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Woo Hoo, another beautiful morning! I'm up for a cup of coffee with Jesse and on the road for the first real day of riding. Pretty excited to get this show on the road!
What was supposed to be an easy short ride sure didn't turn out that way! I intended to stay in Oregon near the Idaho border tonight but I have to say that I just couldn't get myself to spend the night in Eastern Oregon. Let me explain.
Western Oregon was very pretty and had plenty of beautiful scenery to enjoy. I saw a ton of windmills for electricity generation and fairly hilly country. I took a few nature photos but since my photography skills leave much to be desired, not many made it into this blog. I pulled into a state park near Multnomah Falls to stretch my legs and got my first taste of Oregon State Parks. They are nice but be prepared to pay even for day use! Since I only needed to stretch my legs, I did that, wet my doo rag, and got back on the road.
I thought of visiting Multnomah Falls but man did traffic going there look bad. I wanted no part of that! From the highway, at the exit, it looked like everybody and their mother thought it would be a good idea to stop. Not being a crowd person myself, I thought no thanks!
I rode along the Columbia River for quite a ways and saw lots of green landscape. I even saw some bicycles riding on the shoulder of the road. I knew Oregon was kind of a greenie state but in this heat, those people are nuts! A couple of roads I pulled off on had great shade and looked like something out of a magazine. One such stop was on a road to Mosier, OR where I took a picture of the trailhead to Rock Creek. It’s a cool little metal sculpture of what looks like a couple of birds holding the sign. The scenery from a motorcycle is awesome!
I pulled over at a place called The Dalles, OR to get a couple of pictures of the river and the views were beautiful. The place is called Memaloose Overlook and it sits a little high where you can see the Columbia River go for a while in either direction. It presents a pretty awesome view.
At lunch, I pulled into a little dive restaurant in Rufus, OR. I met a couple other guys (older than me) riding home from Sturgis. Had I even thought of Sturgis, I might have planned for a stop over there but I am not sure that would be a good idea so it all works out well. Sturgis is a motorcycle gathering that happens every year in South Dakota and I understand it can get kind of wild and very crowded. The guys I met said that this ride was their big ride. We talked for a bit and they asked where I started and where I was going. When I told them, they started laughing. One of them said "just when you think you are doing something big, along comes this guy". I sat for a while enjoying the air conditioning, again wet my doo rag, and off I go.
I didn't shoot any more pictures because I got into Eastern Oregon and, no offense, but that is one ugly, dry, brown place! Everything was dead and it was damn hot. I just couldn't bring myself to pull over and find a campground so I decided to keep going till the scenery got better. I swear, it’s almost like there was a line on the ground where the green stopped and the dead landscape started. So, that’s why this turned into a longer ride then I expected for the day.
I regret that I passed a sign pointing to a small town named Dufur, OR and I did not go there. I have a friend who grew up there and met her husband there. This is my logger friend Steve’s wife Lawna. I always make fun of her by calling the town Dufus, OR instead. Their claim to fame is that they are right next to Friends, OR. Go Figure!
I ended up making it to Meridian, ID and went to the KOA campground there. They were surprisingly full but they found me a grassy spot right in front of some parking area. I just crossed my fingers that nobody would come back drunk! LOL. The KOA campgrounds are a nice option. Not too expensive for a campsite and they have showers, Wi-Fi, and a small store. This place is pretty nice and they even have some cabins to rent. It looked like the families occupied the cabins with young kids. I watched the kids run around for a little while and everybody seemed pretty laid back at this place.
I pitched the tent and set up for the night. After the long ride, it felt good to get off the bike and relax. I bedded down and took advantage of the Wi-Fi to watch a show on my phone before falling asleep.
Today's end of day mileage was 567.9, which is way more then I intended but I had to get out of Eastern Oregon. Don't mean to offend eastern Oregonians, but people please water something!
Following is some detail on the pictures:
Pic 1 -State Park: Welcome to the state of Oregon where even stopping at a small state park means you pay! I was going to stop at Multnomah Falls but it looked like a zoo to get there.
Pic 2 - A Nice Trail: Cool little trail near Mosier, OR. Wish I could post more pictures of Oregon but the most beautiful scenery is from the motorcycle. I ride along the Columbia River for a long distance. I even saw some bicycles riding on the shoulder.
Pic 3 - Out of a Magazine: Wishing I had a Go Pro strapped to my helmet. Maybe next year!
Pic 4 - The Dalles, OR: Still just outside Mosier. If you ever find yourself on highway 84, take the scenic highway 30 drive. The ride here is only 6 miles but it’s a cool little town and great scenery.
Pic 5 - The Dalles West: From the lookout facing west.
Pic 6 - The Dalles East: From the lookout facing east.
Pic 7 -Lunch!: Rufus, OR. The land of a thousand windmills. I met a couple of older bikers, yes older than me. They are returning from Sturgis. They asked my route and then said "just when you think you are doing something big, along comes this guy!" LOL
Pic 8 - Camp Fred: Camp Fred pitched and ready for the night. Now all I need is an icy shower, a movie and off to bed! Been meeting a lot of bikers headed home from Sturgis.
Pic 9 - End of Day Mileage: Today's total mileage, over 500 miles in one day. Was going to stop in eastern OR but that is one butt ugly, dead looking area. I forced myself to keep going and stopped at a KOA campground in Meridian, ID instead.
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