Just like in a Greek play The Fates saw fit to try to punish us for our Hubris. The pandemic and government closing motels and restaurants, job loss, and bikes breaking down weren't enough to stop us so they released Fire Gremlins from the depths of Hades to burn down all of Western Oregon. After bouncing off the walls in my HEPA filtered house for a few days I stubbornly made the call that I was going to go on the run. My town wasn't in the evac zone, and the last highway out to Central Oregon was still open.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not insensitive to the suffering that's happened this year, especially in my own state. Its simply a matter of I recognize that sitting at home stressing about the fires and other things out of my control do nobody any good.
On the day to head out I had a phone interview and then packed up. My fellow adventurous soul Danielle met me in the dense smoke of Lebanon ("they" rated the air quality at "beyond unhealthy") and we left. It was eerie riding out the mountain highway without the usual summer traffic. But lighter traffic is what we sport riders love, so we enjoyed it despite the burning in our noses and pain in our lungs. Air quality started getting better as we cleared the cascade range. One of the oddest things about the dense smoke is just how much it cooled things off, like a nuclear winter effect.
Along one lonely highway in Central Oregon there's a tree with hundreds of bras hanging in it. Nobody seems to remember what started the Bra Tree, or why, its just there as a monument to women. Naturally we had to stop and take cliche pictures for social media.
Now that we were in the "fast" part of Central Oregon we made fantastic time to Summer Lake and checked into the Lodge. We had dinner with the other riders that had braved the events of 2020 to be there, swapped stories, discussed how we had gotten our road names, had drinks, and retired.
In attendance:
The Jackal - R1
Flamin Beans - Africa Twin
The Senator - R6
Double D - Street Triple
Don Quixote - GSXF 1000
Three Finger Jim - Flying Brick BMW boxer
JoLo - Drove his freakin Subaru instead of riding
LazyEye - Ducati SuperSport
Night Shot of the pond next to our cabin. You can see the haze coming east over the mountains.
By morning the smoke from the cascades and south-central fires had caught up with us. Several of the riders had to head home for other obligations (Jackal, Senator, JoLo) so only five of us proceeded on route east.
Just outside of Summer Lake the temperature dropped ten degrees and the smoke from the Paisley fire blotted out the sun. Once again I was questioning my choice to wear mesh gear. The forecast had called for sunny/hot conditions and here I was in chilly darkness. We were lucky to get past Paisley before they started evacuating it. By Lakeview we were in the sun again and had a few minutes to kill sitting in construction traffic.
At Lakeview Danielle had to make a minor repair to her bike (bolts come loose) at the local hardware store. While there one of the store workers came out and talked bikes, and showed us his 2020 Hayabusa. Small world when you're a bike guy.
After Lakeview I set the pace through the mountains. This was getting into the fast section. Danielle and I stopped for lunch in Adel while everyone else got a little ahead. The Adel general store had many examples of top notch taxidermy on display.
Past Adel is the emptiness of Nevada and South Eastern Oregon. It was also the last chance to see blue sky before the smoke caught up to us that night.
Out there in the empty quarter I made several personal land speed record attempts to see what the Ducati Supersport can do. I'm pleased to say it will go all the way to redline in sixth gear although doing so with a tank bag means I can't tuck behind the tiny windscreen and I get a lot of helmet shake.
We caught up to the group in Fields, Oregon. Our group stayed in the multi-bedroom ranch house. I like Fields, its quiet. The Fields Station closes at 6 so if you arrive running on empty and expect gas, you're out of luck. Don Quixote shared the schadenfreude feeling of watching out of town people panicking realizing that there isn't a gas station that's open in either direction for 80+ miles and that the motel rooms are all booked. Over night the smoke caught up with us and we awoke to haze and gloom.
Just over the hill from Fields the temperature started dropping and we made a very quick and chilly run into Burns for fuel and regroup. We stopped again at Seneca to discuss routes. ODOT had done a lot of shoddy work in this area and the chip seal was still shedding chips and slick feeling. This is the kind of thing where you get hit with rock chips from the riders/vehicles in front of you, the whole while feeling like you're losing grip.
Three Finger Jim stayed on the main roads while we went east on a Forest Service road. The FS road was more interesting than main highway although the pavement was bumpy and gravelly at times. I had a few butt puckering moments but overall NF16/62 was a nice alternative to main highway.
We went as far east as Unity to get fuel then doubled back to Hereford/Hwy 245/Dooley Mountain. I should note that a few places out in true-rural areas have gas pumps that are "on your honor". Fill up, then go into the general store to pay.
We stopped for a break before heading up the mountain. While stopped we saw a Triumph rider that we later found out was from a rally that was staying in Baker. Dooley mountain is a fun twisty road that's "ruined" by too much gravel in the corners. Oh well. Still had fun and didn't crash.
The classic cars and idiots with loud exhausts were cruising main street in Baker as we had dinner. Beans, Double D, and myself went to a fancy restaurant for desert afterwards and to bring some class to the joint. "no I don't have a reservation, yes I'm wearing athletic clothes and my hair is uncombed.".
In the morning it was COLD. Between the smoke and the normal Eastern Oregon overnight low, we decided to hang out for a bit before leaving. In the interim I talked to one of our motel neighbors who had evacuated from the Holiday Farm fire. Although her family's house still stood, everything else was gone and she didn't expect to be able to go back. With that reminder of what lay ahead we set off.
Most of the group had gone different directions from Baker. Double D and I backtracked to Highway 26, and then up into the Fossil area. The farther west we got the worse the smoke got.
At Prairie City my bike rolled over 5000 miles. Considering I bought it a month ago with 1100 on it that's a milestone. I texted my dad about it and he said to stop riding it because it was depreciating.
Near Fossil we saw the Triumph rally again as they headed North. We headed west on 218.
They chip sealed 218 this year and the pavement is not good. Still the Fossil run is fun.
Once on 97 the fun kind of ends for a while although with the dense smoke there was lighter traffic which was nice. In the mountains heading home the temperature again dropped badly.
Once we broke free of the last of the traffic our run down the hill and into Sweet Home was fast and uneventful. I was shivering by the time I got home. My gear and bike are covered in ash, dust, road grime, and bugs.
Total mileage for the trip: 1109
Nice.. love riding in those parts.
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