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.

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!

Dry Falls

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.

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?

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

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