Last Hurrah

The proverbial "they" say that you should always say "yes" to invitations, because then you live more and more invitations follow. Back in 2020 during the pandemic a gent named Paul from Washington showed up on one of the local FB motorcycle groups asking if any locals wanted to go riding in the area. I had nothing to do, so I said I'd go. He was a decent fellow and we rode around my favorite spots on a cold autumn day. Fast forward to 2022 and the season was once again closing. I'd been thinking "I need to go to NorCal or something for one last tour of the season" when Paul messaged me and asked me to go east with him. I said yes and after some last minute time off requests I packed my SuperSport 950s.

Of course I didn't want to skip out on work entirely so I had to get a late start to the day after an important/but not important zoom meeting, so my first day was just getting out there. Lebanon over the Santiam pass is fun, but then it's all flat and slow until after Prineville. I chose to go the highway 380/Paulina route which is more interesting and lower traffic than running the main highway out east. Everything was going great until I saw a smoke plume up ahead.

Well that ain't good because that's where I'm heading! Maybe I'll miss it, right? Nope. As I got closer I realized it was a prescribed burn that had gotten way out of hand. Fortunately they hadn't closed the road because backtracking would have been several hundred miles and I may not have had the gas! My pictures don't do it justice but there were tall trees fully engulfed, right off the road. The level of heat was intense along with burning debris raining down. I didn't stop in the hellish debris zone for obvious reasons so my photo isn't as good. As it turns out the idiot in charge of the burn on National Forest land decided to do it on a dry/windy day and thus it jumped the map lines into a neighboring ranch land. But if you live in Oregon long enough you get used to the Feds screwing up everything they touch, like the National Forest management. The idiot in charge got arrested, I'm sure he'll get a slap on the wrist.

The rest of the ride into John Day wasn't bad and I found my traveling companion Paul was already there with his Italian machine, a 2009 Aprilia Tuono.

I've stayed in some cheap places, but at least this cheap place was clean and no frills instead of just cheap. Beers were had and maps were looked over. The next day we were up before the sun for some breakfast and then off. It was sunny at least but cold. Mid 40s in John Day and as we went east and up in altitude it dropped into the 30s. My bike was flashing the ice warning at me! Would you know it, by the time we reached Hereford so Paul could photograph a falling down barn that he's been photoing for years as it falls down, my ten year old heated gloves that have been to Prudhoe bay and back, finally quit. Not optimal timing...

By the way the boathouse at Hereford is brown and if you get this joke, we can be friends.

Dooley Mountain road, Highway 245, is sometimes called the tail of the dragon Oregon edition because of it's curves. Unlike the dragon in Tennessee it isn't crowded with idiotic tourists in rented supercars and bicyclists. Usually it's covered in gravel though because it's used as an ag haul road, but since it's "after" season for that it was amazing and clean! Lots of fun.

On the way in to Sumpter, Oregon we got stuck behind a NF Ranger LEO and I wasn't sure if he'd ticket me, so I didn't pass his slow federal ass. The gas station at Sumpter has premium so we topped off the tanks then headed out on Granite hill road. There's some great curves on the road and past the summit it fresh pavement for about 9 miles. Naturally we had to do a do-over and ran that section again because of how fantastic it was. At Granite Oregon we met up again then rode north on NF-73 and then NF-51. Neither are in great shape, although the NF-73 section to Ukiah was chip sealed in June but the idiots at the National Forest service never finished the job so it'll fall apart in two years.

NF-51 isn't in great shape but it's beautiful. The fall colors up in the mountains are just fantastic in late October.

There's gas in Starkey Oregon but we didn't stop there due to a communication problem. Turns out I'm pretty much entirely deaf when wearing ear plugs and a helmet. NF-51 dumps into highway 244 which is just awesome, we ran that east, dropped into Lagrande for a late lunch and gas, then came back and ran 244 west to Ukiah. The third world gas station in Ukiah is closed by the way. The day had just warmed up when it started cooling off again as we made our way south on 395 with a gas stop in Dale for the thirsty Aprilia. Dale only has regular and I had enough so I didn't fill up. Am I a gas snob? Yeah, I am.

The section of highway Ukiah to Dale has absolutely fantastic sweeping curves and it's worth running twice. South of Dale we turned on Middle Fork Road/Galena Road. The pavement quality is iffy but it's a beautiful ride and at times it was hard to keep focused on the road because of the fall colors. I have a tendency to cruise at 90 or so when I'm out in sparsely populated areas which runs at odds with trying to enjoy the view. That road ends at 7 near Austin Junction at 26.

We stopped there to talk about trees. I've lived in Oregon most of my life and had no idea there was a needle tree that turned yellow in fall and lost it's foliage. Of course that's also because the trees in question don't grow in Western Oregon where I live. The Tamarack (Western Larch) looks like a fir tree to my uneducated eyes so I though all these firs everywhere were dying! Nope, just seasonal stuff. The ride back to John Day on 26 was uneventful. So much uneventful that I practiced my weave and swerve on the way into the city, then spotted a parked OSP cruised. Oops. But he didn't light me up. So that was nice.

Over dinner we looked at maps again and also the weather report. We were attempting to get in this ride before the fall rains hit and that had been a good plan up until the weather forecast moved ahead. Once again we got up early and headed out as soon as it was light. It was cold and my heated gloves didn't work. I'd worn my summer perforated leathers because I'm still in summer mode, along with not bringing my rain covers and liner for my luggage. At least I had my Icon over jacket which blocks the wind and rain decently.

Out of John Day on 395 we got flashed by an OSP but not pulled. Everyone goes 80 out there anyways. Highway 19 is pretty great canyon carving up into Kimberly to top off the tanks, they have premium there. Then 19 on in to Fossil where we took a short break but didn't need to top off on their 87 octane. The funny thing is how many flocks of turkeys we saw. Paul almost ran one of them over. Lots of Does also, but all the Bucks are nowhere to be seen.

Due to a communication breakdown I ran Fossil highway ahead of Paul and only got stuck behind other vehicles once. It was great and clear. Then I ran up the twisties to Shaniko and back where I ran into Paul and said goodbye. He went north to Maupin where his van was waiting and I headed west towards home. 

Just past Sisters in the mountains I hit the rain. It was awful and misty with poor vis. At least my heated jacket worked but I realized I was a dummy for not riding with my pinlock visor, I couldn't see jack shit for two hours of riding through the mountains. Thankfully the road stripes are visible.

It's time for the yearly service on the Ducati, so that'll happen in a little bit. The problem with going on a trip is that the day after you start thinking about where to go next. If gas wasn't an issue... somewhere south. Like the mountains outside of San Diego maybe, those look cool on the Butler map.