Riona
Well-known member
Just got back from a 1,345 mile long weekend from Seattle, WA to Crescent City, CA ... taking in Oregon along the way.
Day 1 - Thursday after work. I met with the main group in Fall City on WA 202. The main pack (2 Harley's, a Triumph, a V*Star down from Victoria, Canada and a Rat Bike of uncertain parentage) had ridden down from Marysville through Duvall on 203. 202/203 are nice country roads along scenic valleys.
The rat bike was the attention getter .. When I first saw it I couldn't believe that Lee was intending to ride it over 1,300 miles, but that's exactly what he did.
They were running late, so we hit the main slab - I-90 East - as soon as we could and took Snoqualmie pass up into the mountains. Soon we were stopped at the first of what would be very frequent fuel stops. Brian on the V*star was low on gas. Poor thing only had a range of 125 miles or so. This was to be the story of the weekend.
After the fuel stop we ran down Yakima Canyon to Yakima town. This is a beautiful stretch of road - 28 miles or so of twisties, great surface, great sight lines. I had done it a month or so ago with a group of sports bike riders and this run was leisurely in comparison, but we hit it just at sunset, and the colors off the canyon rock were amazing.
First hotel stop at Yakima.
Day 2 - First full day of riding. We took 97 all the way down from Yakima to Kalmath Falls. This road goes up over the high plains - you are up at over 4,000 feet most of the way, with a max of 4,700. Lots of wind farms up there - for a reason, there is lots of wind. This was also where Brian ran low on gas (again) this time just after passing a sign that read "no gas for 66 miles". We pulled over and used my fuel line to transfer a gallon from my FJR to the V*Star and a gallon from Nicole's Triumph to one of the Harley's.
Traveling up on the high desert road was a little depressing - natural beauty everywhere but all the little towns along the route were full of derelict buildings and businesses "going out of business". Hence no gas stations open for nearly 100 miles. The road goes past Smith Rock - a well known climbing area - we took a short detour to visit the rock - worth the extra couple of miles if you are heading that way.
Then past Bend, OR and onwards. I wanted to go up to Crater Lake, as we were passing very close by, but the plan was to meet up with a couple of friends of Jake's from San Diego, and do the Lake the next day, so we headed on to Klamath Falls for the evening. The last few miles were a great run into town along the shores of Upper Klamath Lake - great roads. In Klamath we met up with Drew and Mark, who had ridden up from California. The two parties arrived within 20 minutes of each other - pretty amazing after a day and a half of riding.
Day 3 - Crater Lake, Oregon 199, Redwoods,
This was now Saturday and should have been our best day of riding and sight seeing. Unfortunately Drew and Mark from San Diego had offered to lead the ride that day, and were totally incompetent. We headed up to Crater Lake, but they had only checked the regional weather, not the specific weather at the crater. Result, at about 5,200 feet up, we climbed into the clouds and got rain, followed by snow at 6,000 feet. By the time we got to the visitor center at 6,500 feet, they decided to turn back rather than heading the remaining 4 miles to the rim to see the lake.
at 5,000 feet ..
at 6,500 feet
What the lake should have looked like ..
We headed back down the mountain towards Medford, stopping to get warm and eat pie at Beckie's Pie shop ... great pie, but why the guys had to spend 90 minutes on a coffee stop beats me, it put us behind schedule (if they had a schedule) for the rest of the day.
Next section was a run down 62 through the Rogue Valley to Grant's Pass. Great scenery, the sun was out, and the California guys "knew a great place for lunch" ... they got us lost several times, and when we finally got there at 3 pm, it was out of business ... so we pressed on, more than a little hungry. At least Miranda kept Nicole and myself fed from her stash of protein bars ...Girls stick together.
Then we came to Grants Pass and OR 199. What a great road - mile after mile of twisties through a national park, with a 55 mph speed limit. Except that Mark led the pack at 35 mph and instead of being able to play with the curves, we went through upright, with no joy.
Finally we came to the Redwoods - amazing, awesome, to see the huge trees ...
This is Nicole (nickname "Little Red") next to "Big Red"
We passed into California and spent the night at Crescent City ... having descended from 6,500 feet to sea level during the course of the day.
Day 4 - Oregon Coast and Highway 101 from Crescent City to Lincoln City
We had said goodbye to the CA guys the night before and now we headed back North, this time up the Oregon Pacific Coast on 101. Another wonderful driving road, and this time we did it at the speed limit, not 20 mph under. Around each bend is another view point - cliffs, beaches, dunes, light houses ...
The difficulty on Sunday was the wind, buffeting in from the sea at 25 ~ 30 mph. It made it somewhat of a lottery going around each corner, as to where the wind would hit next.
We were all pretty tired and sore heading to the hotel that night.
Day 5 - Run for home
Nothing much to report on the last day - Jake had managed to get a cracked tooth that was really hurting him, so instead of completing the run up 101 to Tillamook (Miranda wanted to visit the cheese factory ) and Astoria, we cut inland to Portland and hit the I-5 slab up to Tacoma (where we stopped at Eagle leather for me to buy a heated jacket liner, to match the ones that Miranda and Nicole had been using) and then up to Seattle.
All in all, a great weekend, and a wonderful introduction for me, both to the delights of touring the Pacific West and to touring on the FJR. Compared to the other riders, I was more comfortable, less fatigued, better equipped, had greater range ..... all the things that make the FJR such a wonderful machine.
Now I just have to go back and do it over, properly this time, and actually get to see Crater Lake and enjoy the twisties on 199!
Anyone up for a trip ?
Riona
Day 1 - Thursday after work. I met with the main group in Fall City on WA 202. The main pack (2 Harley's, a Triumph, a V*Star down from Victoria, Canada and a Rat Bike of uncertain parentage) had ridden down from Marysville through Duvall on 203. 202/203 are nice country roads along scenic valleys.
The rat bike was the attention getter .. When I first saw it I couldn't believe that Lee was intending to ride it over 1,300 miles, but that's exactly what he did.
They were running late, so we hit the main slab - I-90 East - as soon as we could and took Snoqualmie pass up into the mountains. Soon we were stopped at the first of what would be very frequent fuel stops. Brian on the V*star was low on gas. Poor thing only had a range of 125 miles or so. This was to be the story of the weekend.
After the fuel stop we ran down Yakima Canyon to Yakima town. This is a beautiful stretch of road - 28 miles or so of twisties, great surface, great sight lines. I had done it a month or so ago with a group of sports bike riders and this run was leisurely in comparison, but we hit it just at sunset, and the colors off the canyon rock were amazing.
First hotel stop at Yakima.
Day 2 - First full day of riding. We took 97 all the way down from Yakima to Kalmath Falls. This road goes up over the high plains - you are up at over 4,000 feet most of the way, with a max of 4,700. Lots of wind farms up there - for a reason, there is lots of wind. This was also where Brian ran low on gas (again) this time just after passing a sign that read "no gas for 66 miles". We pulled over and used my fuel line to transfer a gallon from my FJR to the V*Star and a gallon from Nicole's Triumph to one of the Harley's.
Traveling up on the high desert road was a little depressing - natural beauty everywhere but all the little towns along the route were full of derelict buildings and businesses "going out of business". Hence no gas stations open for nearly 100 miles. The road goes past Smith Rock - a well known climbing area - we took a short detour to visit the rock - worth the extra couple of miles if you are heading that way.
Then past Bend, OR and onwards. I wanted to go up to Crater Lake, as we were passing very close by, but the plan was to meet up with a couple of friends of Jake's from San Diego, and do the Lake the next day, so we headed on to Klamath Falls for the evening. The last few miles were a great run into town along the shores of Upper Klamath Lake - great roads. In Klamath we met up with Drew and Mark, who had ridden up from California. The two parties arrived within 20 minutes of each other - pretty amazing after a day and a half of riding.
Day 3 - Crater Lake, Oregon 199, Redwoods,
This was now Saturday and should have been our best day of riding and sight seeing. Unfortunately Drew and Mark from San Diego had offered to lead the ride that day, and were totally incompetent. We headed up to Crater Lake, but they had only checked the regional weather, not the specific weather at the crater. Result, at about 5,200 feet up, we climbed into the clouds and got rain, followed by snow at 6,000 feet. By the time we got to the visitor center at 6,500 feet, they decided to turn back rather than heading the remaining 4 miles to the rim to see the lake.
at 5,000 feet ..
at 6,500 feet
What the lake should have looked like ..
We headed back down the mountain towards Medford, stopping to get warm and eat pie at Beckie's Pie shop ... great pie, but why the guys had to spend 90 minutes on a coffee stop beats me, it put us behind schedule (if they had a schedule) for the rest of the day.
Next section was a run down 62 through the Rogue Valley to Grant's Pass. Great scenery, the sun was out, and the California guys "knew a great place for lunch" ... they got us lost several times, and when we finally got there at 3 pm, it was out of business ... so we pressed on, more than a little hungry. At least Miranda kept Nicole and myself fed from her stash of protein bars ...Girls stick together.
Then we came to Grants Pass and OR 199. What a great road - mile after mile of twisties through a national park, with a 55 mph speed limit. Except that Mark led the pack at 35 mph and instead of being able to play with the curves, we went through upright, with no joy.
Finally we came to the Redwoods - amazing, awesome, to see the huge trees ...
This is Nicole (nickname "Little Red") next to "Big Red"
We passed into California and spent the night at Crescent City ... having descended from 6,500 feet to sea level during the course of the day.
Day 4 - Oregon Coast and Highway 101 from Crescent City to Lincoln City
We had said goodbye to the CA guys the night before and now we headed back North, this time up the Oregon Pacific Coast on 101. Another wonderful driving road, and this time we did it at the speed limit, not 20 mph under. Around each bend is another view point - cliffs, beaches, dunes, light houses ...
The difficulty on Sunday was the wind, buffeting in from the sea at 25 ~ 30 mph. It made it somewhat of a lottery going around each corner, as to where the wind would hit next.
We were all pretty tired and sore heading to the hotel that night.
Day 5 - Run for home
Nothing much to report on the last day - Jake had managed to get a cracked tooth that was really hurting him, so instead of completing the run up 101 to Tillamook (Miranda wanted to visit the cheese factory ) and Astoria, we cut inland to Portland and hit the I-5 slab up to Tacoma (where we stopped at Eagle leather for me to buy a heated jacket liner, to match the ones that Miranda and Nicole had been using) and then up to Seattle.
All in all, a great weekend, and a wonderful introduction for me, both to the delights of touring the Pacific West and to touring on the FJR. Compared to the other riders, I was more comfortable, less fatigued, better equipped, had greater range ..... all the things that make the FJR such a wonderful machine.
Now I just have to go back and do it over, properly this time, and actually get to see Crater Lake and enjoy the twisties on 199!
Anyone up for a trip ?
Riona
).
