Days 14 & 15 and something exciting has happened.
Sunday night we were in Burns, Oregon, if you recall. We found out pretty quickly that nothing much is happening on a Sunday night in the metropolis of Burns. The town is pretty much shut down. Good thing Monkey Brother Rick has the cooler overstocked with cold rocky mountains and lots of ice. The only thing we could find for dinner was a local pizza joint, that closed at 8pm. And it was 6:30pm, we better get on getting some pizza, boys.
It was one of the nights on the road that I love the most. The 4 of us (Ski Doo was power napping after his afternoon at the pool) sat in Monkey’s & Stick’s room, put ice in the sink to keep our beers cold (the cooler was in Ski Doo’s room, this was to prevent any additional walking to the room next door, if you know what I mean), put the two extra large pizzas and some wings on the desk, turned on the Bluetooth speaker I carry for a night like this, some classic rock playing in the back ground, and enjoyed our comradery hanging out in our room for the evening. Nights like these are what you remember on a trip like this.
Yesterday morning’s call time was 7am, we are trying to beat the stifling heat we encounter each afternoon. It was a brisk 58 degrees when we headed west on 20, thru even more High Desert. We fueled up before leaving town, which was a good thing, because the first sign on our right said “Next Fuel 99 miles”. More mountain plain riding for those first 84 miles, when we came across a small rest area on the right side. A break was warranted, and their was a friendly gentleman from the town 40 miles up the road, that had set up a small folding table with hot coffee, still brewing in the pots and snacks available for a small donation.
Suited back up and west we went. Our destination is Newport Oregon. We were booked for about 325 miles for the day. As we approach Bends, OR, the terrain evolved into the terrain we were expecting to see in Oregon. Flush flora and many large trees along the road. A welcome change and a beautiful sight.
We chose to take the Oregon Hwy Scenic route thru the Cascade Mountains. About 15 miles into the passage, Ski Doo realized that we had about 100 miles of range for fuel on our bikes, but it was 130 miles to the first gas station. Not much of a decision, a quick turn around, and back to Bends for fuel, and we saw all of the Scenic Bypass we were going to see, as we then took the direct route out of Bends.
Beautiful riding all afternoon, lots of beautiful scenery, went thru the tourist town of Sisters, OR, and more great riding conditions, as the temps were now more moderate and in the low 80’s unless you were at elevation, when they would dip to the low 70’s. We came out of the mountain rode into a town I can’t remember, and found a restaurant, who’s name I can’t remember, across from a beautiful lake, who’s name I can’t remember The lunch was excellent though, all made fresh. No soup out of a can at that joint!
We now had about 80 miles to get to Newport. And the wicks were turned up, when we got about 20 miles outside of Newport. We hit a passing lane, I was riding beside Ski Doo, I gave him a head nod implying lets let her rip and get around these cars (there really was no question this was going to happen as we’ve been passing cars everywhere and anywhere for 14 days now). He apparently took my head nod as to throttle up all the way in, because that’s what him & I did for 20 miles, running hot and having a blast on the curvy mountain roads. Exhilarating ride in for him & I. Monkey and Hedghog caught us at the first light in Newport, but it wasn’t for their lack of trying, we just made quicker moves around cars on our path.
At that first light, we looked to our left, and there she lay…
WE MADE IT TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Our overnight stay was at the Hallmark Resort right on the beach that was right in front of the Pacific Ocean. We quickly checked in, and took our bikes to ocean overlook between buildings for our picture with the Pacific in the background. We were exhilarated. 14 days and neary 3,800 miles later, with no set agenda for where of when we would hit the Pacific, and there we were! Our next night stays are usually discussed over a couple cold ones either at the tail gate or in a hotel room, before dinner. We just estimate how many miles we want to ride the next day, start looking at google maps and SkiDoo’s GPS unit and find a town that is close to the mileage we want to do. Then start looking for a hotel, and make the room reservation. No planning more than 24 hours in advance.
After a few quick photos for the record books, and it we were unpacking and gathering in Hedghog’s and SkiDoo’s room where the cooler had been delivered. As were unpacking the bikes, Nick, the hotel restaurant manager, struck up a conversation with us about our journey, and 1) suggested a scenic route out of town that we should take, and 2) offered to buy our first round at his bar/restaurant. Very kind chap, that Nick.
Our phone text that our table was ready chimed in around 7:45pm local time, and we had one of the best dinners. Large prawn shrimp cocktails, a dozen oyster shooters, some extremely strong horse radish that cleaned our nostrils out really good, and halibut fish & chips, crusted chicken breast stuffed with mozzarella and spinach, and I don’t remember the rest. An excellent dinner with a view of the Pacific with the sun setting in the distance. Can’t beat it.
This morning, Tuesday the 19th of July, we didn’t have a call time. We celebrated our arrival to the Pacific in high fashion, retired to the room with the cooler, had a few and decided we were going to enjoy the evening and luxurious accommodations. They booted us out of our rooms at noon, and by 12:15 we were on the road to the suggested scenic route to Lincoln Oregon.
We were planning a short ride today, but I don’t think any of us expected it to be 46.4 miles short. Anywho, we are taking advantage of the short ride day, got to our hotel at about 2:15pm, checked in and are doing preventative maintenance on the bikes. Hedgehog is finally getting the time to install the hard sided top box on his H-D Panamerica, that he purchased last week at Black Hills H-D. Monkey is doing oil changes, I am writing this stupid blog, and Ski Doo is doing what he does best (you’ll see in the picture)
I have no idea where our destination will be tomorrow, but I know we will be spending the next day or two riding the coastline into northern Washington State.
But if I didn’t tell you already…WE MADE IT TO THE PACIFIC OCEAN!!!!!!!!!!!
We shall see.
Bye for now,
Stick
