This is my first blog so bear with me...
This is the Micro. It's her birthday today and she had to get up at the ungodly hour of 7:00 and get on a motorcycle with Dad to be on the road by 8:00. It's now almost 10:00, we've made it to Cascade Locks, Oregon (from Vancouver, WA) and breakfast is mandatory.
Believe it or not she's been waiting for this trip for weeks. Most of the last year she has been asking if her and Dad can go on a multi-day trip on the motorcycle. Much of last Summer was lost for me as I was busy having surgery on my back and recovering from it. By the time I felt good enough to do any major riding Summer was over and she was back in school and then came "Not Summer", the other 8-9 months of the year which in the Pacific NW means rain...or at least very unpredictable weather. Dad doesn't take the Micro on the bike in the rain.
Fast-forward to April 1st. Micro is on Spring Break and amazingly enough we have a fairly concrete two to three day forecast of sunny weather! On top of that today is Micro's birthday.
Sunday night we loaded up the trusty stead... That's my 1982 Yamaha XJ1100J Maxim.
It's old and getting older fast. I bought if about three years ago with a tad under 20K miles and it's rolling over 45K on it now which for an air-cooled normally aspirated bike is beginning to get long in the tooth. I do all my own maintenance and have done a lot of work on the bike to help make it reliable and make it as comfortable as possible. So far it's taken me on many awesome adventures around Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, and Northern California. I'm hoping to add Montana and Wyoming to the list this year if my back holds out. Some time in the next couple of years however I suspect I'll be forced to retire her in favor of something a little more modern.
So anyway we loaded up the bike Sunday night and headed out bright and early Monday morning with a destination of Elgin, Oregon. On the freeway Elgin is a four and one half hour drive at about 283 miles...but Dad and Micro try to stay way away from the freeway. We're shooting for quiet, twisty back roads and highways. The plan today is to cross over into Oregon and take the back roads to the tiny NE Oregon town of Elgin. No particular reason...just cause it's about the right distance for a days ride with the Micro on the back (340 miles) and the route I chose avoids all the higher mountain passes that might still have snow or ice on the roads.
After crossing into Oregon we hopped on a section of the Old Columbia River Highway.
On a nice weekday...not a weekend or holiday, the Old Columbia River Highway is a joy for people who ride motorcycles. It has nearly everything...gorgeous scenery and awesome curves. On a weekend or holiday it's pure hell, packed with sight seers crawling along at speeds that barely allow something on two wheels to remain upright. Not today though...we only came across a couple of well mannered folks who kindly pulled over and let us be on our way. Not that we blew through at breakneck speed by any means...because Dad has to back it down a notch or two with precious cargo on the pillion pad, but we live nearby by and we've seen the scenery before and we'll see it again. We're more interested in the awesome curvy roads that are just shedding the gravel in the corners from Winter time. The scenery just makes them that much more enjoyable!
After filling our bellies with breakfast in Cascade Locks, we continued East. Since the Old Columbia River Highway is no longer a continuous path the the East put a patch work of old curvy roads we had to relegate ourselves to some slab time on I-84 until we could get back on the OCRH at Mosier.
Hopping off of I-84 at Mosier, Oregon puts us on one of the very best sections of the OCRH. The road winds high up the hillsides yielding remarkable views of the Columbia River down below and then winds all the way back down just before The Dalles.
We stopped at The Dalles and fueled up the bike. I get less than 150 mile from a tank of premium...a bit less with the Micro in tow so planning fuel stops is essential.
From the Dalles we got back on the slab for a few miles before getting off at Celilo and continuing on the Celilo-Wasco Highway across the Deschutes river and South out of the gorge on Hwy 206 toward Wasco, Oregon. I'd never taken that stretch of Hwy 206. I winds up a canyon away from the river and on to the farm fields. It's a great road and a much nicer ride than the much larger Hwy 97 out of Biggs Junction.
From Wasco we continued down the wonderfully curvy Hwy 206 into the John Day River Valley and out though the wind open windmill fields into the small farming town of Condon. From Condon we rode Hwy 206 over to Heppner then Hwy 74 to Pilot Rock and finally 395 South to the town of Ukiah, Oregon.
These are some of the best motorcycling roads around. Lots of curves and good pavement quality. I've ridden most of them several times but it's always nice to be back, especially for the first time this year.
There's not much in Ukiah, but I make a point of stopping there whenever I am nearby. There's a gas station and store there called Dan's of Ukiah. I first went there about twenty years ago while over on the East side Deer and Elk hunting with my buddy Joe. At the time Dan's was the only gas around. They also had showers and laundry facilities which came in handy after a few days out in the woods. Dan is the son of the people who owned it...Doug and "the old lady". I'm terrible with names and although I've stopped in to say hi almost every year I can't recall her name.
Doug (the old man) used to run a Logging truck repair shop up in Alaska. One day some guy came in and robbed the place and shot Doug in the leg with a hunting rifle. Eventually they moved the business down to Ukiah, Oregon...back when logging was a good job to have around here. Doug always walked with a limp and had some pretty strong views on the government. Joe and I and others that came hunting with us all enjoyed sitting around talking with the old man.
His son Dan was always busy running the business...but if you had and alternator go out on your hunting rig or some other issue the next time he made the hour plus drive over the pass to Pendelton he'd stop at the auto parts store and pick up whatever you needed. Never charged me a dime for delivery!
Doug died about five years ago...mainly just from getting old. Kinda sad to see him go, but I still stop and say high to the old lady. Micro and sat a talked with her for about 40 minutes. Great to see she's still going strong!
I filled my tank. It wasn't much but you've got to support those little places whenever you can.
From Ukiah Micro and I rode Hwy 244 up through my old hunting grounds toward LaGrande. Just past Fraizier OHV Campground where we used to camp, Micro and I spotted a good sized herd of Elk. I rode on past and spun the bike around and coasted back down the hill so Micro could snap a few pics. She was pretty excited! The Elk were a little ratty looking as they are still getting rid of their Winter coats.
We spun around and continued up over the hill and down toward LaGrande, Oregon and on to Elgin.
We arrived in Elgin at about 6:00 PM. Almost 340 miles and a very nice day on the bike...but we were both starving.
We checked in to the Stampede Inn. There's not much to chose from in Elgin...as a matter of fact I think this was it. No problem though as it was just my speed. Clean room and two comfy beds for $65 including the tax.
After checking in and changing our of my leathers, we rode the bike a couple of blocks and filled it up with gas. I always like to fill it up the night before. In these little towns you never know when they might run out, or the guy is late in the morning, or they just don't open by the time you want to leave. Get gas when you can!
Both the motel manager and the guy at the gas station said the best place to eat dinner was "Sigs". There's only two places.... So we parked the bike back at the room and walked to Sigs for dinner. Small place. Not a lot on the menu. We were hungry!
Micro opted for the Mushroom and Swiss burger. It was handmade and perfectly cooked. Very good!
I took a chance on the ribeye steak. I wanted one and it sounded good, but I'm always a little leery about ordering steaks in a restaurant. They always seem to be either way more expensive than they are worth or just plain crappy. Boy did I make the right choice. The steak was fantastic. Better than I would have done at home on the bbq. I told the cook it was one of the best steaks I'd ever had in a restaurant and she smiled and informed me that she cut the steak herself and the cow it came from lived it's life just a few miles away. All for $18 including soup, salad, home made roll and fries.That'd be a $50 meal in Portland easy. Mental note: Sigs in Elgin for dinner!
Later on Micro's sweet tooth got the better of her...so we headed to the corner market (the only market in town) in search of ice cream. Strangely enough they had no spoons. I settled for an ice cream bar, but Micro had to have Mint Chocolate Chip. She said she'd figure something out... Out side on the bench we sat there watching the car (not cars) got by and Micro digs through her pockets and finds the key to the motel room...with the hard plastic tag. After some spit and a wipe with a napkin the key tag sufficed for a spoon. If it doesn't kill you I guess it works.
Day Two
It was chilly when we woke up on Tuesday. There was a light layer of frost on the bike. Micro and I got all our stuff packed and loaded the bags on the bike and road over to Sig's again for breakfast. Breakfast was excellent! Another check mark for Sigs.
Our ride home would take us North West up Hwy 204 over a 5600' pass. I had asked several locals if the pass was completely snow free and dry pavement and they all insured me that it was...but they all said it would be a cold trip.
Turns out they were right! This was at 5600' just South of the tiny village of Tolgate. Still plenty of snow in April. Thankfully the trip over the pass was only about an hour and soon we were rolling down the other side and out into the wide open and much warmer farm fields. Hwy 204 is a gem. Not the most exciting as far as twisties, but even in the Winter the views were spectacular. This was another first time road for me and it was worth the chilly temperatures.
The long, straight roads across the rolling farm land leading into Umatilla were a dramatic change of pace compared to the high mountain pass. We stopped in Umatilla and filled the tank and headed across the river back into Washington.
After crossing back into Washington we headed down a long relatively straight section of Hwy 14 for about 45 minutes until heading North up the Roosevelt Grade toward the town of Bickleton. This is another road I'd never been on and was anxious to explore it.3
The climb up the grade was nice and curvy and there was almost no traffic out there. Micro and I stopped at the top and admired the view.
The road out to Bickleton was and interesting on. Long stretches of straight interrupted by a couple of 15-20 mph corners. Just enough to require attention.
We had hoped to eat lunch in Bicklton but there just wasn't much there that looked open so we continued on toward Goldendale. Halfway to Goldendale is where the road got magical. After several miles of straights followed by sharps rolling through some very, VERY rocky ground loosely sprinkled with jagged trees that looked near death we dropped down into a canyon. Oh what a canyon! The road zigged and zagged all the way down one side and up the other for several miles. It was quite a pick-me-up! Mark that one down as worth the trip.
In Goldendale we got gas and decided to postpone lunch until Glenwood. I just can't seem to find a good place to eat lunch in Goldendale. We asked two different locals and strangely enough they both recommended the same two places...both of which were closed!
The ride out to Glenwood on Hwy 142 and then the Glenwood Hwy is legendary. I had just ridden it a few weeks earlier with my usual riding buddies. I'll call them the ORGs...for Old Retired Guys. All three of them are over seventy and they've all been riding street and dirt for longer than I've been alive. They're a great group of guys. No competition, great riders, and man do they know ALL the best roads.
When the Micro and I got to Glenwood we were definitely ready for lunch. Low and behold the only restaurant/slash gas station in town was CLOSED! The ORG's and I had just eaten lunch there a few weeks earlier. The Micro and I went down the street to the store and asked them if this was temporary or permanent. The store lady said they had closed up for good. Sad to see that one go. It's a popular fuel stop for motorcyclists.
Twenty more twisty miles down the road in BZ Corners we stopped again hoping for lunch the the restaurant there was closed too...but only because it was Tuesday. As we sat there contemplating what to do next we noticed all the pickups we had seen in Glendale rolling into town to get gas. Tough life when the nearest gas is 20 curvy miles away.
We continued on down the White Salmon River valley on Hwy 141 until we got to the Gorge and had lunch in Bingen. By this time Micro was begining to get tired and we decided to take a little straighter route home. An hour later our trip was over.
Later that evening the Micro said "thank you for a fun trip"...then asked when we could do it again. I guess that was a success!
You might wonder if we get bored spending all that time riding along on a noisy motorcycle. We don't. A few years ago I bought a set of SENA Bluetooth helmet communicators. We both have a microphone and speakers in our helmets and we can ride along and talk at a very comfortable level. The devices also pair up to our iPhones...so we can listen to music and even make phone calls if we feel like it. The Micro and I mainly just chatted. Folks her age seem to have an endless amount of things to talk about.
All and all a great trip. I think we're both looking forward to doing it again!
Stay tuned for another edition of Mike's Microblog...
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