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One of Oregon's fantastic roads.After spending the morning in the library, we set off in the sunshine towards Mitchell on route 26. It has become obvious to us that Oregon was designed purely to ride motorcycles, they are the best roads yet and we did the best days riding you could possibly ever hope to do.
We took a detour of around 30 odd miles and found a lovely campsite by the John Day River, again right by the river, it really doesn't get much better. Out for a meal a walk away. Its generally excepted not to travel after dusk, a lot of the land is 'open range' and the animals tend to wander more in the early morning and at dusk, and obviously they are difficult to see. There are also young ones around now, we had to drive around cattle earlier today, another thing to watch out for.
Next day...
Had a late start after a chat, Linda, it was nice talking to you!
More Oregon roads, just as good as the day before. Its completely different to the other states we've done, really green and lush, I gather it rains a lot, but these last two days
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Our campsite next to John Day River have been fantastic weather, perfect for riding.
Filled up with gas, in Oregon its illegal to take the nozzle from the pump, an assistant has to do it for you, apparently the bikers have lobbied against this, so now the assistant isn't allowed to fill motorcycle tanks, so they have to pass it to you, for you to fill - crazy. They also have an overall speed limit of 55 mph....yeah right!
Arrived in Sisters, a small tourist town, which was a bit of a shock after mixing with so few people over the last couple of days, but its an attractive place with lots of eateries. Found a pleasant campsite, but the RV people next to us kept their stereo on - strange listening to Tom Jones! But they were friendly folk and donated wood for the obligatory fire.
2nd June 2013
Was planning on taking the scenic route from Sisters to Florence Oregon, but the road was still closed due to snow, so used an alternative route.
Stopped for a lovely lunch at McKenzie bridge, Jim had been doing some videoing with the GoPro whilst riding behind me, when he saw something fall
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Our view from the tent from the Sisters campsite from my jacket pocket, he recognised my new glasses and case just as he rode over them - blind again!!
More good roads until we neared the big town of Eugene where it suddenly gets busy and hectic. Managed to negotiate our way around, (after getting some advice from people we chatted to in an ice cream parlour!) and made it to Florence. It is right on the Pacific coast and rather lovely (the old part at least), but still no sign of the Pacific. Found yet another campsite, a little more expensive but with HOT water, and very secluded. Went out for dinner and had my first clam chowder of the trip, very good. Sat round the usual fire after wandering along the sand dunes looking for the sea, never did find it, and spent the time checking out the unused fire pits for bits of wood to burn! Still very chilly at night.
3rd June
On the road again, but not for long..Jim's bike is in trouble again. This time it's the rear wheel drive gearbox which stopped driving whilst in the middle of an overtaking manoeuvre. Managed to get the bike towed (again) to
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Looking for the sea. the nearest town of North Bend and currently resides at Moe's! There's no working on it ourselves this time, and Moe's charges are $80 per hour. He checked the price of the gearbox, as the main components didn't come separately, $1100! Fingers crossed it won't be needed, but we won't know till tomorrow, a tense night.
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Graham
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Oh bum, hope there is a quick cheap fix!!