Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho & Oregon in 13 days.
I. Love. This. Car.
There. I said it. I know you all think it. BMW nailed the F90, especially the Competition. My F10 550 was a great car. My G30 M550 was superb. I now have over 40,000 miles in the F90, about half in a 2019 Base model and the other half in a 2021 LCI Competition. While I thoroughly enjoyed my Base, it had a bit of harshness to it. The LCI Comp is a wonderful DD and an outstanding road warrior on the highways of America.
After a long, dry (no rain from May to September), and hot (we hit an all time record of 116 F, crushing the old record of "only" 107 F), summer, it was time to escape. I had travelled to most of these places before - mostly as a child, and certainly not as a driver in an M5. The wife was gonna be a newbie. Mostly.
As a traveller/amatuer photographer I am drawn to 1) Spectacular scenery, 2) Pictures of my cars, 3) Pictures of my cars in spectacular scenery, 4) Small town Main Streets, 5) Interesting buildings, 6) Business signage (especially old neon signs) and 7) Anything colorful, whimsical or kitchy. It's a vast canvas.
I have two other travel threads you might be interested in if you like this one.
From 2019: 3,500 miles thru Utah in an M5
https://f90.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1784425
From 2021: 2,000 miles around Wallowa Lake area
https://f90.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1828059
The Basic Route - Trip was during last 2 weeks in September 2021. Route is clockwise.
The first 3 days are just about getting there. The next 8 days were awesome, taking us through Devils Tower, Sturgis, Mt. Rushmore, The Badlands, Custer State Park, Oglala National Grasslands in Nebraska and the the crowning glory of Rocky Mountain National Park and the surrounding area. Then off to Steamboat Springs, CO, over to Dinosaur National Park (a real surprise), Flaming Gorge and home through southern Idaho to Oregon
A couple teasers from later in the trip: (The cover pic was Day 7)
Devils Tower - Day 4
Badlands - Day 5
Rocky Mountain National Park - Day 9
Dinosaur National Monument - Day 10
I took over 1,000 pictures - I could have taken more. By now my wife has to be seriously wondering about me. Always stopping the car: "Ooh! Ooh! Look at that! I gotta get that!" Jockeying the car into position for putting the car in the scene. Those are always fun.
Anyway, there's 126 pictures with an F90 in them. It takes an enormous amount of time to cull the best ones, organize them and then edit and crop away until they look just right. Then, re-size them all so they fit. I loved every minute - I got to re-live it all again. Hope you enjoy.
There are also 14 maps and 281 pictures of scenery, other sites and small town Main Streets. Due to uploading limitations I decided to just give each day it's own post. So, 13 in all. Day 5 was a favorite. Days 7,8,9 & 10 in Colorado were stupendous.
Some basic stats on the trip:
Miles driven 4,179
Days on the road 13
Average miles/day 321
Long day 390
Short day 170
Avg. Miles/gallon 24.4
Day One: Portland, OR to Lewiston, ID - 377 miles
Interstate 84 is always a treat out of Portland. I never get tired of the drive through the Columbia Gorge. Ever. It is always spectacular.
Multnomah Falls - 600 feet high. Fairly easy hike to the top. Only 30 miles from Portland - and the most popular tourist site in Oregon.
Cascade Locks and the Bridge of the Gods
Apparently Lindberg flew here
Starvation Creek Trailhead - You can hike 5,000 vertical feet to the tallest point in the gorge from here.
At Hood River
Cool foot bridge over the Hood River (Note: I actually designed this bridge for the City of Hood River, a long time ago. It was my last job as a structural engineer before I changed careers into money management. She made me put this note in.)
Rowena Viewpoint, just beyond Mosier
Arlington Silos
The freeway turns away from the Columbia and we headed to Hermiston.
We then cut back up to the river along Hwy 730, crossed into Washington, then back in to Oregon and headed to Milton-Freewater.
Reversed back north into Washington again and went through the charming college town of Walla Walla. Then we caught Hwy 12 to the small hamlet of Waitsburg and its 2 block mainstreet.
Columbia County Courthouse
Liberty Theater in Dayton
Pomeroy is a nice little farming town - and also the county seat.
Garfield County Courthouse
Fun little salvage place on the edge of Pomeroy
Arrived in Lewiston as the sun was going down and had dinner on the Snake River. Very nice.
Lewiston, ID
Snake River
That's it for day 1. Day 2 continues on next post.