton. Congrats to all for a dam swooping week.

A new rider to DamTour and new out of the nest sent in his first three dams this week. Jerry Kassis of Lebanon, rider # 1189 ( a late sign up) got his first rides in. As we know... it is still possible to do more and I told him you still have time to at least get your OR pin. Hope he gets a chance to get out and grab a few more. On a very sad note... rider Bill Sawyer was on his ride to finish up the season and only had Hell Hole to pack it up. Unfortunately, there was an on foot mishap, that changed his plans, and after getting stuck with a layover in Quincy, CA (no offense intended Quincy) he had to return home with only 19 dams to finish his recovery. So close and yet so far. Sorry to hear Bill. On another note... we may have two more riders that have already finished.. but awaiting photos for verification. It may be a while. Nicole Ellis and father Chuck Ingham took a ten day trip and managed to finish up the season with all of the dams... the unfortunate part... is just after returning, Chuck was in an accident (non-motorcycle) and has been in and out of the hospital since then. We are wishing you a speedy recovery Chuck. Nicole says they will be at the end of season party, but will have to come by car.

Some of our riders are still out on the roads as we speak (or as I type), and have been sending in their photos along the way... so I expect to hear from another 7 more riders that have snagged up all the dams, in the next two weeks.

End of Season gathering is scheduled for Oct 8th in Longview, WA. It will again be at our sponsor, Pro Caliber of Longview. They are excited to see all of us again and are looking forward to the day. I will be sending out the invites and details within a week ( I hope).

Well this wraps up the weeks news... til next time... and if you haven't' yet.... please get your photos in. :-)

Well this will be a record year for riders to do all "20" dams. As of today, we have 60 that have managed to make it to all of the dams either as the rider or the pillion. I have received an additional 14 intents to finish emails. Whoa...... We may need two days to pass all of these out. I received a total of 82 dam visits by 30 riders since last weeks news from September 5th. This gave us 12 more WA pin earners: Rob Alley, Colin Prior, Crystal Chase, Michael Weber, Jim Kroll and Karol Danner, Dean Scheel, Bryan Townsend, Brian Diver, Fred Dykins, Chad Holquist, and Mike Butt. Twelve riders also earned OR pins: Dennie Ward, Bill Lynes, Dean Scheel, Clark Buchanan, Don Rodrigues, Teri Denson, Chuck Coy, Steve Mustoe, Steve and Angela Ferguson, Rob Alley and Rich Hensler. Our new to make the magic number to earn the trophy this last week are: Bill Lynes, Angel Jackson, Larry D Bear, Cary Funk, Dean Scheel, Bryan Townsend, Bart Romple, the Vancouver Gang ( Clark Buchanan, Don Rodrigues, Teri Denson, and Chuck Coy), Brian Diver, Steve and Angela Ferguson, Rob Alley, Rich Hensler, and Jim Kroll and Karol Danner. Wow... a big congrats to all. This is a bunch of riding... which will bring me to a few rider stories to share... although you will read most of them in the forum as well.

Okay... this has been an interesting week... well actually it has been an interesting year ....LOL. It seems to be the year with a flair for rider drama. Between bug bites, sleeping on your bikes, worn out tires (too many times), repeated visits back to dams and stories of ice, snow, wind, rain and fire... we have adventure about wrapped up. :-) I had the terrible duty of having to tell quite a few of our riders... that uh...oh... oopsy, the photo you just sent in... is not the right dam. Now you would think that they would all be Lake Lowell.. our kinda special mystery dam adventure... but not so. Most were because of Lake Lowell, which is why I think we had a record turn-out for our offer to group ride to these dams from Treasure Valley Motorsports in June. I got more than one email saying how glad they were that they had joined in on this ride. Now most riders only made one trip back to get tech right dam... but Steve and Angela realized they had 3 1 wrong on their own, so headed right back...and then decided to send what they had in just in case... well... before I could reach them... they got number 1 just right. Good job and on their way they went... only the # 4 ...well no where close. And they were no where close to turn around and head back. So, third times is the charm... they made a last ride to their favorite area... to finally get the right fourth dam... and that they did. Congrats.... but they couldn't' leave it at that.... no... they got the dam... they finish the season, but at the early demise of yet another back tire. Read they forum posts and posts to our DamTour Face Book page about that one. Rumor has it, that there may be an explanation for this tire event. The rumor is... that unbeknownst to Steve, Angela has been sneaking out at night to practice riding and has gotten kind of fond of doing Hells Canyon burn-outs. :-)

Another bit of rider drama and adventure was the "no room at the inn" story. Angel, Larry D, and Cary couldn't get a room in Nevada... and wound up sleeping on their bikes for the night, and they seemed to have managed quite nicely thanks to the warm weather. But ... somewhere along the way... and I am not sure about where... there were bad bug bites and lots of sunshine in overdose levels. Geez... doesn't that sound like loads fun. :-) Both stories to remember for sure.

Last two stories to share are a little different. The Vancouver Gang... Clark, Don, Teri and Chuck, set out to finish up the season with their last three dams. Selmac, Gerber and Hell Hole, in that order. All went well, until Don hit some new pavement gravel in the corner on leaving Gerber Dam. I hear Don is recovering nicely... lots of road rash... and sore, but the bike is pretty well totaled. This incidence didn't stop this group as Don insisted that they finish the ride and that they did... bandages and all. Now the last little story, was a bit different yet. Four riders headed out on a ride so the two DamTour riders could wrap up the season... That trip ended up with three bikes breaking down and only one went on to the finish the ride. Bryan Townsend finished that ride. A note from Dean Scheel when sending in his last 5 dams , was ...... "It was for sure the most expensive $$$$$ dam on the tour".  To put it simply.... . his chain broke... and well the bike is a really big mess. He hauled it home in a U-Haul. He did grab another bike and did head back out a day later. So like I said ... the last week has been full of biking drama and adventure for a few of our riders. And all of them finished... Is this True Grit?

Now a last note as I round out nd wrap up the week... October 8th is coming up quickly. This is our "End-of-Season" party and where we hand out the rest of the state pins, and all that glass. It will be in Longview at our great sponsor, Pro Caliber... and there will be drawings and food and lots of bike talk and lie swapping. A great chance to meet other riders and have some fun. Please try to make join us. I will be sending out invites and RSVP's soon. (I hope). Till next week... just ride.

Wow, what a week. While we were gone on our ride vacation to Hudson's Hope and beyond, my mailbox filled and we have a bunch of ride reports to get updated. I had hoped to get them finished yesterday, but finally got things wrapped up this morning. There was a total of 170 dam visits reported this last week and of them 69 were visited since August 24th. Thirty-seven riders turned in these reports. This mass of rides turned in by our riders added 14 new finisher to our list. Two of them were pillions: Sarah Reed and Louise Jacobs, and the other 12 were riders: Sue & Darrell Lott, Tod Coxen, Cameron Brister, Steve Robinson, Thomas Jacobs, Steve Folkestad, Steve Soley, Rodney Osterhoudt, Jamie Tennant, Ted Reed, and Jim Coxen. We are now up to a total of "42" finishers. The riders also earned 8 more WA pins, and 10 More OR pins. We now have a total of four female riders to finish, and a total of three pillions that have finished to date.

I want to share an interesting story about one of our finishers. This is the saga of getting a bike and talking a daughter into riding as pillion and signing up for DamTour. Ted Reed, of Idaho Falls, heard about DamTour from a friend who ran across it on the web doing other research. Ted watched the site for a while to see what it was all about. Then he decided he was going to give it a try, so he looked for a used Goldwing and found one. Bought the bike... signed up on July 26th, and after asking me a few detailed questions about DamTour planned to head out on what was supposed to be an 11 day ride with Sarah, 13 as pillion, to do all of the dams. He had expected 11 to 12 days and about 4,000 miles, but it turned out to be 14 days and four hours, and over 6,000 miles total.... and a hunt for a new tire at one point. The father daughter duo finished on August 27th all smiles but finally ready to be home again.

That is it for the news this week, as I will need to be ready for all the rides coming in from this last holiday weekend. Might even get time to do a trip report from our vacation.... which was FANTASTIC!!!

P.S... Adding a foot note here... While we show adding 14 more finishers.... we actually have three riders and one pillion that have finished already, but have yet to get their photos sent in. And... I know of four more riders that headed out to pick up their last three dams and said they would be back Monday or Tuesday.... so they may be finished as well. then of course... I know of a few more that will probably be finished by next weekend if not sooner. Gonna be a big trophy year.

This last week has been a bit light in ride reports, but then some our still out on the roads as I type. News a bit late or early all in how you look at it, cause we are heading out very soon. Looking like it will be Friday or Saturday and be gone for a bit less than a week. In any case, we had a totally of 38 ride reports ranging from May 23rd, to Aug. 21st. That was showing 15 riders/pillion visiting 13 of our dams.

These reports gave us two new finishers, Jim Blake, from Port Orchard, getting Clark Canyon Dam on the 17th, and Dennis York, from Vancouver, WA, getting North Unit Dam to earn his OR pin and the finish on the 18th. We also had three WA pin earners: Theresa and Jerald Grieder, and Bill Barker. I suspect there was another rider or two out on some of these rides... but have not heard from them yet... if you are one of them... it will probably have to wait until I get back.

Will not be answering your mail for a bit... but will get back to it as soon as I can when I get back. I am picking up my final dam of 2010 that I was unable to go to last year. I can hardly wait and hope nothing spoils it this time around. WAC Bennett, here we come. I am holding out to do the underground bus tour, and visit the local dinosaur museums as well as a longer trip back home by way of Jasper, Banff, and Kootenay Parks. There may be a bit more site seeing along the way, as well, as hoping to meet up with DamTour riders Sharon and Gary Jarl, of Mission, BC(Sharon won the picnic drawing), and later Al & Kathy Lund (former DT riders) of Wetaskiwin, AB.

Well no good to try and do any stats for this last week, as ride reports and photos, were from all over the calendar. Only 43 of the 125 rides reported were after August 11th, and the last news. But we had lots of pins earned from these ride reports. Fourteen riders earned the ri WA pins, and 3 riders earned their OR pins. This week also included two riders that rounded up their season with 10 dams for the finish, and picked up the WA pin on their way. Marv Budnick from Gresham and Victor Putnam from Cave Junction, rode together for their twenty dam adventure. Congrats on the finish.

Our WA pin earners (besides Marv & Victor above) were: Mike McClure, Dwight Gladden, Dennis York, Storm Shearon, Robert Alley, Rich Hensler, Thomas and Louise Jacobs, Steve Swenning and Deb Clarke, Matt Leopold, and Denise and Mike Harchuck( who also earned their OR pin). The last OR pin earner for the second time, but on a different bike is Dan Stombaugh as number 1198 this time.

With forty-two days left of our season, there are several rushing out to end the season on the Finishers List, and I expect we will see several added by the next weeks news. Congrats to all on making this their own "dam" adventure.... now get on those bikes and ride.

Well a lot of news to catch up on.  With our personal dam rides these last few weeks and the picnic, I have been a little slow to get any news up, so this one will catch us up on that last four +/- weeks of dam snagging.

Between July 14th and August 11th, we have had 306 dam snags reported... from 66 riders. I probably don't need to tell you the stats can never be exact, as I know of rides that have not been turned in yet (somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 plus). As Randy Stearns said to me at the picnic.... it ain' t easy herding cats. :-) but this is what we have for now. Four of these visits were from Canadian rider, 115 were from Oregon riders, and 187 were from Washington riders. On the right you can see which dams were visited and how many times during this period.

We also had three more riders sign up on July 26th and another new rider on August 1st. Welcome to Ted and Sarah Reed from Idaho Falls, Brentwood Wiest returns from Camas, and Jerry Kassis from Lebanon.

Riders getting recognition this last month are the OR & WA pin earners and our latest finishers. We had 25 riders/pillions earn the WA pin, and 9 rider/pillions earn the OR pin. In the process of pin earning we also had 11 more finishers to move up on the list. This now brings us to a total of 24 so far. I am suspecting it will be increasing at a rapid pace as we near the end of season. And I am guessing we will have at lest 50 to 60 finishers. The hardest dam this year seems to be Hell Hole Dam, and 35 have already visited that dam... do the math. :-)

Earning their WA pins are: Steve Robinson, Chris Kemp, Jim Carroll, Jim & Cheryll Malisch, Steve Folkestad, Bill Sawyer, Dave Wensveen, Gary Andrew & Carolyn Sudduth, Bill Mallory, Angel Jackson & Larry D Bear, Cary Funk, Angela & Steve Ferguson, Steve Mishler Dan Stombaugh(on his second bike Connie), Gary Jarl, Matt Cook, Cameron Brister, Rodney Osterhoudt, Ritch Davis, Lloyd Gardner, and Bob Newkirk.

Earning their OR pins are: Jim Carroll, Dan Hollingsworth, Jim & Cheryll Malisch, Matt Cook, Bill Mallory, Bart Romple, Lloyd Gardner, and Cameron Brister.

Those wrapping up their season finish were: Ed Recknagle, Matt Watkins, Gary Andrew, Carolyn Sudduth, Jim Carroll, Matt Cook, Cheryll & Jim Malisch, Terry Morris, Lloyd Gardner, and Bob Newkirk. Of the Twenty-three riders to finish three of them are female(total female riders this year is 31), with of course twenty males(from a total of 160). Congrats to all of you on some "dam" good riding. We now have "24" finishers(23 riders and 1 pillion) and still have 47 days to go. :-)

That is about it for this week as I have a mail box full of more rides turned in already since last night.... but on a last little note here.... that previous paragraph makes me put out a little bitty stat of interest..(to me anyway). The current ratio of gender to finish is 10% of our female riders ave finished, with 12 ½ % of our males riders have finished. Woo WHoo ... Go Girls!!!!    

Finally back from road trips, I will get the summary of our 2011 picnic out. We had a really good turn out, and i spite of the doubtful skies in the am it turned out to be a beautiful day. We had over 50 people at the picnic, and I never did get a full count of the bikes. Riders came in early, and riders came in late... so count could be more.

This year's picnic had dual sponsors. Desert Valley Powersports provided most of the prizes for our games. This is the second year they have given us prizes for our picnic, and Dan Denchel (owner of DVP) was hoping to be here for it, but I am sorry to say, he has been very ill, and was not able to make it. Hopefully by next year all will be better. If you get in to DVP please give tem a big thank you for their support... and nudge Chris Denchel to get some dams for the store.

Our other sponsor for the picnic was FWEE (Foundation for Water and Energy Education) in cooperation with Tacoma Power and Mossyrock Park, provided us with the free use of the kitchen, free parking, and 5 free camp sites. We owe them a really big thank you and a special thank you to Randy Stearns for coordinating and pulling all of this together, and Larry Jones for taking such good care of us at the park. Randy also gave of his time to give our group a special tour of the Mossyrock Dam. Thank you !!!

Once again Robyn Hackett ( Keith's lovely wife) baked us some wonderful beans and made some great salads for the day. Keith set it all up and was as usual a great help for the day. Speaking of help, we got some extra help this year to give poor Keith Hackett a break(he usually winds up doing all the cooking). Dan Stombaugh(master burger flipper), with help from Keith Spicer, manned the grill flipping burger and turning dogs, and did a "dam" good job of it. Bill Lynes found out the hard way... how much work it is to go through folders and pick photos to print and put up for the photo boards... He did a fantastic job making us some new 2011 rider photos boards and I noticed riders browsing through them through out the day.

Early arrivals, our friend Kim Bunnell (non-damtour), Bill Lynes, Rocky Baker, and Bob Sonn put in the time to get things set up and all the boards and banners hung. Thank you to all of them for their help with the picnic.

We did the usual "Name that Dam" game, and this years winner was Cary Funk getting 16 of the twenty correct beating out new rider Gary Andrew by only one dam. Thank you Gail Lynes for stepping in to do the tallying. In the trivia game, it went a little crazy at time, but Bill Lynes and Steve Folkestad did a great job of reading the Q & A for our teams. The winning team called themselves the "Turbine Heads"... wonder where that name came from...LOL And this was before the dam tour.

Angel Jackson got a surprise gift and a chocolate/chocolate birthday cake by having a DamTour birthday on picnic day...

So now to round out the summary and details of our picnic, the winner of our special drawing. This drawing was the idea of one of our riders(who did not want to be known). The idea was for us to offer a very nice can cooler, to the winner of our "new-2-DamTour" sign up drawing. And this rider was going to provide a surprise shiny gift to go inside the cooler. No..... it wasn't shiny cans of beer. The big prize was a shiny new Sony Cyber Shot DSC- S750 camera, and the winner was brand new rider Sharon Jarl, of Mission, BC. Congrats to Sharon, and thank for an excuse to ride. We will be riding up soon to deliver it in person. Sharon has a partially displaced fracture of the 5th metatarsal bone in her foot.  It will be at least 6 weeks before she's riding again. I hear she is going stir crazy already. So we will plan a short visit on our way to WAC Bennett.

That about wraps it up... till next year... thank you to all for the help, and thank you to all the riders that came... it was really great to meet some of you for the first time, and others who never tire of seeing. And lastly, but hardly the least... thank you to my husband Jim, who helped keep things going while I went crazy and did a lot of the prep work and packing.

If you weren't there, you missed a great picnic . :-)

Here is the deal, we offered a promotion this year(check out the 2/7/11 news entry below), that is sponsored in partnership with an anonymous rider, for a very special gift to the lucky winner of this drawing. Not gonna tell you what is in the bag, but it is great and will be a big surprise. To get in the drawing you had to notify me that someone was signing up at your urging for the first time. When that rider signed up, you both got a ticket added to the drawing. We have 12 DT riders in the drawing, along with 16 new to DamTour riders. :-)

So.... here is the list of eligible riders for our New-2-DamTour Sign-up Promotion.

Hope you see you there. :-)

This has been a light ride report week... unlike the last few that were coming in by the mail bag full. We had 9 riders and one pillion out in the last 6 days. And every dam managed to get at least one visit. Some riders went north, some riders went south, some went both ways, and some are still out there. This last week racked up a total of 53 dam visits reported.

No finishers this week, but we did have two riders earn their OR pin; Adam Keeling and Jim Blake. Congrats to all for all their dam riding, and to our two OR pin earners.

Now... picnic coming soon. July 30th is right around the corner. Wrapping up the details now. Will have the RSVP page up early next week, and will get invites sent out about then as well. New this year... is that we will Tacoma Power is providing us with the group kitchen, special parking and "five" camping spots at no cost to us. The camping spots are for July 29th, and if needed you the same five are available for the 30th at $16 each. This is going to work pretty much as a first come (to me that is ) basis. In other words, better let me know your needs and intentions soon if you are interested.

I also need to know how many would be interested in an underground tour of Mossyrock Dam. We have not been able to tour the dam since its latest upgrades due to construction. A tour is not confirmed yet, but if I get enough response to make it worth while... I will see what we can set up with Randy. Let me know if you have any questions on the picnic or dam tour.... Or if you might want to volunteer to help in any way.

Hope you see lots of you there. :-)

Where do I start. This last week, I looked up some interesting stats, but as usual, may not be exact, as riders continue to hold on to ride submissions for some reason, in spite of my plea for getting them in quickly. In any case it is still some interesting numbers.

Just ending our first week of July, we had 42 riders out riding. In great part due to getting extra days off for the holiday. Three of those were new out of the nest: Dennie Ward, Kurt Wilke, and brand new rider Kiki Menicosy. The exciting part about Kiki (now an ex-pillion), is her recent sign-up as a rider. She picked up three dams on her very first outing, and I am told she is lovin' it. Way to go Kiki, and congrats to the other two for the leap out of the "goose egg" nest. Of our 42 riders this last week, we had 7 earn the WA pin, and one for the OR pin. Gary Andrew, Carolyn Sudduth, Richards Skiens, Bill Lynes, Jim Blake, Milt Wilson and Bryan Johnson. Milt and Bryan also finished up with they picked up Sullivan Lake. The one Oregon pin earner was Kurt Wilke who not only leaped out of the nest over the weekend, but cleaned up all of the Oregon dams for the pin. Way to go Kurt. Our three finishers are Tim Bowman, Milt Wilson and Bryan Johnson. And Milt has asked if it is next year yet so he can start again. Congrats to all. Another rider story, I was impressed with was anew to DamTour rider, Royce Quiring of Bend. He signed up June 22nd, hit his first dam on June 26th, and on July 6th had 7 of the Oregon dams under his belt. All this on his 2002 KLR. :-)

As of July 7th, we stand at 1,462 rides reported, and have "13" finishers. This in spite of the nasty weather at the beginning of this season. For a comparison with July 7th last year, we had 1,127 rides reported, and only 10 finishers. Two of our riders were in both finishers list, Roger Van Santen and Dan Stombaugh. And, on July 7th of last year we had 199 on our rankings table, compared to 213 this year. We did however sign up five more riders after July 10th. How's that for some interesting numbers. Wow...

And... some more stats. The only dam not visited during the last 7 days was Wild Horse. Hell Hole, our last to be visited this year, had 6 visits and five of them were on the same day. July 3rd. The theme from the riders, was it was hotter than..... you guessed it...... HELL! They picked a toasty weekend to make that ride, as the temps in the area were hanging in the triple digits.

As a last stat before closing... I looked through our 1462 rides reported, and noticed we had one day stand out for the absolutely most dam visits ever. June 18th had "104" dam visits reported. Now of course that was because of our Lake Lowell ride sponsored by Treasure Valley Motorsports, so the numbers were up a bit. Seventy-two of those were Lake Lowell dams, so removing the extra three for 18 riders still put us at a sot in a day with 50 dam visits. And to add to that, it didn't count our repeater rider.... Dan Stombaugh, nor our extra guests(non-DT) . :-)

We have had quite the whirlwind of activity these last few weeks. Finishers, riders swooping out to earn their state pins, new rider sign-ups, sponsor BQQ and ride, and lots of .... just plain riding getting done.

Since June 8th, we had 12 new riders sign up, and two pillions. During this time frame (June 8th - July 1) we had 354 rides reported by 74 of our riders. Busy.... busy. We had 8 OR pin earners and 11 WA pin earners, and a whopping 7 new Finishers. I expect this next weekend (holiday time frame) to bring in many more. Nine of the 74 riders reporting, made it out for their first dam snag of the season.

We now have a record number of riders... and I think a record number of new sign-ups this time of the season. We have 211 on the rankings table. That number breaks down to 157 male riders, 31 female riders, 20 pillions, and 4 sponsors. This is the most female riders, pillions, and sponsors yet. Now by state, we have 128 rider/pillions from Washington, 71 from Oregon, 5 from Idaho, and 3 from Canada, and 1 signing up from Illinois.

A big deal in the news is all the bustle about the big IBR that happens every two years... and another toughie the Utah 1088. These rally's are a major accomplishment to finish... and I'm thinking, a pretty big deal to even get to do them. Two of our riders Brian Jack, and Cameron Brister started the big 11 day 11,000 (or more) miles IBR rally from Seattle, zig zagging across the continent and finishing up in Ontario, CA. Unfortunately Brian, who had a really good start, had bike troubles and had to drop out... So far at the end of Leg 3, Cameron is still in it, and if he isn't late... will finish, barring any unforeseen circumstances. The other big wow...in the news is Mayor Watkins, of Pasco, WA. Rider Matt Watkins, pulled off a spectacular win for the Utah 1088 Rally, and not just won it, but with amazing stats as well. Check it out in the FJR forum and our own forum for some of the great details on all the great accomplishments. We also had many of our riders doing the hard part of support at both ends of the IBR. That means they did a bit of riding during this time frame as well. Very impressive on all counts.

Now to add a closing heads up to all the riders that may actually read this.... our picnic is July 30th, and besides some really great food, and fun games, we will have some great prizes for drawings, and our special drawing for all the new to DamTour riders, and the riders that got them to sign up. I think our total is somewhere near 23 in the drawing, counting new sign-ups and the rider that talked them into it. :-) It is a good prize, and a still being kept as a surprise. So plan to be there ... and you should know who you, but I will put out a list soon.

This year the picnic will still be at Mossyrock park, on Hwy 12 in WA, but will be in the group campground kitchen, instead of our regular kitchen... and we will have 5 camping spots available... so if interested... let me know. I hope to have more details next week after the holiday on the camping availalbity and the picnic.

So now get back to riding... and enjoying the life experiences of DamTour. :-)

Our first connection and gathering with our new for this year sponsor, Treasure Valley Motorsports, was a huge success. In spite of it being a long ride for most of our riders, we had 18 registered riders show up in Nampa, Idaho for the BBQ and the group ride to all of the secret Lake Lowell dams, giving all "18" riders credit for what has proven to be a challenge for several of our riders. A few more DT riders showed up after the morning ride for a visit, the drawing and BBQ. In total we had 27 people there for DamTour. I was truly wowed and grateful to see all of you there. Thank you for coming.

Friday night, riders Dan Stombaugh and Bill Lynes showed up in time for us to grab a nice dinner together, and as we finished I got a call from friend and rider Denise Harchuck... shocked but pleased to hear from her, I asked..."Where are you?" Her answer... Nampa. You could have blown me over with a feather. Too cool. It appears, she had aborted plans to ride to Tennessee with a friend, and realized they could make it to Nampa by night fall. After a chat with Mike (her husband, still at home in Eugene) it was decided that he and her friends husband Ken, would beat feet... and come to Nampa as well. And they did... but I don't know how they managed to stay awake. The guys arrived around 2:30am, and in spite of the long hours, Mike and Denise were there in time for the ride that morning. Cindy and Ken came after the ride for the BBQ, being encouraged to come look at some of the great deals on the street bike sale TVM was having.

At 10:00 the ride started and was lead very capably by Drew, one of the techs at TVM. Three of Drew's friends joined in for the ride and that helped make it a perfect outing of 22 bikes. Drew lead the ride on his souped up Triumph... and Bear, on his bright yellow Ducati. Bear ran interference at the stop signs. I think we all had a blast on the ride, and we returned to a fabulous BBQ put together by Lesa and husband Chuck (he cooked) and Steve Martin, Parts Lead for TVM. After the BBQ and lots of mingling, TVM sponsored some "free" rider sign-ups and that added three new riders and a new pillion. Cindy and Ken Booth of Eugene who came along as guests with riders Denise and Mike Harchuck, and Chip Hyde and his wife Jean(pillion) of Boise. Chip manned the IBA booth at HCMR, and I had invited him to stop in and join us for the BBQ... he did, and he signed-up too, joining in on the DamTour experience. So a big welcome to all our new riders and pillions.

The TVM drawings came next with some great snags. Brand new rider Jim Blake(signed up over the HCMR weekend) made it to this event and won the leather jacket as you can read about in his forum post. Ken Hattan, who was a great help in getting people to sign in (thank you Ken), won a rain suit that I hear came in very handy on the way home. Ken Olsson not only made it to the event, but managed to sweet talk Lesa into revealing her mothers recipe for the great broccoli salad and posted it to the forum. :-) It was really good.

Other riders that made it to TVM, were, Crystal Chase, Matt Cook, Tim Macy, Bob Price(and friend Merle), Teri Denson (and grandson Brenson), Chuck Coy, Don Rodrigues, Clark Buchcanan, Bart Romple, Bill Sawyer and David Greasch. Oh yeah... and Jim and Cheryll Malisch. :-)

All in all... a perfect weekend. As one rider noted... dam good BBQ, and a dam good ride, with dam good people, made a dam good day. :-)

Thank you TVM.... especially Lesa, Chuck, Steve, Drew, Justin and all the rest of the great staff.

Will try and get a bit of news updates on what has gone on with DamTour for the last couple of weeks, starting.

Hells Canyon Motorcycle Rally. A great time if was. We had a little bit of wind, and a little bit of rain, but all in all quite a bit of sunshine at the ride center which is where I stood for three days. :-) But I did hear from many others that the rain clouds that were frequently off in the distance, really let loose on some of the rides. All in all I think most riders really enjoyed their visit to Baker City, whether it was a first or a repeat, and the wonderful riding roads this area offers. A great highlight for me was seeing all the DamTour riders there...and getting a chance to meet more than one that I have wanted to meet for the first time. First time to meet Liz Connors and "Sam"" Foster... and also dropping by the booth to say hi were Michelle and Morgan Pyzer, Jim and Sally Coxen, Lori Magers (okay, so she was there to help at the IBA booth too), and Dan Hollingsworth who also helped with the set up and tear down of things. Sorry if I missed somebody... it seems like more, but that was 2 weeks ago... :-) We had lots of DamTour interest for next year, and try as I might couldn't convince them there was still time this year. We did get three new registrations on-line during the weekend and I got things mailed out from Baker, and Nampa. One returning rider Storm Shearon and two new, Jim Blake (also made it to the Nampa shin-dig), and Matt Leopold. Also signed up a new rider and pillion at the rally, Jeff and Jana Anderson of Prineville... so hope to be hearing from them with great photos and adventures soon. :-) Met a great group of 5 riders at our camp ground...So, I'll be watching for Don, Linda, Leonard, Bo, Randy, and Scott's names to come in next year. They were awesome to visit with and are hoping to join in on the fun next year. Another inquiry was about next years event and when the dams would be posted.... and I know it is never soon enough for most riders... but come on... it does take some time to do...LOL Anyway, they want to include the dams in their Star Touring chapter rides for next year. Cool.

The Ride Over...

I left Thursday and had a very nice dry ride over. Nice and sunny... but I was prepared for the worst. I was pretty bundled up as it was cold when I left... by the time I got to Willow Creek Dam... I was melting if I stopped for more than a few seconds...LOL With that dam done, it was off to Ukiah and on to Baker City enjoying some back roads I had never been on.

After the weekend, it was decided to just stay east rather than head back home and return for the next weekend gathering in Nampa... so that we did spending the time exploring and picking up Clark Canyon and Wild Horse while we were there. The ride to Clark Canyon dam was really nice as we had never been up through Idaho City, and Salmon on the scenic by-way before... made the trip extra special. :-) With that under our belts... it was time to prepare for our great Saturday with TVM(Treasure Valley Motorsports) in Nampa, Idaho.

Well, it has been a very busy few weeks and I am sorry for not getting any of the weekly news out. And I really hate saying this.... but is it May or still March? Here we sit one day from June, and I am still receiving pictures with snow, not only on the hills and ground, but coming down too. The common theme this week has been emails with tails of wet and cold weather... rain... snow... wind.... are we sure it it May?

Hot in the news of course and the buzz of the forum... is that the elusive Hell Hole Dam, has finally been snagged. First to sneak in there and grab it was Brian Jack, followed shortly by Roger Van Santen for the first to finish, and right after that, Dan Stombaugh for the finish as well. The interesting part, is no noticable snow for the first two riders, but a couple days later, DamDan got a face shield full of wet messy snowfall, only to come back out that same path the very next day to bare pavement. Wow... is winter done with us yet? Congrats to three hearty riders that scrambled to the finish. We also had 9 more OR pin earners and 4 more WA pin earners. WA pins were, Matt Walkins, Tim Bowman, Mark Shiner and Brian Jack. OR pins were, John and Dave Hebert, Marvin Budnick, Victor Putnam, Jamie Tennant, Larry D Bear, Angel Jackson, Cary Funk, and Brian Jack. Congrats to all for some great rides.

The Pro Caliber Bend/DamTour event was a great success and Travis(and Susan) and the Pro Caliber staff gave their all to this day. Thank you to all of the great DamTour riders for showing their support and joining us in Bend. I am not sure of the final count of all attending, but it was well over a dozen riders. We had a great BBQ, and in spite of the threatening skies, we managed to have a fantastic ride lead by rider Dan Hollingsworth to pick up both North Unit and Ochoco dams with a break photo stop at Bowman dam on route. Bowman dam was on our first year list in 2004. The ride was awesome and the scenery was unbeatable. While some had to leave a little earlier than our ride started, we still had 14 riders/pillions for a group photo at North Unit dam. Which dwindled down as the ride went on, to a final count of nine people by Ochoco. No, no one died... just had already gotten the dam, and went on their way. On another note, Dan pointed out this interesting rock formation jutting out from the cliffs above the reservoir. It was the "Gate Keeper of the Ochoco's". I zoomed in on this legion and added it to our album. Thank you Dan Hollingsworth for leading a great and fun ride.

Now lastly.... I hope to have more news on the up coming Nampa event... at our new sponsor, Treasure Valley Motorsports, and on the up coming picnic, which is July 30th... mark your calendars. . And ... of course don't forget Hells Canyon Motorcycle Rally is just before the Nampa event. See ya next week.

Five more riders left their "Goose Eggs" behind this last week, heading out for their first dam snags of the season. Rich Hensler, Marvin Budnick, Victor Putnam, this week, and late turn-ins from past weeks, Jim Moell, and John Gustafson all managed to get out and visit their first dams. And 15 other riders were out in force ridding around the northwest adding to their totals. Three of those riders earned a State Pin. Tim Bowman and Bob Price made a raid on Oregon to earn the OR Pin, with Bob getting all 8 on their 2 ½ day ride. I hear it would have been a shorter trip, except for the fierce winds they encountered on the way home which caused them to hole up for the night. Our other pin earner was Terry Morris picking up Wynoochee to earn the WA Pin... congrats to all our riders on these fun adventures.

Details for the May 21st get together and group ride will be coming soon. Rider Dan Hollingsworth, of Prineville, has planned a great ride to get two of our Oregon dams, nearest to our Bend sponsor, Pro Caliber. The ride is estimated to be about 2 ½ hours. The event is an all day gathering... with great sales, and soem drawings and a BBQ. the ride is planned for after the BBQ lunch (more details soon). I hope to see a lot of you there... and mayabe we can get a great group shot.

Lastly in the news this week, rider Tim Bowman, wrote an article for Touratech Streetline, USA and you can see it here.That is way cool. :-)

Hope to see a lot of riders and meet some for the first time on the 21st... and be sure to bring friends... we can sign them up there.

A lot of "Dam" fine riding went on this last week, with "10" more snagging their first dams of the season. new out of the realm of the "goose eggs" are Clark Buchanan, Cameron Brister, Dwight Gladden, Lloyd Gardner, Robert Alley, Gary Wilson, Jim coxen, Charles Katopodis, Crystal Chase, and new sing-up Bryan Johnson. We are really moving on now. We also have another WA pin earner. New rider Bob Price, earned his WA pin hitting Lake Sullivan this weekend. Congrats to all of you.

We had one new sign-ups this week, Nicole Ellis of Port Orchard, WA. Welcome to DamTour. We know you will enjoy the new life adventures that DamTour will give you. :-)

There were 39 riders reporting rides for this last week. Most during the weekend. Still a few outstanding from last week that I know of and I hope they get them in soon. Ten of this year's dams were visited and there were lots of dam rider sightings... more than one rider reported meeting a dam rider at a dam for the first time. Now we need to get them to do some good group shots.

July 30th is the picnic date this year. Be sure to save that date. I will get more info up and follow with the RSVP page soon. This year Tacoma Power is holding 5 camping sites just for our riders so more will follow on that as well. So now.... get out there and ride, and please...please.... turn your photos in as you go.

See ya later.

This last week brought out a brief and I do mean brief bit of sunshine... and riders certainly took advantage of it. Friday and Saturday was warm and sunny in most places but didn't last long. As Sunday played winter with a vengeance leaving some riders cold and very wet...LOL . We had 24 riders out and about, and seven of them were hitting their first dam snags of the season. John Enoch, Ed Wakefield, Phil O'Connor, Cathryn Holt, Bob Newkirk, and Jan Mondale, got out and snagged their first dam(s) this last week. Congrats on the start of the great adventure. Jim and I even got out for some dam snagging for a change. These 24 riders, made 52 dam snags. A few others have made some dam snags... but as yet, I have not heard from them. Maybe I should name them and shame them.

We also had two new sign-ups this week, Josh Allen of Urbana, IL, and Dennis Blanchard of Buckley, WA. Welcome to DamTour. This makes the second time we have had a rider sign up from Illinois.

Our top ten most visited dams are shown at the left, and we only have one dam that has not been visited so far this season. The ellusive "Hell Hole Dam". For some other stats from this season, we have "25" women riders signed-up and "15" of those have visited at least one dam so far. This is the most female riders signed up to date. And, a total of "16" pillions is a record sign up as well. Two of those pillion riders are very special if not a bit different, Larry D Bear, and Jerry "Dam"cia. This is Jerry's first year to be officially sign-up, but he did ride last year as can be seen from out poster, and t-shirts. :-) Larry is doing his second year of DamTour, but has many other riding miles under his furry bottom. Also new this year is an increase in junior pillions. This is way cool to see the young ones getting out to enjoy this adventure with mom or dad. Danny Allen riding his first DT year, with dad Tim, and Cierra Mallory her second (1st official) riding with dad Bill.

Now for some important remindres...!! Keep these dates in mind as you plan your season. May 21 st, will be a group gathering and ride at Pro Caliber of Bend, OR. We will pick up North Unit and Ochoco, being lead by our fearless DT rider, Dan Hollingsworth. Free food and drawings and lots of fun. A great introduction to DamTour for the area.

June 18th, this one follows on heels of "Hells Canyon Motorcycle Rally"(June 10 -13), our sister event. This gathering will be at our new this year sponsor, Treasure Valley Motorsports of Nampa, ID. This will include BBQ, and drawings, and of course a great guided tour to our mystery bonus dams. Well, not so mystery any more... but not so easy to find unless to come to this event for some help, or drop into the store to get the GPS for each of the dams on Lake Lowell. Please try to make this and show your support of our new sponsor, and if you have friends in Idaho... drag them along. :-)

Lastly, but not least... July 30th... this is our annual picnic. It shows for the 9th in our calendar, but had to be moved to the 30th... so don't forget to mark(or remark) your calendars. The picnic will still be at Mossyrock Park, but in a new location and we will have five campsites available for riders. I will have more details on this soon. Tacoma Power as usual has gone beyond the norm in support of our event. We will have great food, fun games, and our picnic sponsor, Desert Valley Powersports will be providing great prizes again this year. And.... don't forget, we will have the special drawing for signing up "new to DamTour" riders. We have "12" in the drawing so far. Please read previous news for more info on that.

Enough for now... see ya later.

I held off on the updates this week as I was waiting on a few I knew were in the works... but got it all done today. We are into our 8th week of the season... and it has been a slow go in both rides as well as sign-ups. I think most of this has been due to the less than perfect spring weather... but how many times can we keep wondering what season it is...LOL Riders are still make a valiant try at the dam snags, and this week we had 28 riders making 50 dam snags(more because of Lake Lowell) to 12 different dams. As an added stat info on this week, these fifty rides were made on, 1 BMW, 2 Harley's, 3 Suzuki's, 4 Yamaha's, 8 Hondas, and 8 Kawasaki's.

Twelve of the rides were by our Idaho group, John, Pat, and Pattie Bolstad, who each visited North, O'Sullivan, Roza, and Willow Creek. They said they left in the snow, returned home to snow... but had a great and clear ride to the four dams, and are loving the experience of DamTour. Three of our riders, John Hebert, Dave Hebert, and Wayne Horner made it to all locations on our Idaho bonus dam, lake Lowell. And Wayne Horner, also picked up Wild Horse, Ochoco, and Willow on his three day trip. We had a group of "Connies" make a trip to Upper Baker, for a group shot, Colin Prior, Fred Dykins, and Dan Stombaugh. Dan also made it on to Dugualla to ear his WA pin. And our newest sign-ups from the Pro Caliber, April 9th event,Teri Denson, Chuck Coy, Victor McKee, Jeff Davis, Christine Kellar, and Mary Anne Healey, made it out of the "goose egg" nest, snagging Wynoochee Dam. Also snagging Wynoochee Dam were Don Rodrigues, and Sarah and Jim Guyton. And.... Terry Morris made it back to get his photo with placard this time, at Sullivan Lake. His last trip was in nasty snow, and he wrote he couldn't get to the dam... going back he realized he had ridden across the bridge twice, and had he just turned around he would have seen the dam.AT least this time he had his placard. LOL Congrats to all... on their great rides.

As of today we have 188 riders, and pillions including four sponsors registered, with three new riders signing up in the last couple of days. Welcome to Scott Graff, Matt Henry and Bryan Johnson. And as of today... "98" of our riders have been to at least one dam. We have three OR pin earners and two WA pin earners to date. Not bad considering the weather.

Until next week... enjoy the ride. I hope to.

Any guesses what dam was most visited this last week? Any guesses which dam had the most riders visiting at the same time? Can you say.... "Swift"? Our April 9th event was great and a big thanks to our sponsor for all they did for us and in helping us to promote DamTour. It was a great success and we had 10 new riders and one new pillion sign-up at Pro Caliber. We had burgers and dogs, and drawings and the great ride to Swift reservoir, lead by Doug Glidden. More than one group headed out, but the largest, lead by Doug, had 12 riders (including Jim Malisch who took the photo). Plus another 5 turned in from other groups.

We had over 28 riders out this last week. I say over, because I know of at least five riders that haven't turned in their dam snags yet, so I gave up waiting. And there may be more. Hell Hole dam still remains unvisited, and probably will stay that way for a while as winter refuses to give up its hold on the northwest. Speaking of the bad weather, our three Idaho riders, the Bolstads, were finally able to dig their way out for their first dam snag, picking up Sullivan Lake, and said they had a great ride. Rider Mark Shiner finally made it out of the nest, and sent an extra shot of his failed attempt at Upper Baker a few weeks ago. Check it out in the album. I am sure it will look familiar to a few riders. :-)

Our T-shirts arrive just in time for many riders to pick them up on Saturday and Steve will be getting the rest of them mailed out this week. We only ordered a few extra, so if you were thinking of getting one, don't wait too long.

Lastly in the news, I want to give you a heads up on a few dates. July 30th is our picnic and it will be at Mossyrock Park, but in a new location. Always great fun, great food, and games with prizes. And don't forget our special "New to DamTour " drawing (see details in previous news).May 21st we will have a great gathering at Pro Caliber in Bend, Oregon. Again with a BBQ, and a great group ride, but this time to two of our Oregon dams. So mark the day. And for June we have the next big "Save the Date" on June 18th... the weekend after Hells Canyon Motorcycle Rally. This will be at our new sponsor Treasure Valley Motorsports, in Nampa, Idaho. Food, fun, and a group ride to all of the mystery Lake Lowell bonus dams. A not to be missed event. So put these on your calendar now.

This last week was much busier than last week for riders trying to find that small window of opportunity to snag a dam without being drenched, frozen, buried in snow, or pelleted by hail. Did they succeed? It seems our riders still had a mix of winter/spring weather no matter which direction they traveled. It didn't stop them though as we had '25' riders and pillions out adding '43' more dam visits to the total. We now have '203' ride reports for the season. Sixty-eight of our 169 registered riders, pillions and sponsors have gotten at least one dam snag under their belts.

Oregon riders made 13 of our 43 visits and Washington riders picked up 30. Fifteen dams were aimed for this last week and most saw several riders taking their photos with our own personal pride and joyride for the day, in the foreground. Roger Van Santen moved to the top of the heap (for now), sitting at 19, after snagging three of the bonus dams(Lowell makes that 6...LOL), and Gerber Dam, earning him his OR pin, and to have earned both state pins. Way to go Roger.

Our "first visit" snags for this last week are below, and that leaves two more bonus dams.

1. Clark Canyon (19th visited):  Roger Van Santen (4/01)

We also had "7" new riders sign-up for DamTour since March 31st. Phil O'Connor, Colin Cook, John Enoch, Sharon Jarl, and Gary Wilson are all brand new to DamTour this year, and Rich & Sherri Hensler and Gary Jarl, have signed-up again this year. Welcome to all our new riders.

Hope to see a bunch of you at Pro Caliber this weekend. I will have the t-shirts ready for pick up as well as offer on the spot sign-ups for all your friends you bring along. :-) Don't forget the "free" food and a DamTour ride up to Swift Dam leaves at 2:00pm. Be gassed up and ready to go.

First to start off with, no new to be visited dams this week. But an interesting note, all of the dams that were visited in the last 7 days were Washington dams, and all riding reported for the last 7 days was from WA riders. Does that mean all of that dang rain was hovering over Oregon or do we have tougher riders up north? LOL We did get a few late submissions for Oregon, but from prior weeks. Like I have said before... people messing with my stats...LOL

All in all, nine riders ventured out into this lovely spring weather making 11 dam visits. With Upper Baker getting the most visits, of 5. Dugualla at 3, O'Sullivan at 2, and Wynoochee at 1. A slow week to be sure... but spring is still doing the lion's roar. We should be out of this soon.

**Note: A very important update and note here. First, the "t-shirts" have been ordered, and they will be at the April 9th event at Pro Caliber of Longview. So, you can pick them up there and get them much quicker. If you haven't pre-ordered a t-shirt/sweatshirt, you will have the chance to buy one there. We will also have calendars and decals available.

Now for the very important update PICNIC... I goofed up.... yep... I said it. I goofed up, big time. Our usual picnic place was booked solid before I even got my reservation in. So... here is what is in the works. We looked for other options for our picnic, as to locations and how it would all work out. There were a few under consideration, but all put us in a not so central location as we have had in the past with Mossyrock Park.

So..... this is where the date change comes in. Right now it is looking like it could be July 30th. The location would be the same park, but at a different kitchen, and would include a few camp sites for those that might want to stay over the night before or the night after. I will post more news as soon as the details are firm and finalized. I am really sorry for this terrible blunder. So everybody.... mark your calendars for July 30th.... and don't forget the special "New to DamTour" drawing to be held at the picnic. This is also where we pass out the first round of "State Pins". Of course we will still have the same great fun of games, and prizes and very good food.

Goodness, it "Officially Spring" now, so they say, and from the photos that are coming in, there is less snow, but I'm not sure it is really here yet. We did however, have a lot more riders flying out of the "ole goose egg nest", so the weather must be getting better. I am still holding onto the old adage... "In like a Lion, out like a Lamb"... and counting on it for our April 9th gathering at Pro Caliber in Longview. :-)

This last week, 23 riders were out visiting 12 different dams, with a total of 29 dam visits. Dugualla took the most visited spot at five rider visits, with Upper Baker & Wynoochee(and all Wynoochee on the same day) having four, and we had another dam, "Wild Horse" taken off the list of the un-visited, Dan Stombaugh. I think it will be awhile before our last two dams get visited, and no, that was a "NOT" a challenge. (edited--typo)

Our "first visit" snags for this last week are below, and that leaves two more bonus dams.

1. Wild Horse (18th visited):  Dan Stombaugh (3/18)

Additional news this week are two more state pins earners. Not sure we have had this going on in years past... but we now have three earned already and it is barely spring. Roger Van Santen earned the first WA pin snagging Upper Baker ( almost did it earlier), and Dan Stombaugh earned his OR pin when he picked up Gerber Dam.

**Note: We have a lot of new riders this year, and new submissions this week. Which brings with it a small learning curve for riders getting their photos turned in. I want to thank all of these new riders for understanding the need to do the naming schema if for nothing else, my sanity...LOL So, thank you for all the effort in getting it right. I truly appreciate it.

Well, as you can expect not much riding going on this last week, but also as you might expect, we have those that can make a date with the cold, wet and/or snowy roads anyway. I always tell our sponsors.... "Our riders ride", and that they do. Although most of us are waiting to enjoy these destinations in a bit fairer weather. LOL This last weekend was the pits in some areas of the northwest. With snow, heavy rain and wind storms going everywhere.

In spite of that, ten riders have turned in dam snags since last week, visiting ten different dams, with a total of 23 visits. Willow Creek, Ochoco, North Unit, and Sullivan Lake, tied with three visits each, and we had another dam "Sullivan Lake" taken off the list of the un-visited.

Our "first visit" snags for this last weekend. This leaves only three of our bonus dams un-visited this season. Wow!!!

1. Sullivan Lake (17th visited):  Roger Van Santen (3/12)

Latest update to last weeks news. Our announced April 2nd get to-ether, has been re-scheduled for April 9th.Pro Caliber of Longview is planning a great get-together on April 9th with a focus on promoting DamTour, with a group ride to Swift, a BBQ, and other fun surprises... please show your support, as well as bring your friends.

Here are some details. Starts at 12:00 with a BBQ fired up and cooking, there will be some raffle drawings going on and some fun "Pop-n-Shop" discounts for all to enjoy. We will also be doing a short DamTour presentation at 1:00pm to spread the word of this great northwest adventure in the local area. And ... we will be offering on the spot sign-ups so they can be included in the group ride to "Swift Dam" at 2:00pm (be ready to go with fuel tanks full). From there you are on your own to head home or where ever you have in mind. This is the time to bring in the friends that are sitting on the fence about signing up for DamTour. The first "five" to sign up at our sign-up table, will receive a "free" registration, courtesy of our sponsor Pro Caliber, and if you bring in a rider totally new to DamTour and they sing up, "you" will get a ticket added to our special picnic drawing "New Sign Up Promotion". Double deal good.

Hope to see you there... bring all your riding friends. :-)

Pro Caliber of Longview, special DamTour Day and group ride to Swift Dam, has been changed. Details very soon. Don't miss this... it will be great. Bring your riding friends. Free food, prizes, and something special.

Done with our second week of our 8th season of DamTour with 6 1/2 months to go. March has been a bit of a challenge, but then winter has been for the whole Pacific Northwest too. Let's all hope for the old adage, "In like a Lion, Out like a Lamb". In any case, it hasn't appeared to stop our riders from getting out there to start this season with a bang. Eight more "dam first" this week, leaving only one Washington dam and three of our bonus dams not visited. And... I am thinking those will be a while as they are in high country that has been hit with lots of snow this winter.

We had "86" dam visits for March 1st to the 7th and that number really is a bit more as our Idaho Bonus dam had its first visitors this last weekend... by two riders. Steve Folkestad and Dan Stombaugh, did the first hunt round and round the lake searching and walking in the rain for all of the mystery dams(as you will see in the Lake Lowell photo album), so that adds a few more visits to our total of dam visits. We also have our first to earn a state pin... Matt Watkins earned his "OR" pin by his visit to Silverton Dam on March 6th, congrats to Matt. On that note, two riders, did some hard riding in the last few days. Matt Watkins snagged "8" dams in 2 1/2 days, and Dan Stombaugh snagged "8" dams in his 3 1/2 day run.

What a way to bring in our 8th season... below I have listed the "dam snag" firsts . This only lists first day visits of any particular dam. Sixteen down, and four to go as of March 6th.

1. Swift (9th visited):   Jim & Cheryll Malisch, Dan Stombaugh (3/3)
2. Ochoco (10th visited):  Dan Hollingsworth, Matt Watkins (3/4)
3. North Unit (11th visited):   Matt Watkins (3/4)
4. Dugualla (12th visited): Bill Lynes, Marty Larsen, David Morgan(3/5)
5. Gerber (13th visited):  Matt Watkins (3/5)
6. Upper Baker (14th visited):  Bill Lynes (3/5)
7. North (15th visited):  Dave Hebert, John Hebert (3/5)
8. Lowell (16th visited):  Steve Folkestad & Dan Stombaugh (3/5 & 3/6)

We are at a total of "147" riders, pillions and sponsors as of this weekend. Our sponsors are stepping up their involvement and putting together some fun extras for the riders. Pro Caliber of Longview is planning a great get-together on April 2nd, with a group ride to Swift, a BBQ, and other fun surprises... so block out that day and plan to be there and show your support, as well as bring your friends. This for two reasons... first, if they sign up that day, they get a gift card :-), and second, if they are brand new to DamTour, you get a ticket for our picnic drawing for a really great prize. Hope to see you there.

Our new sponsor this year, Treasure Valley Motorsports of Nampa, ID, is also very excited about DamTour, and they are planning a summer gathering, on June 18th with a fun ride to the mystery dams at Lake Lowell. The exact details are still in the works, but expect food, fun and more. I hope you join in on this even if you have been to the Lowell dams already. They have been great in helping us with some of the mystery of Lake Lowell... and have the photo locations, with naming and GPS in their store... sort of like a egg/scavenger hunt don't ya think. :-) As a note here... if you have friends that live in Idaho... or surrounding area, and they ride... be sure to get them involved.

A big " Thank You" to our great sponsors... all of them, Desert Valley Powersports of Prosser, Pro Caliber of Longview and of Bend, and Treasure Valley Motorsports of Nampa, as they help keep the love and passion of riding alive.

In spite of this dang winter weather that doesn't want to give any of us a break, we had a "total of 8" dams visited in the first two days of the season. Last year we had "7" dams knocked off the un-visisted list on the first day alone. But even though a bit lower in number, we got off to a "certifiable" start... :-) Steve and Angela Ferguson, met their goal to be the first dam snag of the season, riding to Wynoochee Dam through all variations of cold and nasty roads, and taking thier photos before 7:00am. Burrrr..... Check out their saga in the forum.

Below I have listed the opening weekend dam snag . This only lists first day visits of any particular dam. Eight down, and 12 to go.

1. Wynoochee (1st visited):   Steve & Angela Ferguson (2/26)
2. Silverton (2nd visited):  Dennis York, Dean Scheel, Bryan Townsend, Morgan & Michelle Pyzer, Wayne Horner, and Geoff Heywood (2/26), and Roger Van Santen (2/27)
3. Willow Creek (3rd visited):   Matt Watkins (2/26)
4. Selmac (4th visited): Roger Van Santen (2/27)
5. O'Sullivan (5th visited):  Matt Watkins (2/27)
6. Roza (6th visited):  Dave Hebert, John Hebert, Matt Watkins (2/27)
7. Whistler's Bend (7th visited):  Roger VanSanten (2/27)
8. Fall Creek (8th visited):   Roger Van Santen (2/28)

I think weather has had something to do with sign-ups this early in the season as well. We had a real rush as an early get go, as riders, were anxious to get it going, but the weather has slowed things down a bit. At this time last year, we had "148" riders and pillions signed up, and as of today, we are at "137". I don't think this trend will hold when the weather starts playing fair. A lot of our sign-ups this year are brand new to DamTour.. and I know many more of our past riders are still planning on joining us again this season.

Lets hope for a bit better weather next weekend... although isn't looking that great today, looking out my window watching it snow. :-) See ya next week.

Great news for those to the east and for our riders in Idaho. We have a new sponsor this year that is very excited to be involved with Damtour and it's riders. Treasure Valley Motorsports of Nampa, Idaho, will not only be giving us rider discounts, but will have info in their store , on the mystery dam(s) of our Bonus Dam, Lake Lowell. They are also going to have a special group ride day with BBQ and prizes on Saturday, June 18th, which will meet, then ride to our mystery dams, and return for a fun get together at the store, with food drinks for all.

Be sure to block out that Saturday on your calendar, and make a point to be there for all the fun and to not only promote the sport of riding, but to show support to our new sponsor.

More sponsorship details to follow.

Have those riding friends sitting on the fence about signing up for DamTour? Well now this special deal with our sponsor Pro Caliber of Longview, may just be what you need to push them over.

I don't have the date yet, but Pro Caliber is having a big bang up of a rider appreciation event in March, and we are going to be there. We will be talking about DamTour, and taking sign-ups for this year. The special deal here for us, besides the music and great food and other things going on, is.... Every New Rider that signs up that day will get a special gift certificate. Making signing up for DamTour a really good deal. More details to follow. Be sure to be there...

As our special surprise bonus dam, Lake Lowell has a twist this year. Lake Lowell, outside of Nampa, Idaho is 2011 Bonus Dams #1. What makes this different? Well, Lake Lowell is unique in that it has more than one dam, but less than five dams... and even more unique is you will not get the GPS locations for these dams. You will need to go the Lake Lowell dam page to see where your photo has to be taken... and you will need to get them all to earn the trophy. For this dam you will need to do some research, and explore a bit more. :-) The page for Lake Lowell's dams has the photos of the dam spots you need to put your bike in to submit.

Next we have the naming schema. It kind of spoils the sport of figuring out the more than one, less than five, but I need them named a certain way for my sanity alone. So, you will notice there are four and the details are on the dam page for Lake Lowell. At the side are the chosen photo spots, and the tool tip/alt(while hovering over thumbnails) will show you they are numbered 1 through 4. So follow the naming schema accordingly. As in lowell-1_1002.jpg, lowell-2_1002.jpg, and so on. Get it?

You do have the option of just getting one of these (but still follow the numbering) but you won't qualify for the trophy. Be sure you understand this. All of them, if you want to earn the trophy. Do your research.

Special Sign-Up promotion ... check it out. Now more than ever, a reason to spread the word about DamTour. I know you all tell everyone, but now comes a reward.

Here's the deal... You get a brand new to DamTour rider to sign-up for the first time and you get a ticket for a special drawing.

What is the prize? Well, for starters a cool collapsible "can Cooler" with some extra special prizes inside.

So who gets the prize?  It's a raffle drawing and the only way to get a ticket is for a past Dam Tour member to sign up somebody new for the tour.  A simple email will inform us that "John Smith" is signing up and "Joe Jones"  got him to do it. " Joe Jones" then gets a ticket.  And another ticket for each person he or she signs up for the tour.

The prize will be awarded at the picnic.

Well the pages are finally done, and the throttles of those anxious bikes are getting so excited for this years DamTour, that they are just about twisting on their own. So... be sure to check your garage often.

This year is looking good and riders are busy planning their first day route as well the their highly anticipated season adventures. Dams scattered, east, west, north and south for your riding pleasure. A few repeats this year, and a few that may be a challenge for some of our riders that struggle with following the naming schema. Be careful, if you want credit for your dams... as we continue to grow, my time gets spread pretty thin, so I need to leave it up to you to get them named correctly, and save some of my weary computer time. You will receive your naming schema with your packet and it will also be on-line at the link on the rankings table.

Difficulties might arise with O'Sullivan Dam, and Sullivan Lake Dam... so be careful there. Then we have North Dam, and of course North Unite Dam. No, we did not do this on purpose. LOL the other naming issue with be bonus dam Lake Lowell. You will need to pay attention on this one, and read the warnings and notes on the dam list and dam page. It will also be explained in the info in your packet. Packets will be mailed out starting Feb. 22nd... I think. :-)

Pro Caliber ... announces their completley new on-line store. They are working on this big time and hoping to take it national in a big way. Of course all three of their store fronts still have their own web sites as well for your shopping pleasure. Show your support for one of our sponsors and check it out now.

I got 6 of the eight Oregon dams on-line and the new map for Oregon showing their locations but have two left to finish and get uploaded. There were some last minute changes but I think you will like them.

We have added 31 more sign ups in the last six days. We now have a total of "78" on the rankings list, and of that number 11 are pillions (5 new this year) and 10 of them are female riders (3 are new this year). We continue to grow and we may be coming up with some incentive to get you excited even more about talking new riders into joining in on the fun (more on that later).

PS... as an added note here. I finally got the "Showcase My Bike" album updated last night to include some new bikes sent in, including some from last year (sorry for the delay on that). We haven't had much come in for it since the beginning, so it was nice to see a few news ones.

Well I got the last of the WA dams up last night, and looks like quite a few have been looking them over. I will be working on some of the OR dams today and hope to get a few of them up.

Starting our third day of having registrations open... and we have 47 on the list already . Good start. Some are taking advantage of the extra option to add a decal or calendar. When this order of calendars are sold... they are gone until next year... so don't wait too long. Great looking calendars with lots of info and motorcycle event dates already in it. Get yours today.

As usual, riders are anxious to see the rest of the dams as we keep getting notes asking are we there yet? When?

February 1st seems to never get here. Of course that is for the other riders, not for me. For me, Feb. 1st closes in at break neck speed. I have the Bonus dam pages up, and hope to have at least a few of the WA dam pages up today. We had decided to give you little peeks as we go instead of waiting for all of them on Feb.1. An attempt to placate the restless natives.

The registration this year gives riders an opportunity to add a Damtour Decal and the 2011 Calendar to their original registration. Calendars will only be available until this batch is gone. So if your want one get it now. Also to note, you only have until March 1st to order a 2011 sweatshirt or a long-sleeve t-shirt. This can be done with the registration or at the DamTour Store.

So, make sure that bike is ready to roll , DamTour 2011 is almost here....

Riders are chomping at the bit, or should I say, clenching the throttle, in anticipation of another exciting season with DamTour 2011. Registration is officially open for Pre-Registration Now. The official start this year is February 26, 2011. New last year we offered some special pre-registration xmas packages in the DamTour store, as well as some great close out pricing for our left over 2010 stock. We had a fairly good response. This was to encourage gift packages to introduce new riders to DamTour.

Packets will start heading out the door February 22nd. Your packet will include your placard with the list of dams on the back, a welcome note from Steve, a note about submitting your photos and how they must be name, as well as a information on what will count and what won't for your dam visits. On another note about placards, hang on to them. We had several people loose them last year and we sent out new ones (sometimes more than once). This year, you loose your placard and you will pay for a replacement. So hang on tight, or put a string on it like some have, but don't loose them.

And .... lastly. Sign up now, put on your DamTour t-shirt, pack your bike, gas it up, and be ready to roll...

Get that throttle hand in shape, DamTour 2011 is almost here....

In spite of the rain the season ended with a great "End of Season Party". If you missed it you missed a great opportunity to meet other riders, eat some great food, and do some fun discounted shopping. Again this year we owe a big thanks to Pro-Caliber, Longview, that offered up a great location for us to have our party out of the weather, and in a central location for most of us. They were also gracious enough to provide our riders with some special gift certificates for our Dam drawings, and going above and beyond, offered us some fun "pop-n-shop" opportunities, with dozens of balloons enclosing shopping discounts from 20 to 40% off part and accessories. Wow... and "Thank You, Pro-Caliber". Hope all you riders got a good chance to browse around the store and meet the great and friendly staff, and do a little shopping.

As usual we announced next years Bonus Dams and added a new twist to things when Steve announced Lake Lowell to be "more than one, less than 5". Our Bonus Dams for next year are: Hell Hole Dam, in California; Lake Lowell Dam(s), in Idaho; Clark Canyon Dam, in Montana; and Wild Horse Dam, in Nevada, that is featured on our 2011 shirt and poster. Some great life experiences lie ahead.

Rider and Pillion, Steve and Angela Ferguson, gave us a great replay of the famous dam photo that not only graces the back cover of our calendar this year, but will be one of the photos on our placards. Rider Crystal Chase, shared her story of what DamTour has done for her to get back to riding after a very serious crash a few years ago, and Ken Olsson gave us a short talk on the WAAAM in Hood River, and gave some free admission tickets to use for our drawings to see the fabulous WAAAM (air & auto museum). As their web page says... "It's worth the trip". Thank you Ken. We had lots of drawings, thanks to Pro Caliber, and Steve Folkestad, and a few laughs when it was discovered we had some broken trophies. Steve decided I was to be awarded a broken trophy for a broken rider. :-) This was the first year I was not able to finish all the dams due to tearing a tendon in my left wrist in August that was refusing to heal. I will never hear the end of this one. All in all, I think fun was had by all, and was our best awards party yet.

Last year we increased the rider registration to $30, and have struggled back and forth with whether to do another increase for 2011to help cover the expenses of our picnic and awards party. We really don't want to if we can help it. So it was decide not to raise it another $5.00 and see if we can get some sponsor support to cover the expense. If not we will add a donation helmet at the picnic and awards party. :-)

Well riders... you have made this another wonderful DamTour season and we look forward to seeing you all back here for next year. We will be busy in the background planning for next year, and making the final dam selections. The new season web site and the 2011 dams should be up and ready by mid-February. So while you are chomping at the bit and waiting around for us.... get those bikes ready to roll.... it's gonna be a great year.

Till next year..... Just ride!!!