Four Days in Northern California and Oregon

Aside from a few months of owning a Harley Sprint around 1973, I'm a late comer to motorcycling. A little over two years ago I took the MSF and bought a used Burgman 400, thinking my wife would learn to ride it. That didn't pan out so in January of last year I sold the scoot and bought my current ride, a brand-new 2009 Wee Strom.

I've been on the Wee almost every day since then, usually just running errands, sometimes taking a full day to explore local countryside, and a couple of overnight trips. While I'm self-employed as a software consultant, work demands have kept me from being away from my home office for very long.

Then a few weeks ago some people that I've been working with but have never met in person asked me if I'm going to OSCON. This is a software convention in Portland the week of July 19th. "Maybe," said I.

Hmmm.

"Yeah."

"Hell yeah!"

My plan was to take off the week of July 19, Monday thru Friday. That's five days, but only four of riding as I would be spending a day actually attending the convention.

Trip planning included a great deal of helpful assistance and suggestions from the Bay Area Riders Forum, since I do live more or less in the Bay Area. I was not able to embed my route from Google Maps here (anyone know how to do that?), so click here to see it.

Showed it to my wife:

"Why are you going two different ways?"

"One to get there, one to come back. I'll see more stuff that way."

"If I were you I'd take the coast both ways. You can never see too much of the ocean."

"Uh, thanks honey..."

You gotta do the ribeye at the AA bar n grill. Watch out for the side of horseradish sauce...it could start a wildfire. :eek1 Menu is on the wall.

My first day's travel would take me to Ft. Klamath, Oregon, which is about midway to Portland and is also just a few miles South of Crater Lake. For part of this ride I enjoyed the company of a fellow rider known as Banjoboy on BARF.

Here I am departing my home in Fairfield.


I met up with Banjoboy in Wiliams.


Highway 36 here we come!


Wildwood road.


Banjoboy somehow managed to take us quite a bit further North than originally planned, and I was then faced with the task of finding my way over to 97 and up into Oregon. My GPS wanted to send me back down I-5 and I was having none of that. So, headed East on Hwy 3 until it gave up and picked another route. Here I am looking at Mount Shasta while trying to find my way.


The route got a bit sketchy.


Uh-oh, is it taking me over that thing?


Finally on highway 97.


Rest stop at the Oregon Welcome Center.


... which was a good place for lunch...


Made it to Ft. Klamath! Found this General Store...


... and had dinner there.


Next up: Crater Lake and onward to Portland.

Thanks for the tip, but I'm already back! I did stop in Eureka for breakfast, at Marie Callender.

Hey Rivka - thanks for checking in!

Having spent my first full day riding in Oregon all I can say is, WOW. Pictures do not do it justice. The experience accumulates from time on the road and from all of the five senses. I have never enjoyed time on a motorcycle as much as this.

Oregon is wild and beautiful country. Even so, I cannot relate when someone tells me that this road or that is boring. There is something to capture the interest and imagination no matter where you go, and sometimes a place is interesting for what is not there.

Leaving my hotel in Ft. Klamath:


Highway 62, en route to Crater Lake.


Continuing...


Crater Lake.


Snow remains even in July.


Rim drive encircles the lake.


The Cascade Volcanoes.


Snow on Rim Drive.


The long road to Bend.


The Three Sisters from Highway 20.


A lake on Highway 22.


A creek along NFD Road 46.


Camp site next to a stream on Oregon Skyline Road.


Unexpected hazards.


On 35, leaving Mt. Hood.


Motel 6 in Portland - a perfect parking spot!


Dinner at the top of the building across the street.


View of the Convention Center at dusk from my table.


Next: The Oregon coast.

Here is the event I was attending.


Drying socks washed in the sink and still wet the next morning.


Stopping for breakfast on Oregon Hwy 18 shortly before reaching 101. Two guys here chatted with me about motorcycling; one of them was on one of those recumbent bicycles with a trailer. Both of them are also motorcyclists.


The food shot. This place makes its own bread and the toast was especially tasty.


Women painting the ocean at Yachats State Park.


This is what inspires them.


Somewhere else on 101.


Taking a break at a picnic area near Port Orford.


Next: The one percent that was dirt!

I spent my last night on the road in Brookings, Oregon, just North of the California border. By 8:15 the next morning I'm back on the bike. Here's a shot past the border near Humboldt Lagoons State Park.


Stopped for breakfast at Marie Callender's in Eureka.


From 101 I hopped on Highway 36. This is near Bridgeville.


Same location.




Alderpoint Road.




The start of Bell Springs Road.


Bell Springs turns to gravel.


It went on like this for nearly 20 miles.

I have done very little dirt/gravel riding in the past, and nothing like 20 miles of it. Here are some things I learned, or learned better:

(a) There is some traction, just not as much as on pavement. You can turn without falling down. Countersteering works.

(b) Smooth power delivery is important. Third or fourth gear is a lot less nerve-wracking than first or second. Slipping the clutch in third gear is a better way to control speed in a tight turn than is normal use of the throttle in second.

(c) Downhill momentum is bad. If you build up downhill speed you're going to have a lot of trouble slowing down. Coasting while evenly applying both brakes worked well for me.

(d) Uphill momentum is good. If you stop on a steep uphill you'll have a lot of trouble getting going again.

And yeah, I dropped the bike once because of (d). Which leads me to:

(e) Picking up your bike on gravel is harder than on pavement. The wheels will slip and your feet will slip.

But I did get it up, and the only damage was a scratched up right side panel and the right front turn signal needs fixing.

Everything considered, a fantastic week! There were no more pictures, as I was running late and eager to get home.

Thanks for reading my first report on Advrider.

I decided the photos I posted here were too small, so made them bigger.

Looks like you had a great time. All those food pics make me hungry.

The seat on that DL650 sure beats a seat in coach doesn't it. And it looks like the food was a lot better.

Thanks for taking us along.

Nice report.
It's surprising how fun it can actually be even if solo. That's a great trip on a bike, I need to do it myself.

I read where you mentioned this in another report and came to check it out. Crater lake looks incredible! I hope to ride the West coast someday. Thanks for posting

rod,
looks like you had a wonderful time
thanks for the ride report... well done
nice pictures, too

glad you have enjoying the bike
hope that you'll share another RR with us in the near future
thanks, again

Thanks to all for the kind words! I tentatively plan to take a couple of weeks in the spring to go across country, at least as far as Nashville... have family in Houston, Greenville MS, and near Nashville and Jackson, TN. The Natchez Trace Parkway in particular is calling me.

So that's likely to be my next multi-day RR. Might have to go outside of Day Trippin' for that one.

Beautiful pictures of a beautiful run. Been '04 since I've been in that area , Cascades Park North Washington to Central California , and need to get there again. Thanks for sharing.

Beautiful pix and a tax write off, does it get any better?

Indeed! As for next year's trip, I do seem to have a client in Nashville.