From: carlp@frigg.isc-br.com (Carl Paukstis)
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Subject: Coast Ride / Sibling Revelry
Summary: Another boring tour report
Date: 24 Jul 92 05:05:22 GMT
Organization: ISC-Bunker Ramo, An Olivetti Company


                  A Report of Sibling Revelry
 
 My sister Karen, the nurse  from  Dallas,  came  to  visit.   She
 hadn't seen my new Harley yet, but was eager to ride.  In the bad
 old days, before she took responsibility for her own life and put
 herself  through  nursing school, she hung out with bikers a lot.
 Her  ol'  man  for  a  couple  of  years  was  a  serious   work-
 construction-summertime-and-work-on-the-harley-in-the-living-room
 -wintertime  kinda  biker.   She's  ridden  many  a mile  on  the  
 back  of  a Hog,  and asked me to take her on a trip and camp out 
 for a few days.
 
 Now, Rhonda-my-ex-girlfriend wasn't terribly thrilled  with  this
 idea,  but she allowed as how it might be permissible.  Karen and
 I had the usual sort of childhood three-years-apart  fights,  but
 we  got  a lot closer in late teenagehood, and we miss each other
 living half a country apart. Four-five days camping on  Bill  the
 Lowrider ought to be just right.
 
 I considered Canada; lots  of  great  places  to  go  from  here.
 Somewhere, somebody mentioned the Oregon Coast, and I knew it was
 right.  Some of  the  great  scenery  in  the  world,  plenty  of
 facilities,  and  close  enough.   Karen  arrived on Delta Monday
 night 7/13, spent Tuesday resting up, and we  departed  Wednesday
 early.
 
 Karen wasn't exactly conditioned for long rides, so  we  made  an
 early  rest stop, then on to Kennewick for gas and lunch with the
 Colonel.  The stretch of US 395 from Ritzville to  Tri-Cities  is
 the pits.  Wheatfields are fine for the first 10 minutes, but the
 next  100  are  a  bit  repetitive.   Zooming  along  I-84,  with
 occasional  scenic  detours to US 30 for waterfalls and trees, we
 hit Portland in time for the evening rush  traffic.   This  is  a
 rush hour?  Jeez, Spokane is this bad!
 
 Chris Perez had given us excellent directions to the  Desmodrome,
 but I didn't handle the finish quite right.  No matter, we phoned
 and dropped right in.  Chris's hospitality and conversation  were
 excellent,  the  beer  at the brew pub was fine, and the children
 were  well-behaved.   Next  morning  we  met  Jim  Ormond(?)  for
 breakfast and headed for the coast.
 
 Not far along US 30, we found the  Trojan  Nuclear  Power  Plant.
 I'd  never  seen one up close, and we decided to stop for a tour.
 Now I'm generally in favor of nuclear power, but the  guy  giving
 the  info/tour  couldn't say two paragraphs without the words "no
 pollution"; this was a bit much even for  me.   Trojan  gets  its
 name  from  the Trojan Powder Company, which operated a munitions
 plant on the site in the WWII ear and  from  whom  the  land  was
 purchased.  Interesting tour.
 
 We made it to Astoria by lunchtime,  and  stopped  at  the  first
 available  view  of  the  ocean.  Had to formally say "Hi" to her
 ocean for Barbara, my secretary.  US 101 along the  Oregon  Coast
 passes  a  State  Park  or  Forest Service park or county wayside
 about every 5 miles.   The  scenery  varies  from  sandy  beaches
 through  incredible  rocks/caves  to  lonesome  lighthouses.  The
 highway is wall-to-wall Winnebago, at least this  time  of  year.
 
 Some time along the way, we decided that neither of us was really
 into  camping  -  motel  prices  aren't  even  bad,  (~$50)   and
 availability was good at 4:00.  We shipped the tent, one sleeping
 bag, and dirty clothes home from Lincoln City on Friday,  in  the
 biggest box the Post Office had on hand, for about $10 total.
 
 Tillamook Thursday night, North Bend/Coos Bay Friday night.   Far
 West  Cycle  in  North Bend claims to be the "Mostest Westest" HD
 dealer in the lower 48.  A polaroid of Karen and Bill and me  now
 adorns  their  wall.   Leaving  there,  we  turned  inland toward
 Roseburg in the fog which soon burned off.  Roseburg  to  Diamond
 Lake  along  OR  138 is a Great Road.  We looped Crater Lake, and
 planned to spend the night in Bend.
 
 A word of advice:  don't plan on hunting for a motel room in Bend
 at 7:00 on a beautiful Saturday night in July.  We had dinner and
 forged northward.  No rooms in Redmond or Madras,  either.   It's
 getting  dark  now,  and  it's  70-some  miles to The Dalles, but
 there's not a lot of choice.  I'll bet this road (US 97) is great
 in  the  daytime,  but  I've  been  driving for 10 hours and it's
 twisty and unfamiliar.  We see lots of lights over to  the  West,
 and  as we get closer the clouds across the sunset sky ahead turn
 out to be smoke!  Those lights are (as  we  found  out  later)  a
 990-acre  forest/grass  fire,  just West and South of Maupin.  We
 worried about being able to get through, but needlessly.
 
 In The  Dalles  about  11:00,  there  are  no  rooms.   They  say
 everything  to Portland is full.  No choice but to run along I-84
 East, our direction home, and hope.  Driving  at  night  is  much
 easier on the freeway.  The third or fourth exit with a "Lodging"
 sign is Arlington, about 50 more miles from The Dalles.  We get a
 room about 12:30.
 
 Sunday brings heat.  We've had beautiful weather so  far,  mostly
 temps  in  the  70s  and  lower 80s, no rain, partly cloudy.  Now
 we're crossing desert and  wheatfield  in  the  high  90s.   It's
 uncomfortable  but  not  significant;  we're  home by 6:00.  
 
 1513 miles in 5 days; we're tired but undaunted. Rhonda  is still
 speaking  to  me  after she finds out I did remember to get her a
 big windsock from the Coast, so I'll count the trip as a big  net
 success.
--
Carl Paukstis, RRR&RSG           | "Good men must not obey the laws too well"
 ISC-Bunker Ramo / Spokane, WA   |    -- Ralph Waldo Emerson
 Phone: +1 509 927-5439          |  
 Mail: carlp@frigg.isc-br.com    |  My employer accepts no responsibility...
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles