Ghost Town Adventure V

I headed into North Central Douglas County for my last run in this area and after leaving Waterville zig-zagged in my usual adventure fashion trying to find the abandoned oddity out there and ran across this prairie homestead in the gully of one of my intersecting roads somewhere around Roads J and 7 NW.

Area Travelled

Lamoine is still around on roads 8 and G NW, including the old school

Heading out of Lamoine I grabbed road F to 11 and then over to some buildings I saw in the distance on Road H.

There are a lot of old homesteads and granaries out here...

 North up to Road 15 NW and then east to Road D and up to what's left of Howard, WA.

From Howard it get's interesting as the roads may or may not continue through public access. I ran into more deer here in a 2 mile area than I have ever seen together in one place. A5 to 22.5NW to A NW led me to the town of Dyer.

Dyer is not much more than a few stray buildings as far as towns go, but there are many abandoned houses hanging around the area.

As I continued North on A NW I saw lava pillars form the volcanic activity that formed the area.

Shooting across 29.5 NW (what is it with the .5's?) I head East on Kropp Rd, Dezellem Hill Road, and begin winding my way down to the Chief Joseph Dam.

Once down to Hwy 17 South I continue South on Bridgeport Hill Rd to Hwy 172 and another abandoned home.

Cemeteries pop up when you least expect them...

The Kumar Cemetery is just a few miles NE of Waterville as I head back into town there and get ready for the fun run down Pine Canyon (Hwy 2) and home to Wenatchee.

Ghost Town Adventure Tour IV

Douglas Cemetery

I headed out today to hit some areas that were well off the beaten path in Douglas county. The areas I intended to access were looking to be little more than improved trails where roads once stood and a few scattered cemeteries.

The first one I stopped off at was the Douglas Cemetery.

Douglas Cemetery

I was zig-zagging my way over to Hwy 172 on old county roads and ran across two houses to the Northwest of what was Farmer (Intersection of 2/172). Looked like they hadn't been lived in for awhile and there were no "Keep Out" signs around, so I ventured up the driveway of the closest one.

I'm always careful not to disturb anything and leave all I find (I do believe in Karma), so as I ventured in through the open doorway, I could almost feel the life these old houses once held in them. The only residents these days are the mice and birds. Magazines on the floor dated 1971 and earlier.

The second house was just as interesting in an erie way with the amount of debris scattered and piled in the center of the rooms, especially old mattresses and other articles making it look like an old grave.  One is almost tempted to pull up one of those mattresses and see what's under them... almost, that is. I decided I would follow my basic rule and leave it alone. But it is way creepy.

The "Lavender" Room

So I finally connected with Hwy 172 and headed North past Withrow, then West on 10 NW looking for the old town of Touhey. Hitting B NE I saw a rather large deer before finding the road that led to the old grain elevator in the distance.

This is all that is left of the town although I couldn't tell you of any standing buildings to be seen outside of this one.

Once upon a time this was a busy enough road to have to had directions to the Resort...

As I stepped in to get some photos, the biggest owl I have had the pleasure of being physically next to reciprocated the spooking and I got a digital glimpse of him as he scurried across and out the door.

The old "flattop " power engine

Control wheel for silo bays 1-8

So I headed West again to see about St. Andrew's... this is actually a sign designating the 10 NW and B NE, but you can see that many of the officially designated roads were not much more than wagon trails again.

I only got so far and then Jameson and Grimes Lakes kept getting in my way, so I headed North toward Mansfield to skirt the lakes and reconnected to Hwy 172 East for a few miles and then dropped South finding myself on Buckeye Road. Since I had bypassed the Mold Cemetery earlier in my last adventure, I cut over for a look at the cemetery and an old house next to it.

Mold Cemetery

Mold Cemetery

Old house near Mold, WA

Old house near Mold, WA

Old Building at St. Andrews

Heading south toward St. Andrew's, I ran across some old buildings and what was once the St. Andrew's Hotel, the busiest place in town!



Running out of time, I found my way down to US 2 and headed West back to Waterville and Wenatchee... heading into Northern Douglas County next!

St Andrew's Hotel

Fork Seal Change For Mistress

So I took some vacation to do some maintenance on Mistress to deal with the leaking fork seals.

Couldn't get the full angle so I dropped the rear tire and angled her up so I could pull it off the way I needed to. Found a horrible amount of grunge in the bottom and made myself a big Q-tip with a broom handle and cotton t-shirt when out came these other inner sleeves (pics).






Four segmented plastic tubes to be exact plus you can see a bottom bushing to boot. Wonder what keeps it from sliding down? Pretty interesting... plus my circa clips had rust on them to show water contamination and I just went ahead and replaced all inner parts with new ones.

So from start to finish it took me 5 hours by dropping the rear tire for fork angle, removing all the items necessary, replacing everything new and putting it back together.



Things I noticed doing this:

1. OD on sockets vary by brand, 36mm of the make didn't fit but the 35mm in 3/4 drive did. This was my seal insert tool.

2. I couldn't get the burping' air dental floss trick to work no matter how many times I tried so I just bolted it up. When I loosened the other side, I checked the pressure before pulling off and it was exactly like the side I was trying to put on after rebuild... had the same resistance factor so I'm not going to worry.

3. Don't tighten the bolts on the fork bridge until after you get the front tire on or the line-up of the axle bolt is tough. Once I loosened them I could get it lined up and in, then tightened.

4. Don't expect to accomplish the time standard set by the experts... go slow and save the beer for when you are done.

Ghost Town Adventure Tour III

So I call up my friend John today and ask what his plans are: "whatever direction you are going, I'm just along for the ride" he says... poor man. "I'm going to look at some ghost towns, how much time do you have?" I reply...  John looks concerned now "I don't have my engine shield yet and my insurance agent has your picture on his wall... you add 10 points to any policy that rides with you, I get to stay on the road, ok?".  "Let's ride" I say with a grin.

So we decide to take the long way around Quincy (I have to buy asparagus to appease the agent provocateur "Mrs. RedTigre"  at the White Trail Cutoff), Ephrata and Soap Lake (yes... just taste the water) to the outskirts of Coulee City and a jaunt on Hwy 2 West to Hwy 17 North.  First stop,  Mold.

Mold General Store and Post Office a real DIY project

Mold, WA actually has (had) a post office, general store and a ZIP code (99115) although what is left of it all is little more than 2 homes and a pile of rubble of the aforementioned businesses. Another town bypassed by the railroad and left to whither, I left John on the hardpan as I went the 1.8 miles down  County Road 9 and stopped at the intersection trying to determine the town's center.  Going north about 1/10th of a mile I passed a woman and her daughter tending a little flowerbed at the entrance of the driveway chased by their 30 dogs (well, 3 really, but they had the bark of 30) when I ran of of road and hit field.  Turning around, I stopped and shut off the engine and inquired about the whereabouts of "Mold".  "You're here" she said, "Why are you looking for Mold? I figured you were lost heading into the field". "I'm doing a ghost town tour thing of Douglas County and look at the history of the area" I reply. The daughter is flicking rocks out of the dirt obviously none too happy with her task and with a strange look as to why ANYONE would want to venture looking at this stuff.  The Mold cemetery is another mile East and I'll venture there next time as I left John fending off the Semi's on 17.

These are the only buildings left in Mold, WA



I had intended to dirt road it across the prairie to St Andrews and Touhey, but that will wait for another time.  We travelled North to Hwy 172 West to Mansfield, cut around, and followed it to the town of Withrow, WA.

Withrow.. wow. Once much more than many of the ghost towns I've encountered, Withrow is still surviving there as... well, I'm not sure.  Why Mansfield made it and Withrow didn't is probably just shear luck. with what looks as 70% of the town vacant and the homes that are lived in are suspect as to their livability, Withrow exists, but just. If it wasn't for the large grain elevators that are still in use, it would not be. I wonder what one does for a living to live here.

Last stop was Farmer, WA on Hwy 2. Another grain silo base along a major state highway, Farmer still didn't survive.

The Farmer Cemetery is like many out here, kept up well and the stones so clear... one from 1898 I saw looked like it was placed there yesterday.

The rest of Farmer didn't look as kept up...

Heading back West on Hwy 2 was our 4th hour of wind... glad I had all the experience of growing up in Moses Lake on an enduro, the wind was brutal for the unrepentant. Even so, we were passed by a couple on their Beemers, a guy K1200GT and his female partner on an R1200RT... I love it.

Down Pine Canyon and into Wenatchee where I split off of John (I swear I heard a PEMCO agent sigh in relief around Horse Lake Road) and a great afternoon of adventure, thanks for suffering the wind and riding with me John!