OR & CA Coast -- Ronnie Rally June-2008

The Ronnie Rally was conceived last year during the Western Rally in Creston, B.C. We all had a such a good time, Ronnie wanted to invite everyone to his place in Nevada for a get together. The date was set for June 6-8th. There was a group of riders attending from western Washington, and a group coming down from Alberta. I could have hooked up with either group for the ride down, but since I was currently out of work, I decided to take advantage and leave a few days earlier and take a scenic cruise down the coast.

My tentative plan was to head south from Spokane (90/395), through the Columbia River Gorge, to the Oregon Coast. Travel down the Oregon coast (Hwy 101), to California, through the Redwoods, and down the Coast Highway 1. As time permitted, possibly some riding through central CA on the way up to the Lake Tahoe area. Ronnie's place was in Silver Springs, east of Lake Tahoe. After the rally my hope was to head to Utah and possibly down to the Grand Canyon, before heading home. Initially I had planned on leaving Sunday, but due to some family stuff, that changed to Monday. Monday came, and several delays popped up. Meant I didn't get away until the afternoon, but I was about to spend the next week (or two) riding, so I was in high spirits. When I started out the weather was cool and overcast, but comfortable. I fueled up, picked up some cash, stopped for a quick picture overlooking downtown, plugged in my mp3 and hit the road. Life was good!

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Loaded up and hitting the road...overlooking Spokane, WA.

Finally on the road. Stopped for my first fuel fill-up, opened my wallet, and ... #@!%. No debit card -- in my haste to get out of town, for the first time in my life, I left my card in the ATM. I had to turn around, return home, cancel the card, pick up cash at the bank and grab a credit card. On the highway again, I made a quick stop. Met up with a couple guys on Harleys that were actually returning from Lake Tahoe by way of the coast up to Seattle. They were almost home and we decided to ride together to Pasco. Getting back on the road, an empty 70mph interstate, and a couple riding partners now...the grin returned. They rode 55-60 mph...I wanted to scream...I wanted to pull out and race away! I resigned myself to just stopping in Pasco for the night, and stuck it out on the slow cruise. End of the day, should have been on the coast, I had about 400 miles on the bike and I was only 2 hrs down the road.

Next morning, I woke to pouring rain. That wasn't going to dampen my spirits though. Put on my rain gear and headed out...and my glasses fogged up. I wear a half helmet and sunglasses -- couldn't get a block before I couldn't see. Finally just took them off and went in search of a motorcycle shop. Found an anti-fog cloth and solved the problem. Got back on the highway...the wrong way. Well sort of the wrong way. It was one of those times, after traveling through a handful of junctions I wasn't familiar with, I came to my cutoff, and took the westbound...I was headed to the ocean after all. Turned out I wanted east, which really went southwest. No big deal, I soon realized the mistake, took a cutoff and headed south back to the Columbia River. Shouldn't make any difference -- still headed in the right direction and it just put me on the Washington side of the river instead of in Oregon -- except that, turned out there were no gas stations on the Washington highway. Yep, ran out of gas.

Shortly before the trip I had installed my DJ drive, along with a set of Cruzers, a K&N filter and a Bully processor. I ran through some tanks in town and got about 45-50 mpg, but never got a chance to run a full tank on the interstate. In the rain and wind, on a 60 mph highway, I got 26 mpg...104 miles down the road. Thank goodness I had roadside service. I called MoTow (AMA's roadside service) and told them my predicament. After 2 initial dropped calls, I spent 44 minutes on the phone with MoTow only to be told they couldn't help me. The "short" version...there was a great deal of "uncertainty" over my location...finally I asked, "can't find me or can't help me?" He admitted no one would come help me. I asked him, "isn't that what they do?" and he replied "yes, and they are under contract, but they said we don't pay them enough and it's not worth their time." Nice. Got a number for Joe's Towing. Told Joe I was stuck on Highway 14 (a road with no exits or cross traffic), along the river, about 20 miles east of Hwy 97. Guess he figured there would only be one guy on a motorcycle stuck on that stretch of road, because in less than two minutes he was on the way. Of course, I had to pay. That bill will be submitted to MoTow. We shall see.

(As it turned out, I had poor fuel mileage the entire trip and had to plan my fuel stops accordingly. My mileage was between 30-35 mpg the entire trip. Tried to make some adjustments to the processor, but only resulted in bike stalling out at low speeds. Decided to just run rich and work on adjusting it once I was home.)

Spent a couple hours here...out of gas. The upside, I had a brief respite from the rain.

Back on the move, I stopped to snap a shot of one of the many dams on the Columbia.

Stonehedge...a replica of the real Stonehedge, created as a war monument, near Maryhill.

Looking down from Stonehedge, the bridge is Hwy 97 crossing to Biggs, OR. Ironically, as I left here, back at the highway I waved to a passing rider on a Harley. I fell in behind and almost immediately he pulled over...his engine just cut out and he was running out of gas. It stayed running so he kept going. I followed him and he managed to make it down the hill and over the bridge, coasting into the station on fumes...252 miles on his tank.

After topping off and having lunch at Biggs, I set out on I-84 along the Columbia River. I-84 along the river is very scenic, but there is an alternate route, Hwy 30 that is even better. Hwy 30 leaves and rejoins the interstate at several points, and twists up the hillside overlooking the river for much of it and also has a popular "waterfall" tour.

Hwy 30, nice twisty ride...picket fences marking the path of the road, just visible through the trees.

Looking down from Hwy 30.

Fun road.

Dropping back down to river level...raining again.

View from the interstate.

The waterfall tour.

Multnomah Falls.

Back up the hill to a viewpoint, in the rain. Gave me a chance to try out the wet-handling capabilities of my Metzlers. Performed very admirably, but there was a bit of a pucker factor when cornering on wet leaves.

Looking down at the interstate.

It was raining and almost dark when I hit the waterfall area in the Columbia Gorge. Decided to get past Portland and stop for the night. The next morning I started my ride in the rain again and headed for the coast. Shortly after getting to the coast the rain stopped and eventually gave way to sunshine. Overall a good day of riding...and no setbacks, just lots of stops to enjoy the scenery.

Oregon Coast.

Yachina Head Lighthouse, near Newport.

In case you're wondering, he had to abort his landing and pull up.

Nesting cormorants and friends.

Heceta Head lighthouse.

The rocky coast gives way to the sand dunes.

Sand dunes on Coos Bay.

Man boarding down the dunes.

Draw bridge spanning Coos Bay.

The bike at Coos Bay.

A few last shots of the southern coast.

Wildflowers were in bloom all along the coast.

Decided to spend the night in Crescent City, CA and start out in the Redwoods in the morning.

Even the small towns have entertainment. The Cal-Fire Super Huey chopper works to save the rock from an off-shore wildfire, while police and fire keep the public safe on shore. Seems it's mating season and a bird may have left a cigarette burning in the nest. The birds got out safely, but the nest was a total loss. My favorite part of this event was watching the chopper fly a mile away to fill it's water bucket. Probably wetter, less flammable water.

Next morning started the day at the beach. A morning shot of the lighthouse.

Kicked around the tidepools while I had my coffee and breakfast.

After a little time on the beach, my ride started in the redwoods. Not a bad way to start the day. About 30 minutes out of Crescent City you are greeted by Paul and Babe at the Trees of Mystery, the only tourist trap in the Redwoods I would recommend (if you feel the need to pay for something). For a fee, you can take a hike through their grove and take a gondola ride over the forest -- been there, done that so just a quick stop today.

No real need for tourist shops...the trees are what you come for.

Almost a spiritual experience riding through the redwoods.

I had several elk sightings along my coastal route, but in the Redwoods area they had these decision-making aids. Begs the question, "OK, who tried to pet the elk?"

Ahh...welcome to California. It seemed like a lot at the time.

On the "Avenue of the Giants."

Note the woman, for scale.

Exiting the Avenue of the Giants drive, and back on 101, the forests soon gave way to the dry, rolling hills so common in California.

A right turn at Leggett and 22 miles of tight twisties got me out of the heat and onto Coast Highway 1.

Turned out to be cool and foggy...but the road was twisty and scenic.

Shortly before sunset, the fog parted for a little sunshine.

When you have a 100+ miles of tight twisties, up & down curving highway, cliff-side roadway and steady scenery...what do you do to make drivers pay attention? How about make it open range?

Quite a surprise, followed this guy for a couple hundred feet before he yielded the road.

Hwy 1 snaking around.

Spent Thursday night in Novato near the bay area. Decided to skip the ride across the Golden Gate to avoid the traffic and save time. Original plan was to travel across and head farther down the coast, but of course I had to trim some of my original plan. Seems funny to say my easiest day of riding was the interstate through the Bay Area, Sacramento and up to Nevada. But, it was sort of relaxing...and very warm. I had a half day ride up to Silver Springs, so I stopped in Davis (near Sacramento), did a quick load of laundry and washed a few days of rain off the C50.