Me, a blonde, 2 Ducati's....3,000 miles (and then some)

[GP1152]

Originally Posted by Manuel1200

Thank you for the RR and the pics.
Just two questions: what iPad App are you using to post text & pics? I'm looking for an easy way to do it while on the road instead of waiting until I arrive at home...
The other question is about your photo gear: which camera are you using? P&S?

Thank you for the great RR!!

Manuel, I'm typing the RR in an email and pasting it to tapatalk. I upload the pictures to Dropbox and link the pictures to there. I actually use photogene2 for the iPhone to edit the photos if needed.

As far as the gear: I'm using a Nikon D7000 with a 17-55 f/2.8 lens. I'm carrying that in the tank bag. I had to cut out some egg-crate foam to line that bag so as to not shake the camera to bits while riding.

[GP1152]

Originally Posted by Ben Carufel

I'm in! I just did 3 days down from SF along Highway 1 on a sportbike last week. I can relate to the pain you're going to feel in your wrists. It's worth it!

Streetfighter so far has given no problems. It's pretty comfortable. My ass doesn't even hurt yet.

[GP1152]

Yesterday we left the Crescent City best western (and its broken ac) behind and headed for Oregon. Our next spot would be Florence, OR. We went in and out of some fog as HWY-1 wound it's way to and from the coast. Crossing the border shortly thereafter, we continued north.




The roads on the way were amazing and ranged from long, sweeping coastal roads to inland forest roads. It's incredible how nice the Oregon coastline is. For someone like me that is from Florida, it's hard to imagine so much nice UN-DEVELOPED land. Along the way we saw some not so natural wonders, like this also.....


We stopped for lunch in Port Orford at a place called Redfish. Yeah I know it's not exactly roughing it, but the bikes DO always look good pulling up to a place like this. Lunch was awesome. Salmon tacos and a lamb burger. I keep forgetting to take pictures of the food before I stuff my face with it. I'll try and do better from here on out.






The theme for the day was definitely, WIND and food. A steady 20-30 mph wind at that. Doesn't make for the most relaxing ride, but it's still better than NOT being there to fight through it!! At one point we pulled off the road and down to a lighthouse we wanted to see only to get there and find a gate closed and someone's (not-so-nice) grandmother there guarding it. She was a volunteer and had a snazzy patch that said 4,000 hours. I'd hate to see the job the new person gets. Anyway, she didn't let us get any further than that gate so the best we cold do were these pictures





Might have been a good thing because had we been there any longer we AND the bikes might have been blown over. Actually, when the lady came out of her car to tell us to basically turn around, her hat went flying off her head and quickly tumbled over the adjacent cliff. Karma is a bitch. Should have been nicer lady. I don't care whose grandmother you are ;)

The rest of the way was pretty straightforward. The weather had quickly cleared up after the morning fog and ranged between 55 and 65 degrees, depending on whether we were along the coast or inland. Other than wind, the weather was great.........(cont.)


Sent from my Motorcycle iPad app

[GP1152]

Back to the food.... (Man this is starting to sound more like an episode of man vs food than a ride report). It was time for a snack so we stopped at Tony's crab shack in Bandon. It's about a half mile off HWY 1, along a jetty/inlet.










Seems every time we stop somewhere we meet someone who comes over and asks us about our trip. I guess it's not every day you see 2 packed up ducati's with out of state plates. Not to mention that Stephanie's still has a florida tag. We met a really nice gentlemen in particular there at Tony's Crab Shack. He was an older guy, maybe 65 years old. He strode by on his bicycle and asked us about our trip and where we were headed. He rides a BMW GS1200 Adventure when he's not peddling around town on his schwinn. I can honestly say that we've met nothing but the nicest people on this trip. Especially here in Oregon. From the waitresses at the restaurants, like the one at the Redfish who is a student and who is family of the owners, to the guy that tried to fix the AC at the best western. Very nice people. We had this one truck with young guys wave us up in traffic and when I pulled up next to them the driver just looked down at the bike and said, "wow mam......that's.....wow....awesome.....that's so cool". Even funnier was the VW they were towing. Stephanie later told me she noticed it was actually running while on the trailer. I think they were on the way to some local races. Guess they were either warming it up or they were scared it wouldn't start again at the track.


We were close to Florence at this point and were headed straight there. We made one last stop at an overlook of the Bandon dunes area. Would love to go out there on dirt bikes someday:

[GP1152]

It was getting late when we finally made it to our "hotel". We stayed at the shilo-inn, which is more of a timeshare. A few people live there full time, but for the most part everyone else owns the units and rents them out seasonally. Our "room" was actually a 2 bedroom condo that to be honest, I'd have no problem living in. If i had to guess id say it was about 1,200 square feet. Parking was just as good. They have a covered, gated garage that is for the owners but I was able to have the manager point me to a spot that wasn't being used (gave me a clicker and all :) ). And as icing on the cake, there was a car washing bay right next to the building. A few quarters later and I even had a clean bike!! Due to the recent episodes wi Stephanie's monster, I decided against washing it. It was a pressure hose and although I spray the bike from 10 feet away, I didn't want to take any chances. Besides, I need the clean bike to look good, she doesn't.











We got ready and walked over to have dinner. Again, the mussels and fat juicy steak went down faster than a fat kid at dodgeball, so no pictures of any of it. One thing that stood out at dinner, and I guess almost popped out, was the chest of the lady at the table next to us. We both thought it was just a matter of time before that top had had enough and just gave out. I haven't seen anyone exposing themselves like that since we moved away from Miami. Her and the guy she was with made an odd couple. He wore what looked like 70s style tennis shorts with an Adidas track jacket and she wore that dress that obviously had a lot more material going downwards than it did the other way.

We walked back to our home for the night. I checked on the bikes and as I do everywhere we go, no matter how safe it may look, I locked them up. I've always thought I'd feel pretty stupid if on one of these trips I decided to not take the 2 minutes it takes me to do it. I have insurance, but I don't have insurance that will cover my ruined trip.


Oh I almost forgot about the crazy guy on the corner wailing away like a baby. Here's a link to the audio. Pretty funny actually. I figured he was either really crazy or really drunk. Either way I played to his inner child and just gave out a really loud "SHHHHHH!!!!!!". He looked up and said....."oops, sorry" And left. And here Stephanie was saying to call the cops!!!!

That's it for now. To be continued...

[Manuel1200]

Originally Posted by GP1152

Manuel, I'm typing the RR in an email and pasting it to tapatalk. I upload the pictures to Dropbox and link the pictures to there. I actually use photogene2 for the iPhone to edit the photos if needed.

As far as the gear: I'm using a Nikon D7000 with a 17-55 f/2.8 lens. I'm carrying that in the tank bag. I had to cut out some egg-crate foam to line that bag so as to not shake the camera to bits while riding.

Thank you!!
Now I am considering a New camera for my trips, but I think I will go for P&S (enough for my photo skills ��)

And my Guzzi dislikes pressure Washing too!!

[vintagespeed]

so awesome! keep it coming!

[GP1152]

Thought I had some competition this morning. Don't worry.....it's a mini curling iron!!!

[eye.surgeon]

I like how you roll: clean garage, Italian bike, hot blond in tow, and none of this waking up freezing cold in a tent covered in a rash. Must be a ducati thing :)

awesome so far, keep it coming.

[jmcg]

Great report, great bikes!

Thanks,

JM.

[Maddog78]

Nice RR.

I kind of did the same trip in reverse. I live just outside Vancouver and went down the coast and came east at Medford then went home.
I didn't have my Diavel back then, Did it on a VROD. I'd like to do it all the way to Frisco on the Diavel next tiime.
I also did B&B's and motels. That\s the way I'll do it next time too.

[GP1152]

From a few days ago:
Stephanie inspecting the goods. Hey she's a nurse so I guess it's in her nature. I assured her that although his were bigger, mine would hang down just as low some day.....

[eye.surgeon]

Does Stephanie work in peds or at a Childrens hospital by any chance?

[GP1152]

Originally Posted by eye.surgeon

Does Stephanie work in peds or at a Childrens hospital by any chance?

No... she works part-time at the mental ward (our house) and full time at a real hospital.

[GP1152]

Morning came and we left Florence. Next stop: Cannon Beach & Seaside. First we needed gas then breakfast. the rest would play itself out along the way. I had looked into stopping at a place called cape perpetua but when we got there it looked like it would take a bit of a hike down to the water so we decided against it since we didn't really want to leave all our stuff on the bikes and wanted to carry it with us even less. Breakfast was just up the road at a place called the "green-salmon". Yelp showed really good reviews so we figured we'd check it out. I drove past it a few times (my assistant Garmina was having some mental lapses). We found it, or I should say Stephanie spotted it (trust me when i say this would be her lone shining moment as far as navigating goes). This wasn't before she rode right thru a sprinkler at the spot where we turned around. Fun to watch!!
The place, when we found it, was pretty packed...... always a good sign. It was with good reason. The food was good and this time I actually remembered to take a picture of the food.



While we were eating we struck up a conversation with a lady that had left her kids with her parents to go on a getaway by herself (and seemed pretty happy with the arrangement btw). She had just come from caper perpetua and said it was beautiful. Maybe next time.
Getting ready to get on the bikes an older couple that was walking out came by to say hello. The gentleman jokingly said thanks for bringing the bike to them so clean and asked me if we had ridden 5, maybe 10 miles?? I laughed and told him where we had started and that I had a chance to clean the bike the day before ;). Again, these people only add to the list of NICE people that we've met. It turns out they are from Seattle (where we'd be in a few days) and were travelling south. After talking a little bit they even offered their home to us the next time we we're in Seattle. We exchanged information and bid them farewell. It's so great to meet all these nice people along the way. Not to sound too cliché-ish, but it really gives you hope for humanity and shows you that the world is not just full of assholes.








The weather continued to be pretty much perfect and hovered right around 60 degrees, which was nice because traffic slowed down a bit throu thee carnival-like towns, like Lincoln City. We made our way through the slight traffic and stopped at a place called beach town coffee. It's right off 101 and had parking right next to the table we'd sit at.







As I'm sitting there I see an older couple pulling into the spot in front of me. I figured it was in my best Intest and in e best interest of my SF to help them out. The last thing I needed was to have the trip cut short by a elderly couple that wanted a Ducati Trunk ornament. (lot of old people around now that I mention it). As I'm guiding them back back, a lady pulls up and yells: "excuse me!!! Is this direction south??". Literally, as I'm inching these people back. I looked around thinking she couldn't possibly be talking to me. She was. I asked her to wait a second then went over to her car. She was heading south, but said she was heading south. I don't remember where it was now, but I told her she was in fact heading south. When I checked later though, south wasn't where she wanted to go. Where she needed to go was north. Hopefully she figured it out sooner rather than later. (cont.)