Saturday I installed some crash protection on the KLR. Sunday morning was a lazy time with the kids. Sunday afternoon was for me and a 170 mile ride...
This is an alternative to the straight boredom of Roseburg to Glide on the Diamond Lake Blvd.: Lesson learned was grab the brake lever when mounting this beast on a downhill slope.
Old Michael, not all roads are straight in Oregon, LOL; Buckhorn Road runs up to Little River Road, hang a left and a couple miles brings you to Colliding Rivers and Glide:
You may be a Redneck if...
Further up the road and past Glide heading for Steamboat...
Many fine reports of the North Umpqua River are here, including reports this year by Dudewado and Old Michael. Here's an obligatory shot:
The first bridge that crossed the North Umpqua pointed towards my first offroad "adventure"; Deep breath Michael...
I ended up going through some potholes and actually looking for them. 6 inches to a foot deep, standing on the pegs and gliding over them got to be fun.
But after 10 round-trip miles it was time to call it a successful off road beginning. Getting thirsty; I'll head a few more miles up the road and have an iced tea at the Steamboat Inn and sit in the gardens.... that's the ticket! Grrrr...
I backtrack down the road and head to Rock Creek running off 138. The fish hatchery has a free water bubbler hydration system:
Little buggers...
bigger buggers...
See the house in the background of the holding tanks?...
I see the woman who wants me. Badly!... maybe I'm a little dehydrated
....
Time to move on up the road over the mountains to Cottaqe Grove near Eugene. Rough tarmac and paved "chips" with lots of lichen/moss on the sides of the roads, sharp drop-offs and, well... I'll just show you, though many of the twistiest 10 miles or so has no place to pull over for a picture. Watch out for hunters in pickups and logging trucks (no logging on Sundays though). Rock Creek Road follows (you guessed it) Rock Creek...
Yes I have done this road on the FJR, and a V-Twin... the KLR did the best job. But very doable in good weather on the FJR; give yourself 2 hours for this stretch.
Several of these. Almost got run off the road by two cars -- might as well grab a pic while I'm here...
on I ride...
Some of the road sloughs off in places:
Watch out for the drops on the side too... but the views are better than my camera can capture...
The road drops down into long avenues made by God...
I stopped here and shut the thumper off. total silence except for the creek running beside the road. A few bird calls. Clean air tastes good... beside the road was a lush natural garden:
Time to saddle up, and soon the landscape turns to farms...
and to the left of that shot:
Starting to get a little late and my butt is getting numb from the big single. I find another watering hole. I'll pass on the $5 minimum gas purchase. And no coke products, ma'am? "They say we are too remote and too small, but Pepsi will come out..." Water it is!
Down the road is Cottage Grove Lake with the sun getting lower...
Time to head home. Doing I-5 while not going over 4000 rpm while breaking in the engine was a lesson in patience and frustration! I ended in Sutherlin, where I took Garden Valley that runs along the Umpqua to Roseburg. Frustrating too was the incessent buzz from a screw in the upper left fairing that wasn't seated right. Roadside repair didn't cut it. But all in all a bucolic ride...,
This is an alternative to the straight boredom of Roseburg to Glide on the Diamond Lake Blvd.: Lesson learned was grab the brake lever when mounting this beast on a downhill slope.
Old Michael, not all roads are straight in Oregon, LOL; Buckhorn Road runs up to Little River Road, hang a left and a couple miles brings you to Colliding Rivers and Glide:
You may be a Redneck if...
Further up the road and past Glide heading for Steamboat...
Many fine reports of the North Umpqua River are here, including reports this year by Dudewado and Old Michael. Here's an obligatory shot:
The first bridge that crossed the North Umpqua pointed towards my first offroad "adventure"; Deep breath Michael...
I ended up going through some potholes and actually looking for them. 6 inches to a foot deep, standing on the pegs and gliding over them got to be fun.
But after 10 round-trip miles it was time to call it a successful off road beginning. Getting thirsty; I'll head a few more miles up the road and have an iced tea at the Steamboat Inn and sit in the gardens.... that's the ticket! Grrrr...
I backtrack down the road and head to Rock Creek running off 138. The fish hatchery has a free water bubbler hydration system:
Little buggers...
bigger buggers...
See the house in the background of the holding tanks?...
I see the woman who wants me. Badly!... maybe I'm a little dehydrated
....
Time to move on up the road over the mountains to Cottaqe Grove near Eugene. Rough tarmac and paved "chips" with lots of lichen/moss on the sides of the roads, sharp drop-offs and, well... I'll just show you, though many of the twistiest 10 miles or so has no place to pull over for a picture. Watch out for hunters in pickups and logging trucks (no logging on Sundays though). Rock Creek Road follows (you guessed it) Rock Creek...
Yes I have done this road on the FJR, and a V-Twin... the KLR did the best job. But very doable in good weather on the FJR; give yourself 2 hours for this stretch.
Several of these. Almost got run off the road by two cars -- might as well grab a pic while I'm here...
on I ride...
Some of the road sloughs off in places:
Watch out for the drops on the side too... but the views are better than my camera can capture...
The road drops down into long avenues made by God...
I stopped here and shut the thumper off. total silence except for the creek running beside the road. A few bird calls. Clean air tastes good... beside the road was a lush natural garden:
Time to saddle up, and soon the landscape turns to farms...
and to the left of that shot:
Starting to get a little late and my butt is getting numb from the big single. I find another watering hole. I'll pass on the $5 minimum gas purchase. And no coke products, ma'am? "They say we are too remote and too small, but Pepsi will come out..." Water it is!
Down the road is Cottage Grove Lake with the sun getting lower...
Time to head home. Doing I-5 while not going over 4000 rpm while breaking in the engine was a lesson in patience and frustration! I ended in Sutherlin, where I took Garden Valley that runs along the Umpqua to Roseburg. Frustrating too was the incessent buzz from a screw in the upper left fairing that wasn't seated right. Roadside repair didn't cut it. But all in all a bucolic ride...,
