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.

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

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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.

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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.

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Drive In

We finished our final fundraiser of 2020 this past weekend with Soul River, and their Gala at the Drive Inn. Close to 100 people turn up at the World of Speed parking lot for the Drive inn Fundraiser.

Because of the new rules on social distancing, everyone stayed in their cars, and box dinners were delivered to the guests. So that everyone could enjoy the featured speakers, film and of course the auctioneer, a FM frequency was used so everyone could hear the gala through there car speakers.

We did a raffle and a Special Appeal, it worked out great! It pays to think outside the box.

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Traveling

Last week was a busy one.

On Thursday I headed out to the airport for my weekly trip Las Vegas. When I got back the next evening, I checked my favorite weather Apps, Saturday looked good for a ride. I bundled myself up and headed out early Saturday morning for my last ride out to central Oregon for 2020.

If felt good to get out and blast around on my old GPZ, but the weather was getting cooler and the fall winds were starting to blow harder across the flat plains the farther east I rode.

My two hour trip turned into an eight hours ride as I raced around on all my favorite roads, when I pulled into my driveway later that day I had knocked out 400 miles!

It was still dark at 5am on Sunday morning when the Uber driver pulled up to take me the airport. I was heading out for my four hour flight to Chicago to see my daughter for a couple days. We covered a lot ground together. Sightseeing, visiting the museum and just hanging out with each other. But before I knew it was Tuesday, and I had to head back to Portland.

It was a whirlwind week, but it was all worth it.

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Planting something new

I’ve always planted a backyard garden, its so easy to grow your own food here in the PNW . The weather conditions are perfect for growing your favorite vegetables. This year I planted potatoes, carrots, cucumbers, beans, peas, tomatoes and beets. Plus a bunch of my favorite herbs.

One of my old friends started a small batch microbrew a couple of years ago, so I thought I would try my hand at growing hops for his latest brew. Almost all hops used in beer production are grown in either western or central Washington.

I choose the Cascade and Nugget variety. I ordered them online from a local grower, and planted them in some of my best soil. It took awhile but in a short time they had grow to a height of fifteen feet in a matter of months, and in the last 30 days my first hops have appeared.

Looking forward to see how they’ll taste when they’re added to the new brew.

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Cascade Hops

Fourth of July

The holiday gods blessed Oregon with perfect weather for the 4th of July weekend. I decided to get out to town for few hours, and headed east for the open roads of central Oregon. I was surprised with the amount traffic, I guess everyone felt like getting out of town too.

This time I took hwy 26, which takes you around the base of Mt. Hood. While the sun was out, the mountain air was cool and crisp, but as I drop elevation and headed closer to central Oregon it started warming up. While, it would have been nice to be enjoying a big celebration like in years past, getting out alone on the open road is a great way to celebrate too.

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Ride around Mt. Hood was a shot of the mountain looking to the north.

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Social distancing shadow.

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!

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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.

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

Time to think

I’ve worked as a wholesale auctioneer for thirty years, which means driving and flying to my weekly auction gigs. I have relied on airplanes to get me to where I’m going. Up until three weeks ago it seemed to be the perfect business plan! Not anymore.

I was still taking my weekly flight to Las Vegas on Wednesday’s afternoons but then when lock down came to Sin City so did the my flights.

Now what do I do? Hey, I’ll drive to Vegas. It’s only a 1000 miles, and I could really use a paycheck. As an auctioneer I work as a contract employee, so if I’m not working I don’t get paid. And because of the uncertainty of being able to fly and no more work on my Wednesday’s or Thursday’s I decided to make the trip. Probably my last days of work in Vegas too.

I have always like to drive on long trips. Whether its in cars or motorcycles, I enjoy being alone on the open road. When I first started out as an auctioneer I would hop into my old Porsche 911 and drive hours to get some mic time.

I decided to take a longer route through the Ochoco National Forest, east toward John Day, south to Burns and crossing the border into Nevada.

I never even turned the radio for the drive. Instead, I spent a lot of time just thinking about the past, future and more importantly the present. Rehashing the pain of old memories, were softened by the beauty of the sunrise cresting over the mountains tops of central Oregon. As I crossed into the vast openness of the northern Nevada landscape my thoughts were replaced with the realization that all can do is accept that things are going to change, and I’ll make my way thru this situation some way or some how.

Social Distancing was in full force as I was traveling alone, paying at the pump and with no place to eat along the way.

Except for a couple stops at a Starbucks drive thru, I never saw or spoke to anyone on the way down. Which really is kinda sad. I always like strike up a conversations with the locals when I’m traveling

Hopefully, the new normal won’t be panic, fear and distance when we encounter our fellow humans when this all passes.

Everyone be safe out there.

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Central Oregon sunrise.

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Nevada

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No waiting at the pumps.

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Sunset in Northern Nevada

Dry Falls

I finally got a chance to hop on my motorcycle for a quick trip. I have missed riding my Kawasaki. But this weekend we were reunited again. I did a quick service and grabbed my backpack for a run up to Dry Falls, Washington which is about five hour northeast of Portland. Dry Falls is located in the Channeled Scablands of eastern Washington. The falls were created by the massive floods that engulfed eastern Washington during the last ice age. It an impressive site, and the amount of water that rolled over the area is estimated to be all the rivers in the world combined and multiplied by 10!

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Dry Falls

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Up through the canyon, 12,500 years ago I would be at bottom of the river, with 300 feet of water above the top of the canyon.

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Selfie!

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?

Did I do the speed limit?

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

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

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

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

Taking a selfie break along the Columbia Gorge Highway

Taking a selfie break along the Columbia Gorge Highway