FJRJeff
Well-known member
Due to the unknown status of some of the roads on the volcano ride, some of us opted for a ride down the Oregon Coast as an alternative.
We met up around 8:30am at McDonalds on the west side of Portland. Ended up with 5 total, 2 2004's, 2 '05's and one brand new 06, which birds really seemed fond of (more later).
After everybody grabbed some breakfast and made a quick pit stop, we suited up and headed out West on HWY 30 towards Astoria. The traffic was fairly light, skies were partly cloudy. As we rolled in to Astoria around 11am or so (I wasn't watching to clock, someone else can correct me if they care), the skies had cleared quite a bit and the sun was out. We made a quick stop for gas, then headed up to the Astoria Column, which is a big column with a nice spiral staircase up the middle. It offers fantastic views in all directions, including of the mouth of the Columbia River, and the bridge over to Washington State.
EDIT: <images removed> - sorry, looks like the spammers may have traced me by image URLs, so I'll have to use Flickr in the future...
After heading out of Astoria, we rolled down to Cannon Beach, where we stopped at Mo's Chowder House for lunch. Was a nice little break filled with good conversation. Afterwards, we headed back out south on 101 towards Newport. The traffic was very light, and quite a few cars moved over to allow our group to pass. As we continued south, I was riding second, with FJR_pig in front, and the rest of the gang behind. I saw a flicker as a bird thought he was faster than the 06 leading the way, then a cloud of feathers erupt when he found out he wasn't. We continued on to a safe spot to pull over and check for damage. I pulled up just in front of FJR_pig's bike to see the bird's body still wedged between the front cowl and the windshield. Up went the shield, and out dropped the dead body. Luckily, there was not a hint of any damage to the beautiful '06.
I wasn't leading at this point, and not familiar with all the roads down there, so someone else can jump in and clarify if I'm wrong. I believe we headed east on HWY 20, then took 223 up towards Dallas. Both had excellend stretches of great high speed curves. From Dallas, we rode HWY 22 through Salem, which was quite a bit busier as you might expect. We hopped off on 99E, and made our way up through Oregon City. Traffic was light to moderate, but there were opportunities to pass, and at this point the group was down to 3 so we were fairly maneuverable. In Oregon City, I bid farewell and headed a short way up 205 to home base, just in time to see my son off to bed for the night.
I left my house at 8am, walked in the door around 7pm, 393 miles later. I had a great time, and a MUCH needed break from the grind.
Jeff
We met up around 8:30am at McDonalds on the west side of Portland. Ended up with 5 total, 2 2004's, 2 '05's and one brand new 06, which birds really seemed fond of (more later).
After everybody grabbed some breakfast and made a quick pit stop, we suited up and headed out West on HWY 30 towards Astoria. The traffic was fairly light, skies were partly cloudy. As we rolled in to Astoria around 11am or so (I wasn't watching to clock, someone else can correct me if they care), the skies had cleared quite a bit and the sun was out. We made a quick stop for gas, then headed up to the Astoria Column, which is a big column with a nice spiral staircase up the middle. It offers fantastic views in all directions, including of the mouth of the Columbia River, and the bridge over to Washington State.
EDIT: <images removed> - sorry, looks like the spammers may have traced me by image URLs, so I'll have to use Flickr in the future...
After heading out of Astoria, we rolled down to Cannon Beach, where we stopped at Mo's Chowder House for lunch. Was a nice little break filled with good conversation. Afterwards, we headed back out south on 101 towards Newport. The traffic was very light, and quite a few cars moved over to allow our group to pass. As we continued south, I was riding second, with FJR_pig in front, and the rest of the gang behind. I saw a flicker as a bird thought he was faster than the 06 leading the way, then a cloud of feathers erupt when he found out he wasn't. We continued on to a safe spot to pull over and check for damage. I pulled up just in front of FJR_pig's bike to see the bird's body still wedged between the front cowl and the windshield. Up went the shield, and out dropped the dead body. Luckily, there was not a hint of any damage to the beautiful '06.
I wasn't leading at this point, and not familiar with all the roads down there, so someone else can jump in and clarify if I'm wrong. I believe we headed east on HWY 20, then took 223 up towards Dallas. Both had excellend stretches of great high speed curves. From Dallas, we rode HWY 22 through Salem, which was quite a bit busier as you might expect. We hopped off on 99E, and made our way up through Oregon City. Traffic was light to moderate, but there were opportunities to pass, and at this point the group was down to 3 so we were fairly maneuverable. In Oregon City, I bid farewell and headed a short way up 205 to home base, just in time to see my son off to bed for the night.
I left my house at 8am, walked in the door around 7pm, 393 miles later. I had a great time, and a MUCH needed break from the grind.
Jeff
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Next time I'll try to get up your way, but 350 miles was nice and finished breaking in my '06. Hope to ride with you in the future.....
