Bickleton

Road Trip to Bickelton

Today is a Tuesday, our second day off so we went for a ride. Let’s go east and see what is out that way. So we head east out of Goldendale on 142. Thirty miles or so, slowing down for the tiny burg of Cleveland, we arrived in Bickelton in time for lunch. Luckily there is a place to eat in town. The Market Street Store and Café. It’s either a general store with a café inside or a café with a convenience store inside. Either way, the burgers are big and juicy and you can substitute fruit, salad or fruit for your fries. So we ordered one burger with fries and one with fruit which was good because both of the sides were large enough for both of us. After lunch we walked across the street to McCredy’s General Store an interesting combination of “general need” things and gift and decoration items. That makes for two stops in Bickleton. Had it been any day but Monday, we would have had another stop. The Carousel Museum houses an entire carousel plus much associated memorabilia.

Leaving town we headed south on East Road with our intermediate destination being the village of Roosevelt which is on Hwy 14. A stop that we did not make was the “Hoot and Holler Museum”. The sign at the road says, “a ranching museum”, but I understand that it has quite a bit more, including a interesting collection of antique autos. I will pull in next time.

The twenty five mile trip was through an area that is rapidly sprouting wind generators in every direction. Twice during the journey we had to stop and wait while trucks passed carrying parts of these generators. These generators are so large that the columns take a truck to haul each of its sections. The units consist of three blades and each blade is so long that it requires a truck with a special trailer to haul it. The highway up from I-84 is rather narrow and has several curves so traffic is held up at each end of the hill as these rigs negotiate their way upward.

As I gaze around the hills here and nearly everywhere, I am unsure. Part of me (the left brain) dislikes watching them steadily cover the surrounding hills, slowly turning in the wind. The other part of me (right brain) says “Yahoo! Keep it up. Let’s go green. More wind, more solar panels, florescent bulbs, less waste, etc.

So which side wins out? A little of both I think.