The Ride Home

Monday morning arrived too quickly and it was time to leave. My tentative plan had been to head to Utah after the rally and make the scenic tour of southern Utah with a possible run to the Grand Canyon. As it turned out, I got a call for a job interview later in the week so I needed to head for home. The morning was spent loading up the bikes and saying our goodbyes.

I headed out with the group from Alberta. We set a comfortable pace and rode to Susanville, CA together. At that point they continued west, in search of the big red trees and the ocean, and I turned north to Oregon.

I'm feeling the love here, guys...(Noodles, Krusty, Wood Welder, Canuck Rider, Don, Dave)I called ahead and reserved a road...
so it was just me and the pronghorn out here.
It's a weekday, not peak traveling season, so...

I was able to reserve it for most of the day.

Stopped alongside the road (Hwy 395) at the Modoc Wildlife Refuge for a snack and break. Pretty spot, with abundant wildlife. Saw several deer, a coyote, some nearby Pronghorn and many Sandhill Cranes and other birds during my break.

Sandhill Cranes
I had to take this deer's picture. She stood motionless for probably a full 5 minutes; guess she thought I wouldn't see her if she didn't move. Straddling the California - Oregon border is Goose Lake; a large, shallow alkaline lake. In years when it may be full, it has a maximum depth of 24 feet. As I approached the lake I could see storms up ahead.
A look over the dry portion of the lake basin.

Goose Lake.

Once I crossed into Oregon, I stopped to have dinner and spend the night in Valley Falls, at the junction of Hwy 395 & Hwy 31. I was told it was raining to the north and I had fuel concerns. In Oregon there is no self serve. Hwy 395 had no services for 120 miles I was told, and 31 had fuel, but they were small independents and might be closed before I got there.

The next morning the threat of rain had passed, but temperature was in the low 40's, and the forecast called for 20 -40 mph winds for central Oregon. My route for the day was up Hwy 31 to La Pine and north on Hwy 97. Shortly after I started down 31, I had my most entertaining wildlife moment. I watched a Pronghorn chase a coyote for probably a hundred yards -- probably got to close to a fawn. I rode alongside the chase for several hundred feet, then spotted a pullout. I tried to get ahead of them and pull out my camera. By the time I was set though, they had given up the chase and were in a staredown.

Not much on the video, just the final moment as they part ways -- heavy winds and I had a hard time holding the camera still.

Farther up the road, approaching Summer Lake.
Summer Lake

A friend recently asked me, "do horses sleep lying down?"

Yes, they do.
But the vultures would remind you, not all lying horses are just sleeping.

(OK, kind of gruesome -- several vultures flew away when I stopped.) Winds continued to be very strong and it was not warming up, so I stopped and put my rain gear on over the leather to help cut the wind. The balaclava also became my newest favorite thing.
Stopped at the Crooked Creek canyon overlook. The canyon cliffs are 300 ft., and pretty typical of the geology in eastern Oregon and Washington. The region is the result of lava flows, followed by glaciers and floods.

Saw a few trees like this one on the trip. This was near Shaniko, OR on Hwy 97 -- either it's all the shoes ever owned in Shaniko, or folks are driving for miles to celebrate this ritual.

As I approached Biggs, OR I could see the windmills on each side of the river.

A farm converts from wheat to a new cash crop.

A roadside field filled with wildflowers.
As the sun was setting, I was crossing the Columbia River and nearing the Tri-Cities -- just an easy 2 hr ride up the interstate and I would be home.

After returning, and relating the weather problems (rain, high winds, cold), the delays, the fuel mileage problems, sleeping in a tent, and all those long days on the bike someone asked if I would do it again. In a heartbeat!