We left Wednesday morning, September 11, 2013 from Medford, Oregon. I'm riding my 2012 HD Deluxe in Birch White and Sunburst Red. My Dad riding his blue V-Strom 1000, my husband on his 2009 BMW 1200RT and my father in law on his 2012 Can-Am Spyder.
It was a beautiful morning and we had been looking forward to taking this trip for over a year. We headed down Hwy 238 from Medford through Jacksonville to Grants Pass. We rode 199 through Cave Junction and stopped in O'Brien for some water and to stretch our legs.
I had stopped in O'Brien about a month ago to get pictures for the E2E Motorcycle Rally so I knew they had clean bathrooms and a little mini-mart for snacks and water. After a little break we headed south into California and almost to Crescent City before we headed up 197 North to Hwy 101 and up the coast.
The redwoods were so beautiful and huge!
Welcome to Oregon? Didn't we just leave Oregon. Oh well here we are again.
Stopped for lunch and walked down the pier in Brookings. All the piers are new, replaced since the Tsunami wiped them out last year.
Finally got to stop at the dinosaur park!
Dad and Chuck - about to be a little snack!
The first of the sasquatch statues I saw along the way.
We got to Bandon and it was a beautiful afternoon. We got settled into the Bandon Beach Motel and went into Old Town Bandon to take a walk around town. We had been here in April and everything was closed up when we got there so we were all looking forward to looking around town. Here's my Dad taking a ride with Chuck.
This guy was dumping his crab pots and was popular with the seagulls. They were all screeching and making quite a racket.
Light House in Bandon.
Seal in Bandon Harbor. I talked to one of the ladies who had crab pots in the water and she said they baited the traps with chicken. They would leave the pots down at the bottom for about 20 minutes before they pulled them up to check them for crabs. She said the seals go down and rip into the traps to get the chicken so they aren't all that cute to the crab fishers.
We met this guy in Bandon. He was from Germany and he had been traveling from Canada to Alaska (took a swim in the Arctic Ocean) and was on his way south to South America. And he is doing it on a 125cc Vespa.
View from the restaurant in Bandon.
Big and ugly seahorse.
Post Office in Bandon.
Views from the Hotel in Bandon.
Bandon Beach Motel sits on the cliffs and has a lovely view.
We took a walk out to the bluffs at the hotel and it was lovely. We watched the sun go down behind the clouds .
We woke up in the morning to fog. It was pretty and a lot warmer than I thought it would be.
The guys getting ready to go.
On the way to breakfast, I spotted these statues in Bandon. They are made from all the junk that has washed over from Japan since the Tsunami.
From Bandon we headed up the coast. The fog cleared as the day wore on. The roads were clear and excellent. We stopped in Reedsport for gas then went on Hwy 38 along the Umpqua River. We had to get off the back roads and take I-5 north towards Eugene.
Steam Train.
A small heard of Elk at the viewing station.
We stopped in Drain for a butt rest and some water.
Covered Bridge in Drain. Past Drain we headed up 99.
Dad coming out of the Goodpasture covered bridge.
Lunch stop
Checking the map.
We went north up I-5 north to Hwy 126 east through the Willamet Forest and Hwy 242 over the McKenzie Pass. There were lots of lava fields and looked like we were on the moon.
Lava fields on McKenzie Pass.
The Sisters Mountain Range (South and North) have several active glaciers on them. I recognized this snow is a glacier because of my Alaska trip a couple years ago.
The Observatory
Dad and Chuck going over McKenzie Pass.
We made it to the top of the pass and walked around the lava fields and up to the observatory. We got into Sisters and checked into the Ponderosa Hotel. It was very nice and had nice rooms. Charlie rode across the street and got some cheese and crackers, beer and diet coke.
In Sisters at last. Just chillaxing!
Bike line up in the parking lot at the Ponderosa.
Chuck feeding the llama at the Ponderosa.
Stallion statue in Sisters
We had dinner in town and a Mexican food restaurant, and went back to the hotel.
From Sisters we went south on Hwy 20 to Bend then through Hwy 46 on the Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway towards Mt. Bachelor. It was very beautiful. We stopped at one of the lakes to take some pictures.
We left this lake and the road was long and straight as an arrow for miles. We all took our turns "feeding the big dog" and opened up our engines. Charlie said he hit 115 and suddenly worried about pebbles in the road. I chickened out at 102, my Dad hit 103 and Chuck was over 100 as well. This was no race - just a personal thing we all did with the open road.
From Hwy 97 we went to Hwy 138 past Diamond lake to Hwy 230 to Hwy 62. We stopped at Becky's for lunch and a slice of the pie and headed home. It got hot pretty fast as we came out of the mountains. By the time we got back to the house it was 100 degrees.
It was a great trip and we all had a great time. We sure couldn't have asked for better weather. The roads were awesome and we would do it again next weekend!
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