2006-07-24T19:17:00.000-07:00

Boise to The Dalles was a long, hot 380 mile ride after Dayville. We got fuel in Nampa, had an excellent breakfast & service at the Starlite Cafe in Vale, gas in Mt. Vernon, a butt break east of Spray, and topped off our tanks in Condon enroute to the Super 8 motel in The Dalles.

Covered Wagon Viewpoint east of Prairie City. A
couple of tourists pulled up, and offered to take a pic. Grumbler on the left with Jack to the right behind our steeds in the shade.

Covered Wagon Viewpoint looking west towards the mountains by Prairie City.

John Day Highway was an excellent ride going northwest from near Dayville to Fossil. We should've stopped at the Service Creek Stage Stop, which had several sportbikes parked out front, north of the SR-207 jct on SR-19. Got very windy as we got closer to The Dalles.

2006-07-24T11:28:00.000-07:00

The Dalles to Redmond was an absolutely gorgeous 330 mile day although it certainly was windy out until we got south of Hood River.

Historic Columbia River Highway turnout slightly west of The Dalles looking northwest towards the Columbia Gorge in Washington.

Rowena Overlook with view going east towards The Dalles and Columbia River. It was virtually deserted other than myself, Jack, and Mike. Very windy up here!

Rowena Crest can be read (the larger text, that is) by clicking on the pic.

Rowena Loop is a superbly designed and paved winding road going up to the crest. Couldn't get all of it with one photo.

Rowena Loop close-up. This road is on the cover of Motorcycle Journeys Through the Pacific Northwest by Bruce Hansen.

Hood River Bridge west of Koberg Beach SRA is a toll bridge. We could see rain clouds coming up.

Koberg Beach SRA has a fern grotto in the parking lot. ;^)

Mt. Hood, 11,240' high, to the south from Mt. Hood Hwy (SR-35) in Upper Hood River Valley near the town of Mount Hood. Had to stop in the 'hood for a pic.

Huckleberry Inn in Government Camp where we had some breakfast, and lots of coffee that cold morning before getting back on southbound US-26 to just past Clear Lake.

Timothy Lake wasn't on the agenda, but we took the wrong fork on Skyline Rd (NF-42) to Timothy Lake Rd (NF-57). Well worth the detour to the Hoodview campsite as it's very picturesque here.

Timothy Lake at the boat launch area was a nice background for our cruisers. ;^)

We returned to Skyline Rd and had a most excellent one-lane ride to the jct of southbound Clackamas River Rd. Was enjoying the ride too much to stop for pics.

Breitenbush River by Breitenbush Road (NF-46) enroute to Detroit Lake.

Breitenbush River bridge where we took a butt break.

Detroit Lake Marina at the jct of SR-22/NF-46 where we stopped for fuel and refreshments. This was a nice place to hang out at!

Detroit Lake Marina store has a patio overlooking the marina where we enjoyed some cold ones for awhile. We then cut southwest on Santiam Highway (SR-22) to Quartzville Rd (NF-11).

Quartzville Road Back Country Byway meanders along the emerald depths of Green Peter Reservoir and the clear, cool waters of Quartzville Creek National Wild and Scenic River. This is a corridor of old-growth and maturing forest, accented by rock outcroppings, huckleberry patches, wildflowers, and parked motorcycles. ;^)

Quartzville Road Overlook at the summit with view out to the west. This was a gnarly road at times thanks to frost heaves, potholes, rocks, and cracks.

Quartzville Road Bridge spanning Quartzville Creek where we took a butt break.

Green Peter Lake is located in the beautiful Willamette Valley on the Middle Santiam River along Quartville Road.

Green Peter Lake bridge that connected from Quartville Road to a southbound dirt road.

McKenzie Bridge General Store. We bypassed McKenzie Pass while on SH-126 to come out here for fuel and food only to find nothing available unless we rode another couple of miles west. Took a short butt break here before riding back to the McKenzie Highway (SH-242) jct.

McKenzie Pass is loaded with lava rocks quite a bit larger than our cruisers. I think that's Scott Mountain (6116') in the background. It was quite a ride up from Deadhorse Grade!

Three Sisters Viewpoint near summit of McKenzie Pass with Three Cruisers in the foreground. :)

Dee Wright Observatory was built from lava rocks, and has a spiral lava path and staircase that climbs all the way up to the top.

Dee Wright Observatory from the top looking down towards the parking lot and forest surrounded by lava rocks. Duh.

McKenzie Pass is at an elevation of 5325' and, trust me, it's much easier to navigate this road while eastbound. We descended down this road to Sisters for gas.

Sisters is a pretty cool town, and we stumbled across the Ski Inn seen in this pic for supper. Since it was really nice out, we ate outside on the patio.

Sisters. A final shot of our rides before departing the Ski Inn for Redmond where we called it a late night at the Super 8.

2006-07-23T10:25:00.000-07:00

Redmond to Boise was a 350 mile day with ballistic temperatures from Brogan Hill Summit to Boise. We pretty much had to hustle home that day.

Eagle Rock on SR-380 (Paulina Hwy) is located a little more than halfway between Prineville and Post.

Post consists of a store, two fuel pumps, post office, and saloon plus attached living quarters. It's yours for only $525K. :)

Post is the Geographical Center of Oregon. The owner of that store used to own a '78 FLH1200, and said that bikers have been coming to the smallish saloon on the right for years and years.

We got back on our sleds, and blasted east past the small farming town of Paulina (which had several motorcycles parked in front of a cafe) out onto Izee Rd.

US-395 from the jct of Izee Rd to Canyon City was absolutely terrific! See Oregon Motorcyclist for more information about that road.

We made our last gas stop in Prairie City and continued to Austin House for some refreshments only to, much to our dismay, find it closed that day. Took a butt break in Unity then stopped for a meal at the Starlite Cafe in Vale on our way back to Boise. The heat was brutal!

Oregon Loop - July 2006