I’m having a mocha at the Blend Coffeehouse and Cafe while Sean takes care of some business this morning. The mocha looks beautiful, but tastes a little thin and Ovaltine-like. I guess everyone has their take on how to make a mocha. We’re mostly just hanging out today without a specific agenda other than keeping an eye out for the UPS guy and my bifocal sunglasses. We had a delightful dinner last night at Miss Delta, a spinoff from the popular Delta Cafe. The cuisine is Cajun and the jambalaya was excellent, washed down with a 40 ounce bottle of Pabst Blue Ribbon presented nicely in an ice bucket. I got my laundry done yesterday, so I can pack and load the bike tonight to be ready for an early morning departure for California tomorrow. LATER: ... read more

I arrived at my son’s place in Portland around noon today after an uneventful ride up from Redmond. Well, maybe not uneventful if you consider cold to be an event. It was downright chilly coming past Mount Hood. Overcast skies and temps in the mid-50s. It’s great seeing Sean and Ruth after several years. We should all be ashamed of ourselves for letting so much time get away from us. He’s working on an audio project while I catch up on blogging. coffee line I was up before 6 this morning and walked over to help Charlie and William with the coffee. They started serving at 5 a.m. and had made more than 1,000 cups of coffee by the time I got there. We were all surprised by the huge demand for coffee on the last ... read more

REDMOND, Ore. - We walked off of the rally grounds last evening for dinner at a nearby restaurant. It was cheap uninspired food. On the way back, however, Dom introduced me to the Red Dog Depot, an eclectic bar and grill that has hundreds of portraits of dogs covering the walls. If you’re a dog person, as I am, you’d find lots of reasons to smile. I Skyped Maria just so she could see the place through the eye of my netbook webcam. While we were chatting, I got a Skype call from Tim Balough. He and Webb and Cindy were ensconced at a motel in Baker City, Ore. where they were waiting for a call this morning from the insurance adjuster about where to take Webb’s bike for an estimate and/or repair. Thankfully, Webb was ... read more

I’m rallying! We got to the BMW MOA rally at the Deschutes Fair and Expo Center in Redmond, Ore. about 5 p.m. yesterday and quickly located the Indianapolis BMW Club compound. After a long hot ride across the high desert of central Oregon, and pitching my tent in the hot afternoon sun, I was too busy and too tired to blog. The folks who got here a few days earlier had shivered through overnight lows in the low 40s and high 30s. I brought a light summer weight sleeping bag and realized immediately that I was in for four nights of misery if I didn’t get a heavier bag. So Rick Nelson and I drove over to a sporting goods store where I snapped up a ridiculously bulky bag for $50 that’s rated down to 25 ... read more

I got a close-up look at the new can-am Spyder Roadster today at a Loves truck stop at Wamsutter, Wyo. A guy from Ottawa, Canada and his girlfriend are riding it to the Redmond BMW MOA rally. We passed them on I-80 yesterday in Nebraska and they rolled into the truck stop while we were gassing our bikes. The guy said he traded in his BMW K1200LT for the three-wheeler because it would carry his girlfriend more comfortably. It looks a bit unstable to me, but what do I know? We rode 633 miles today from Cheyenne to Twin Falls, Idaho, which was more than yesterday but felt like fewer miles. We had good weather all day. Caught a few raindrops during the first 30 miles in Utah, but never got wet. This is at least ... read more

This was probably the most unpleasant first day of vacation I’ve ever had. What was supposed to be an easy ride up to Omaha turned into a day fraught with terror, equipment malfunctions and general nasty rainy discomfort. About an hour from home, an oncoming pickup truck driver flashed his lights at me, tipping me off that my low beam headlight bulb was out. Since the bike has separate high and low beam bulbs, I resolved to ride with the high beam on until I can get it replaced. I know better than to try to change it myself, having gone through that nightmare several years ago. Somewhere south of Kansas City, I noticed darkness on the northern horizon. I rode awhile until it became obvious that I was close to the rain. I was much ... read more