Car show season

You can’t beat a small town car show in the summer. This past weekend I headed up to Rosalia Washington to help of old friend Jay, with the judging of his annual show. Last year Covid, made the event a no go, but this year things were back to normal. With almost 120 cars lining up both side of main street the judging was tough, but i picked a 1937 Studebaker, Z3 Rat Rod and 19631/2 Ford Galaxie 500 with the rare 427 engine option.

A classic small town main street, with the a vintage standing clock.

One of of my picks was this custom 1937 Studebaker pickup. It was one of only a 1000 produced in ‘37. Super rare, with a striking art deco paint job.

One of the most original ideas I’ve seen of a rat rod. This one started life as a BMW Z3, with modified front end and Chrysler body grafted on to the rear. Weird, cool and original.

Huge success

Our first motorcycle/estate auction was a huge success. Saturday May 8th, was a perfect central Oregon day. The Bidders started to show up at 8am, and spent a couple hours previewing the collection. When the bidding got underway the bid cards were flying in the air. We ended up selling over 30 motorcycles and over 300 lots of tools, equipment and vintage parts. Keep checking back for news on our upcoming auction later this summer.

Getting out

The dry weather has arrived in Portland just days after the summer solstice, hopefully our rainy June will be replaced with sunny days in July.

I did manage to squeeze one bike ride at the beginning of the month, I headed out of Portland in search of nicer weather in central Oregon. I was optimistic, so I headed east and managed to out run the rain. My luck held out the whole day until I was ready to cross back into Oregon at the Bridge of Gods. I got caught in one of the biggest, wettest rainstorm I’ve ever been in.

I got soaked! It was raining so hard the cars were pulling off the highway. I pressed on for the next thirty miles and was almost dried out when about ten blocks from my house, the Oregon weather gods emptied their clouds on me again.

I’m hoping to get out of town for another trip after the fourth of July, wish me luck!

Time to hit the starter button

The auction world is starting to slowly come back to life again! But it may not be like it was before the shut down. The wholesale car auctions are slowly clawing back to life again.

The independently owned auctions have begun running cars through the building but at half capacity and with dealers wearing masks and exercising social distancing. The larger corporate ones, are completely simulcast with no one in auction arena. Both seem to be working, so we’ll see what happens as we get into the summer.

All my fundraising events were cancelled in February, March, April and May. I’m not sure when these auctions will return to the time when patrons would sit shoulder to shoulder with 200-600 of their auction friends. I have an event in August which is held outdoors, it still a go so we’ll see how we do.

I’m back flying again, but I kinda miss my drives to Vegas.

Sun Valley

My Labor Day weekend was spent working in Sun Valley, Idaho. I headed up to Idaho to help my old friend Mitch Silver with his 32nd annual Labor Day auction. Situated on the grounds of the Sun Valley Lodge over 125 vehicles crossed the block over the two day sale.

It had been over a decade since I had last worked this auction, it was great to see some of my old friends from the car business, and laugh about the old days when we were much younger. The weather was perfect and the crowds filled the tent on Saturday to look at and bid on a wide range of collector cars. I’m looking forward to going back next year.

This beautiful Rolls Royce sold for $54,000.

The rare supercharged Studebaker sold for $34,000.

The super sized motor home sold for $125,000.

Three quick turns.

The first weekend of June, I jump back on the old Gpz for my first trip of the year. For the past three years I’ve been going back to eastern, Washington to help an old friend with his annual car show.

I always leave Portland just after dawn and head east thru the spectacular Columbia Gorge. With the Columbia river on one side of the highway, and mountains on the other its hard to keep your eyes on the road. While it nearly 400 miles you only need to make three turn on get there.

A couple hours of riding east on I84, and its a turn north on hwy 395 and thru the Tri Cities, and then a right turn and east on Hwy 26. This is probably the prettiest part of the trip as it takes you through the Palouse area of Washington State, where the majority of white wheat and brewing barley is raised on the rolling hills. Finally and another left on to highway 97 and you are there. No navigation needed.

More Miles

Work and travel never keep me from clocking more miles on my old GPZ. I jump on my bike as often as I can. A spare minute always means another mile.

I have already managed to get a couple of really good rides in this summer. Last month; I made the trip back to my hometown of Spokane to help out my old friend, Jay with his annual car show in neighboring Rosalia. He had invited me back again to be one of the judges for his annual car show. It’s a tough job when there are so many great cars! Besides the old cars, I got to visit and chat with some of my old college friends who also made the trip to Rosalia for the day. 

My old 1983 GPZ ran like a top for the 800-mile round-trip. Even more surprising was how well I held up on the ride! When I rode the exact route last year, the 90-degree heat took it out of me. The much cooler temperature this year made for a much more comfortable ride.

This weekend, I did a couple of my favorite rides. First one had my heading east out of Portland onto Highway 84 towards The Dalles. From there I rode south on the 197 to Tygh Valley, then east onto Highway 216, which took me along the Deschutes River and up Shears Bridge Canyon. It’s a great twisty ride but you have to be careful because not all of the corners have guardrails. If you go off the road, it’s a hell of a long ways down to the bottom of the canyon! I continued on by connecting through Grass Valley onto Highway 97, then hooking onto Highway 84 westbound back to Portland. It’s a great 300-mile ride that I would highly recommend.

The next day, I took a quick spin to Mount Hood with a quick visit to Timberline Lodge. The road around the backside of the mountain takes you through the wineries and fruit tree farms of Hood River. It really was a perfect weekend of riding.

Did I do the speed limit?

Sherars Bridge Canyon - a fun and fast series of twists and turns

In the background is Oregon’s tallest mountain, Mount Hood

Taking a selfie break along the Columbia Gorge Highway

Photography

I remember when I was a kid in school, all through elementary, middle, and high school; the common thread of what my teachers would say to me went along the lines of "Steve, you'd be an straight-A student if you would just pay attention”. I loved daydreaming, especially during class. Looking out the window at the clouds passing by was a lot more interesting to me than what I was supposed to be learning in class.

Daydreaming transitioned naturally to picture-taking. Throughout most of my adult life, I have been the picture-taker of the family. It must have been in my genes; because my dad and my grandparents too, were into photography. I am fortunate enough to have some of those pictures that were shot back in the early part of this past century.

Last summer, I was lucky enough to have had the chance to ride and drive through some lesser-travelled roads of Oregon. Through my lens, I thought I would share a few of those trips with you. 

Fall Ride

The weather was perfect here in Portland this weekend. The smoke and ash from the nearby Columbia Gorge fires had cleared; so I decided to head out on my bike for a couple of motorcycle events.

Saturday, I headed over to Cycle Heaps annual fall swap meet. I'd been looking for a couple parts for my Honda CBX. Though I didn't find what I was looking for, I did come across this old 1965 Yamaha 80 80 that I liked. I ended up leaving empty-handed

On Sunday, I joined my friend Glen for a ride over to the Lighthouse Inn. We ended up in Linnton to join the Sang Froid Riding Club for its annual fall ride. The Sang Froid Club is a two-stroke motorcycle club, but this year they allowed a few of us four-strokers to join in on the ride too. There was a good mix of bikes. All-in-all, about three dozen bikes showed up. The ride took us on the old Vernonia Highway and along the Nehalem River. I met some great people and had a blast on the ride.

A Quick Trip

If you have been following my blog, you have already seen and read about the 1983 Kawasaki GPZ that I had purchased earlier this year. I'm happy to say I've covered over 4,000 miles without a problem. It's a really fun bike to ride!

A few weekends ago, I decided to take a trip up to see my parents. They still live in my hometown of Spokane, Washington. From Portland, Oregon; it's around 800 miles round-trip. The first four hours were smooth, but the last two got tough. It happened to be another really hot weekend, which makes for a really uncomfortable ride. But I made it and it was wonderful to spend some quality time with my parents. On my way back to Portland, I took the back roads as much as possible. So I got to travel through the rolling wheat fields of the Palouse, which is some of the most beautiful scenery.

Summertime

I hope everyone is having a great summer and getting a chance to enjoy the great outdoors!

I have been busy working and traveling this summer. Last week I took my bi-monthly trip from Riverside to Las Vegas. Driving across the Mojave Desert made me really wonder how people can live in that kind of heat. When we went through Baker, California; it was an extremely balmy 112 degrees. I know it's a dry heat, but that's still too hot for me!

Last weekend, I hopped on my motorcycle and took a 500-mile roundtrip through Central Oregon. I came across some beautiful country. I hadn't been to the upper part of the John Day River, nor Painted Hills, and the Fossil Beds. It was a super fun trip. I saw lots of other riders traveling on the same roads, where I believe are some of the best parts of our state. I would highly suggest anyone's getting out and about this summer to enjoy some of what Oregon's got to offer. She's a beauty.

#SummertimeandtheRidingIsEasy