wanderer

I rented a BMW R1200RT for my southeastern trip from New Orleans through the Tail of the Dragon to Orlando and Miami (trip report). I certainly enjoyed it. "refined, not lusty like the Tracer 900" was my summary. I could see picking it over the Tracer, but I'm happy with the lusty triple!

I made it home to San Diego just before 4pm. The roster of nights' lodgings: Los Banos CA Brookings OR Portland OR Portland OR W Seattle WA Republic WA Missoula MT Enterprise OR Lakeview OR Bishop CA new miles on odometer: 3752. I'll post a little more later. I may have a worthy picture or two. or maybe not.

three car garage is the only reason I constantly think of getting a new house.

That's awful. Best wishes for a complete recovery as quickly as possible.

Yes, these withstood the torrents quite well.

yeah, my timing was unfortunately off. Beautiful the day before I arrive and the day after I leave.

So a quick update. Wednesday 9/22 - San Diego to Los Banos, 396 miles. Late afternoon start, after work. Mostly notable for inability to get a hotel room at Harris Ranch. or Best Western, or Travel Lodge, or Motel 6. I had figured it is a Wednesday night in September, who needs to book ahead? I was told it was the harvest and many migrant workers were in the hotels. So after 30 minutes of looking around, another hour of riding north to Los Banos. Thursday, Los Banos to Brookings OR, 519 miles. Mostly notable for the smokey CA36. and the Incidents :). Friday, Brookings to Portland, 348 miles. Nice ride up the coast, and cut over on OR34 to Corvallis and I-5. Nice relaxing ride on 34. Sunday, Portland to Seattle WA, 174 miles. Uneventful, except that threatening weather is on the way. no weather on the ride, but dumping rain 2 hours after arrival. Monday, Seattle to Republic, 349 miles. With heavy rain threatening, I decided to forgo WA20 "North Cascades Highway". I chose I-90 E to get across the mountains into the drier areas as quickly and safely as possible. Still caught a lot of rain. Overcast and grey the whole day. Side trip to Leavenworth, strange little Bavarian village. Nice, but not the time for brats or beer. Coffee and nap. Then up to meet the WA20 east of the Cascades (more dumping rain along the way). A wrong turn, left near Pateros, had me join 20 at Twisp for more mileage than planned. Then 20 all the way to Republic WA for the night. Damp and sprinkly at Republic. Tuesday, Republic to Missoula MT, 394 miles. Damp, some sprinkles. I stopped in Coeur D'Alene to ponder the next step ... responsibly turn south or adventurously continue east. I chose east, and right as I was leaving the whole eastern sky was black with storm clouds, while the west was sunny. Ominous. I almost turned around. Much dumping rain on the western side of the Bitterroot Range, but it started to clear up closer to Missoula. Wednesday, Missoula to Enterprise OR, 309 miles. Best riding of the trip so far. Late start. With a late (noon) checkout, leisurely morning with a run and breakfast, I stalled to let things warm up. I was worried about snow or ice on the US12 over Lolo Pass. While there was fresh snow on Lolo Peak, there was none near the road, and I don't think there was any ice, but for the first half I was very cautious on anything wet. US12 was a beautiful and curvy motorcycle road, along the river. I had a wonderful nap on the river. WA129/OR3 was a beautiful twisty road through golden (California like except for the interspersed pines) hills and mountains. Incredible curves through canyons. This helpful sign begins US12 to Lolo Pass. Along US12 Overlooking WA129 OR3 approaching Enterprise. That catches us up. Weather has been a theme - checking, rechecking, monitoring temperatures in fear of ice. but it has worked out so far. Since I left Seattle, I have left every morning not knowing where I would lay my head that night. Late in the season, it has been easy to find a room everywhere after that first night. I have to make my way southwards now.

Thank you! Wow.

I had 3 "incidents" on SR 36 today. #1 - a quick right left just over a rise that put me in the left lane. these scare me, second time I've done that. I have to figure out what I am missing. I think that because it is a quick right-left kink in the road, what I see before i get over the rise is that it looks straightened out. #2 - single lane, escorted closure for road maintenance. They seem to be dumping dirt and rocks on the hillside, putting much loose dirt on the road. They quickly bulldozed the larger rocks, sprayed it to keep the dust down, then escorted us through. Of course, what was left was a very thin layer of mud. I totally lost traction for a moment at 25mph. Must have hit a dry patch just in time to save myself. #3 - some guy in a white pickup truck coming the other way decided my lane was his lane around a curve. Not super close, not a very blind curve, but fairly freaky just the same.

hey, that was me!!

My day for WA SR20 was supposed to be Monday, but it looks miserable for rain and cold. I may need to find another way east from Seattle.

I made my first significant destination, Brookings OR. Took I-5 all the way to Red Bluff, SR 36 west. It's my second time on SR36, and yes it is pretty damned nice! The eastern portion of SR36 is smokey, not for the faint-of-lung. but clear sky awaits to the west! I spent an entirely inappropriate amount of time over the last couple of days readjusting my mirror and dealing with "can't get my mirrors tight". I brought tools, and use them for only one damn thing and that is the mirrors.

do you need to enhance your user name!? Are you in San Diego, or the Skokie IL the profile says?

I saw an FJ-09 in Julian today, back country San Diego. About 11:15am. At the Julian Beer Company. I saw it on the move, and later parked right in front of our dining spot. I'd have said hi but couldn't identify the rider. I was caging - getting much needed food and beer after a trail run out of Banning. Raise your hand if it was you.

Sasquatch!

I have Sidi Armada Gore (RevZilla link) which are very comfortable, lugged soles, good for a short hike, and withstood torrential rains. The removable shin guard is a bit of a gimmick (I'll betcha a beer you either leave them on all the time or leave them off all the time!! I left mine off), and I didn't like the lack of hard shin protection (even the removable piece is soft). When the soles wore out, I had them resoled at a crappy cobbler and it didn't stick (literally). I had him redo it and again it didn't stick. At this point I did two things: ordered new boots, and tried a different cobbler. The new cobbler got the soles to stay on, so far. But now I don't wear them as much. New boots are Sidi Canyon Gore (RevZilla link), which have some hard shin protection. Love 'em. Exact same lug soles, good for a little walking. They've served well in a little rain, but I don't have the same torrential experiences to refer to. There is a sizing thing, my Armadas were EU42 and perfect, the Canyons EU42 and too small. Just a slight squeeze that I didn't really mind, but I eventually realized my painful arthritic toes after two hours of riding were because of the squeeze. So I bought some new EU43s and have been trying unsuccessfully to sell the EU42s. With this upcoming trip to OR & WA, maybe I will get some more wet experience with the Canyons! If you are interested in used Sidi Canyon Gores, EU42 (and maybe running on the small side of EU42), in good shape with about 1.5 years and 11k miles on them, I'd sell them for $100 plus shipping! ($330 new)

Damn. This will be the first time I ride in Oregon. Figured I'd check up the details of that lane filtering bill the legislature passed back in May, only to learn that I had missed out on the update and the governor vetoed it! Shittles.

Yep, thanks. In this case, I need an initial fast burst to get me far from home if I am to make it to less familiar territory quickly enough! Leaving in the late afternoon/evening on Wednesday and arriving Brookings on Thursday is going to be a long haul!

Thanks so far! Definitely the season is late, I get to pack my cold weather and rain gear!

Makes sense! I follow a zero tolerance policy on riding after drinking, so yeah, always good to put down the side stand for the night within walking distance of the pub.

Work delayed and delayed me, I missed August, but I am finally escaping next week. It starts with the long fast get-it-out-o-the-way jet up the coast. I'll leave San Diego Wednesday (the equinox!!) afternoon/evening for some quality I-5 time. Thursday landing in Brookings OR. Friday afternoon arrive in Portland to visit my brother. Sunday head up to Seattle to visit an old friend. Leave Seattle Monday. Then it is uncertain, but head inland for solo days heading back down to arrive home on Saturday. Not sure exactly where the heck I am going. I've always wanted to spend some time in the eastern parts of WA, OR, get to ID. Maybe Spokane, Coeur d'Alene, Pullman, down towards Boise, then back over towards Modoc and down the Sierras. Originally, I thought it would be cool to get as far as Yellowstone, but I think time limits and weather make that an unpleasant objective. Unfortunately, much of northwestern CA is on fire. It does look like I could use CA SR36 to make the I-5 to coast transition, staying south of Hayfork. So, any thoughts on the eastern WA, OR and ID areas, let me know! I have not had much opportunity to visit. I usually plan 500 mile days and half regret it, so I am thinking to try to limit most days to 350 planned miles plus digressions. Hikes or trail runs along the way would be nice (in reality, that is something I always think, but then in practice gear swapping from moto to run to sweaty-moto is a big psych barrier).

What did you learn!?

me too!

When we went through in Aug 2018 I remember I was much more comfortable with the faceshield closed. Opening it was like aiming a blow drier at my face.

yeah mine looks similar.