Finally did it! I didn’t think it was going to happen this year, but I made up my mind (at the urging of my wonderful wife) to just do it yesterday. I got up on Sunday morning at 6 am, left the house around 7 am, stopped for gas in Bend, restroom break in Sweet Home and arrived at Mo’s just before noon.
Would’ve been there at least a half hour sooner, but I rode 34 all the way to Waldport–and that adds at least another 25 miles to the ride. Was worth it, though as the stretch of 34 between Philomath and Waldport is epic–especially the hairpins going up Mary’s Peak.
I got a window seat at Mo’s annex and conned the waitress into shooting a couple of back-lit photos of me right before digging into a bowl of chowder and “home baked” bread. I got an extra order for the ride back, stopped at a candy store for saltwater taffy and dark chocolate sea foam, then rode over to Nye Beach for a couple of foggy shots of the Kawi with what should’ve been the Pacific Ocean in the background. Oh well. After the photo op, I hopped back on and rode all the way to Sweet Home before stopping for guess with about 280 miles showing on the odometer. A fill up followed by some quick math revealed that I’d gotten 60ish mpg on the first tank. Not bad at all.
From there I made a couple of stops to let traffic go by and get water–it got really hot and I never found a good spot to take off my pant liners, so I was roasting a bit. The ride up Tombstone Pass was great fun–especially since (after stopping to let traffic get a few minutes ahead–I had it all to myself. Got over the pass and almost to Sisters and found myself in a long bumper to bumper line of traffic doing 65 mph. That didn’t feel real good, so I pulled off again, got a drink and hopped back on the bike for the rest of the trip to Bend, arriving at about 5 pm…just in time for dinner (waffles and bacon, mmmmmmmm good).
The trip proved to be just the moto-therapy session I needed. Thanks for another great ride, Kawi. Thanks, wife-o-mine for pushing me out the door.
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