Photos updated

use the link on the right to see a bunch of photos updated last night from the first two days. these are straight from the camera, I haven’t edited any yet and probably wont until I get home.

Day 2

We’re in Ontario, Oregon tonight. I’m really beat and can’t see straight enough to write down just how many amazing roads we rode today or beautiful vistas we were lucky enough to witness. Fossil was very cool, and had a classic car show going on for the holiday weekend, Mitchell was a town that the old west seemed to have forgotten. The town gas station has a pet bear, Henry, on display and the guy at the pumps has tow kinds of fuel, diesel and not diesel. He kind of look like Grizzly Adams too, in a good way

 

 

Henry the Bear

 

Fossil

 

Mitchell

 

Gas in Mitchell

 

We did an extra 100+ miles today to shorten tomorrow’s ride to Wendover, Utah. We blew through Burns and headed for Vale, but Vale was pretty much deserted except for the Bates Motel on the edge of town, so we continued on to Ontario. We’re not out of Oregon yet, but Idaho is spitting distance from the Roadway Inn we’re staying at tonight. We did cross time zones and are in Mountain time tonight so I get one less hour of sleep. Bong still wants to leave at 8am! Ugh, this guy is driven!

 

Here’s today’s track. 436 miles.

Day 1 – updated

this is short post to say we arrived safe and sound. no major incidents. I don’t have cell coverage (using hotel computer) so I’ll upload pics at next opportunity.  planning an 8am departure so hopefully will get in early tonight to write up a more detailed account of the days activities.

 

back online! I’m actually back-posting this on Saturday

 

Well the trip got off to a good start. Everyone showed up in North Bend on time, we’re are quite the motley crew

We met some interest sidecar riders while we were waiting for everyone.  One guy was a real showboat doing two-wheel “wheelies” in the parking lot. His bike was very interesting, it even had reverse!

 

The ride out I90 was uneventful to Ellensburg, from there we went down the famous Canyon Rd in Yakima. The weather was perfect and the riding was getting prettier with every mile. I seem to remember each of the rural towns with a similar large sign at the entrance that says something like “Home of the Hawks or Bills or Cats or [fill in your team name]” . It was like scenes out of Smallville, I kept waiting to see the Kent farm along the way. One town Toppenish, stuck me as interesting as their claim to fame is giant murals. They even have a Giant Mural museum or exhibit or something. At least that’s what the sign said.

Mabton-Bickleton-Goldendale was where the roads really started to get twisty. It was a nice to way to break in the new tires I had just mounted the day before. the tail end of the ride past the rivers was just beautiful. I had to slow down just enjoy the scenery. I wish I had stopped more to take more photos.  Don’t worry there are plenty of photos, I just haven’t go around to upload them yet.

 

Did I mention this is cattle country?

 

Here’s a track of the day’s ride.  325 miles.

Ready to roll

T-12 hours and we’re rolling for our first stop in Maupin, OR.

Feasting On Asphalt

If you’ve ever heard of Alton Brown from the Food Network, he did a special last year called Feasting On Asphalt where Alton and his buddies spent a month riding cross country on secondary roads documenting road food at quaint rural eateries and interesting off the beaten path places of interest. It was a neat show up until when Alton fell over on a gravel road near Las Vegas and broke his collarbone. He finished the ride from the chase van.  Anyway, I was talking to Marv tonight and was commenting how having a chase van would make riding luggage free so much more fun. I know some of the bike tours in Europe have a chase van option, but this isn’t Europe and we are the tour company here so no chase van on this ride.  Maybe next year.  Since I’ve never really packed for a trip like this, and I tend to over pack for long trips I looked to Alton for guidance on packing it in. Alton’s web site has a nice diagram of how he packs his bike in, but even with that you have to remember much of his gear is in the chase van. But it’s still an interesting image if you’re a relative newbie to long distance riding like I am.  I’m afraid the Iron Butt us not something that calls to me.

Oh, and Alton’s website says they are now filming Feasting on Asphalt 2 – A Taste of Tarmac. It will be airing in August, can’t wait for another very good motorcycle touring tv special. ciao!

Busy Prep Day Today

Today was a busy day, but a pretty good day. No surprises which is always good.  I’ve taken today and tomorrow off to take care of last minute errands and pack for the trip Friday.  I rode into Seattle on the Ducati this morning to drop off my camera to be cleaned and checked. Man that Paul Smart bike rides nice! Photo-tronics called back around 3pm to say it was ready so I’ll go back in tomorrow morning to pick it up. I went to the drug store to stock my medicine kit for the trip so that’s done.  Michelle helped me get most of the laundry done that I need to pack so that’s done. Although I didn’t pack my tool kit, I did inventory everything I think I’ll need from the main toolbox in the garage so throwing everything into a small canvas bag will be a cinch. The last of the special moisture wicking clothes I ordered arrived today as did the revised rear Ohlins shock from Dan Kyle at Kyle Racing Engines and the new ZTechnik touring windshield. My new Avon Storm AV55/56 tires arrived last week. The tires, shock and windshield will get installed tomorrow at Ride West.  Talk about cutting it close! but it seems to be coming together, one more day and I should be ready to roll!

Utah Video Teaser

from Bong:  Here’s a nice video of HWY 12 in Utah between Torrey and Escalante.

Can’t wait!!!!

http://www.farson.com/video/slcd4.wmv

Going mobile!

yipee! I’ve successfully configured my smartphone as a wireless modem and am able to connect to the net using just my phone and my laptop.  That means daily updates from the road will be possible as long as I have a data signal for my phone.

How do you pack for a trip like this?

Since I decided to go on this trip I’ve been making myself crazy trying to figure out how to pack for a 9 day trip using essentially two small gym bags. My side bags are not very big, I can’t even get my 15inch laptop into one of them and I want to take the laptop and my good camera gear since this is going to be a spectacular trip. I hate to think of only taking the little pocket camera, but it may come down to that if I can’t figure this out.

I put together a packing list, but I’m sure I’m forgetting things. Hopefully I’m not forgetting anything critical or at least not forgetting something someone else will be packing. Several of the riders are riding BMWs as well, so any special tools I may need they will already have.

Here’s my list so far: 

gear aerostich suit winter gloves heated gloves gerbing heated liner cooling vest riding boots helmet clear shield dark shield ear plugs rock straps net stretch tie down thing summer gloves honda clean micro fiber cloth extra bike key special tools? duct tape	clothes eyeglasses (prescription) sunglasses (prescription) 2 pr tech socks 2 pr sock liners 1 pr smartwools 2 pr short white ankle socks 1 pr north face pants 1 pr north face shorts 1 pr black running pants 2 pair riding shorts 3 pair boxer briefs 1 pair sleep shorts 5 t-shirts 1 L.L.Bean long sleeve top 1 rei long sleeve silks bottom crocks keens
documents drivers license vehicle insurance medical insurance AAA card medicine 2 weeks of diabetes meds- metformin, centrum, baby aspirin large bottle advil imodium small first aid kit chapstick kanka medicine	accesories garmin quest gps valentine one radar detector cameras - Canon 5d w/24-105mm lens Canon S60 pocket camera Canon flash small tripod? cell phone + usb cable XM MyFi + cig lighter adapter iPod custom earphones battery chargers – camera, AA batteries, ipod, phone laptop + charger + small usb cable for cell phone + gps
sundries 1 fresh bar dial soap 1 small bottle shampoo toothbrush toothpaste pak towels deoderant small bottle laundry detergent

WordPress formatting sucks

I’ve been trying for hours – yes, literally hours and hours, to format the rider’s page using the stupid WordPress editor on the admin’s page and it totally sucks. Nothing stays where you put it, conventional line breaks don’t break, the alignment makes no sense at all. What a piece of crap. Seems like they make it hard to use in an effort to upsell a premium service service where you can actually configure the content. But since I’m running out of time to go on the trip, I’ll fight with it as best as I for at least the text portion to journal our upcoming trip.  I should have just created a new site off my own web site and edited it with DreamWeaver.  Oh well, too many other things to do before Friday to fuss over that.