Meet for Lunch? RTE in Mt. Vernon, OR

[bikerskier]

I am 90% in for the ride. Hoping I can move a meeting with a client to Monday. Any road, weather reports for the trip? From Tigard, I am thinking of 26, 216, 218,and then 19 down into Mt. Vernon. Is this too ambitious for March road conditions? Or should I just do 26 out and maybe try some of these coming back? Whoa... sounds pretty indecisive, better make a plan. Anyone else riding from this area?

 

[FJRay]

I did some of 19 and 207 on the way to Prosser and there was no ice but there was a fair amount of sand and gravel. Hwy 26 was clean and dry all the way to Mt. Vernon.

 

[warsw]

I am 90% in for the ride. Hoping I can move a meeting with a client to Monday. Any road, weather reports for the trip? From Tigard, I am thinking of 26, 216, 218,and then 19 down into Mt. Vernon. Is this too ambitious for March road conditions? Or should I just do 26 out and maybe try some of these coming back? Whoa... sounds pretty indecisive, better make a plan. Anyone else riding from this area?

I just went on a ride last Monday and hit all the roads you are looking at except 216 between 26 and Maupin so I am not sure about that one. The rest are all pretty much clean and dry. There is a little sand still lift in some spots but not bad and it is easy to see. You are looking at about a 5hr ride so give yourself plenty of time. They are great roads. Enjoy the ride.

 

[warsw]

And I'm back out again! Damn it!
Things were going smoothly enough to allow the break.....until last night.

I'll be spending my entire weekend "fixing" our newly constructed house. In addition, our phone company isn't able to change our service until next week, so I'll be disconnected from the world except through my cell phone's web browser.

See you guys on the other side of the weekend. Hope you have a great lunch!

Bummer, don't you just hate it when obligations get in the way of playtime? Oh well it isn't like you didn't try. Next time.

Now it has happened to me. Our park decided to get busy the only day that I have some plans. I have been sitting around on my fat butt all week with nothing much to do and now I have to go to work. I guess I can repeat the phrase: Don't you just hate it when obligations get in the way of playtime? DAMN STRAIGHT!!!

 

[FJR_pig]

HAVE FUN!

I teach a class Saturday mornings and can't make it, but I'll be wishing I was there.

 

[bikerskier]

Hey Jason, if you were going, would you run straight out on 26 or would you wander a bit?

 

[blufjr]

Cancelations.

I will be there, and if no one else shows up, I will pick up a

GT checkpoint in Mt. Vernon as well as Rufus and Government Camp, and also make it home to go to a concert.

If anyone shows up, I will be looking for you. Have a good ride.

 

[dougc]

Hey Jason, if you were going, would you run straight out on 26 or would you wander a bit?

I'm not Jason and I don't play him on TV but ride US-26 if you've never ridden it before. If you have, wander. Ton of great roads out in that area.

26 is a fine road to enjoy while still making excellent time once you're through Prineville. (All assuming your coming from the west.)

dougc

 

[Ignacio]

Sorry, but weekend scheduling just didn't work. I gotta be here about 4 p.m. and the FJR just isn't that fast getting back home Sorry Lisa and Tobie.

Since I gotta stick around.....on the plus side....if anybody every wonders what an FJR looks like without a subframe.....here it is:

As some may have recalled I have a cracked subframe and opted to remove it for TIG welding repair and reinforcement. That will go to the welder tomorrow morning.

 

[warsw]

Ray, when you get back please tell me the ride was bad, it rained and snowed all the way, no one else showed and the burgers were horrible so I WON'T FEEL SO BAD for not being able to make it. :cray:

 

[FJRay]

OK, The food was great and there were about 25 bikes and riders that will back me up. Once I got to Bend it was clean and dry all the way. On the way back I took 395 to Burns and on to the Chrismas Valley road and home that way. It was uncomfortably windy from Burns to Fort Rock and it died down after that. Another time I think that Hwy 20 into Bend would be better. It is awful boring the way I went today. Hope you got your folks moved in and we will see you next time.

 

[ShinyPartsUp]

OK, The food was great and there were about 25 bikes and riders that will back me up. Once I got to Bend it was clean and dry all the way. On the way back I took 395 to Burns and on to the Chrismas Valley road and home that way. It was uncomfortably windy from Burns to Fort Rock and it died down after that. Another time I think that Hwy 20 into Bend would be better. It is awful boring the way I went today. Hope you got your folks moved in and we will see you next time.

Glad it was fun for you guys. Never did get my burger...........

 

[warsw]

OK, The food was great and there were about 25 bikes and riders that will back me up. Once I got to Bend it was clean and dry all the way. On the way back I took 395 to Burns and on to the Chrismas Valley road and home that way. It was uncomfortably windy from Burns to Fort Rock and it died down after that. Another time I think that Hwy 20 into Bend would be better. It is awful boring the way I went today. Hope you got your folks moved in and we will see you next time.

Sounds like you-all had a great time and what a turn out. I wish I could have made it 26. Maybe next time. Did you get any picture?

BTW You didn't make me feel any better. I hope you all got fat!

 

[bikerskier]

Pretty good day! Cold and rainy over Hood on 26 Eastbound, heavy rain and snow on way back, accumulating 1-2 inches. I had to stay in tracks of the cage in front of me and my balding tires made me wish I had put my new Avon Storms on before I left. It was damn cold and wet. The rest of the ride was fast and fun, except for the road side interview with the Wheeler County employee with the uniform. Went over on 26 all the way and then went north to Long Creek and came west thru Monument, Fossil, Antelope, etc. before getting on the 26 for the really fun snow ride. Great burger in Mt Vernon! Nice to see several familiar faces and meet some new folks, some who rode a long damn way for their burger.

 

[FJR_pig]

Hey Jason, if you were going, would you run straight out on 26 or would you wander a bit?

Oops, sorry,...just saw this. Been working almost 24 hours solid - sorry for the late reply. If it was yesterday, I'd say just hit US26 because the weather looks questionable. Oh and I would have recommended Powerball numbers 2 5 16 36 40 - 36, just a hunch...

Hope you had a good ride.

 

[FJRay]

I don't need to worry about the fat part cause I'm already there. I just work on maintaining it. Now we need another ride so we can eat more. :lol:

 

[warsw]

Hey guys where are all the pictures????????? :sadsmiley02:

 

[IronMaiden]

Hey guys where are all the pictures????????? :sadsmiley02:

https://tinyurl.com/2czskk

Hey all,

Thanks for making the trek through cruddy weather. It was worth it, tho, right? There were a bunch of folks from the LDRider world and the FJR forum. Nice to match up faces with avatars & nicnames & see new friends I met last year at the WFO in Reno. Thanks for playing!

Lisa

 

[bikerskier]

Lisa

Thanks for organizing a great ride! It was great to see you again. If I do that again in March, I'll need the snow tires and 2 wheel drive!

 

[beerme]

Lisa & Tobie,

First... thanks for putting this on. I had a great ride up, and not too bad a ride coming home. Hell, the weather might have been better on the original date!

I left home a little later than planned, so I decided against taking NV140 up through Denio and took a straight shot up US95 to Burns. What a boring highway. I tried to keep the tires from squaring off by weaving in my lane for miles at a time. When I hit the Oregon line, I was reminded of just how dank & spiritless this part of the desert is.

From Burns, I went north on US395 and really enjoyed that part of the ride. More mountains than desert now, and the road was in fine shape. Even though Oregon's speed limits are set ridiculously low, I tried to keep the speedo around 70. But this Grant County deputy informed me that his radar indicated that I was traveling at 74 MPH in a posted 55 MPH zone (his words).

I believe that he was just looking for something to do... he took my paperwork and made some notes, and let me go without a ticket. He said that he doesn't start writing until 20 over, so it was all good.

I rolled into Mt. V around 6 PM, but didn't really feel like "dinner". Just so happens there was a gas station/beer store right around the corner, so with a sixer & a frozen burrito, I checked into the finest motor lodge in town.

I would say that this motel is very biker friendly...

I had just finished my burrito and was about to start on the second beer, when there was a knock on the door. That's when I met my new friend, Eldon Cannon. He had seen me pull in earlier, so he invited himself over to set a spell & swap stories. Neat old guy! Turns out we have quite a few mutual acquaintances & interests, which made for compelling conversation over a few beers out on the porch, well past dark.

Here's Eldon, the next morning when we took a short ride after breakfast.

Here's the lunch venue, long before anyone arrived...

At lunch, FJR's were very well represented.

There were at least 3 others there, that got stuck in overflow parking area. Sorry I didn't get to meet ya's. Next time.

It was a pretty chilly & windy ride back, at least as far as Winnemucca. Most of the wind in Oregon was a welcome tail wind. Hell, I averaged 47 MPG between Mt. Vernon & Burns... and "only" 42 between Burns & Winnemucca. I wasn't quite so paranoid about speed once I got back into Nevada, with the 70 (+7) speed limit.

It was great trip, & hope it happens again next spring.