I slept great. The first thing I did after crawling out of bed at 6:00 AM was look out the window to see if the pavement was dry. It was. After showering and getting dressed, it was raining like crazy outside. I threw my jacket on and crossed the parking lot to the motel restaurant for some breakfast.
The grub of choice was a “Pan San” — buttermilk pancakes with two eggs in between and four strips of bacon on the side. It was really good but made me feel like crawling back into bed from all the carbs. The rain has stopped so I hurried up the packing process and got the bike loaded and ready to ride. I had already filled the gas tank the day before, so I was ready to hit the road.
My departure was at 8:30, just like every other day of this trip. Within two minutes of hitting the road it began to rain again. I had rain at least 90% of the entire trip home.
I chose to take a slightly different route home. Instead of heading east on hwy 38 from Reedsport to Drain, I continued farther north up hwy 101 along the coast to Waldport. There were several really slow cars that I had to pass. Some were going 40 mph in a 55 mph zone. Do they really think they’re being safe? My insurance agent once told me that there are twice as many accidents caused by people driving 10 mph under the limit than by people driving 20 mph over the limit. I can see why. They’re disruptive.
The rugged coastline near the Sea Lion Caves is a great stretch to ride. The scenery is very noteworthy. It was windy and raining fairly hard, however, so my attention was on the road, not the view. I also had to stop briefly for some road construction.
Once in Waldport I pulled into a cafe to rest and warm up. The 50-something waitress was very nice and chatted with me quite a bit about motorcycles, having ridden a lot herself. My toast and coffee was $2.50 and I gave her a $2.50 tip. Dry and warmed up, I was ready to head east.
The road from Waldport to Corvallis, hwy 34, is a fun ride, a variety of curves and good road conditions with very few cars. I had to stop and wait while a crew trimmed some large maple trees overhanging the road, which was interesting to watch. Fortunately it wasn’t raining at the moment so I wasn’t sitting there getting soaked during the delay. By the time I got to Corvallis, however, I was fairly cold once again and getting hungry. I stopped at a Subway sandwich shop just in time to beat the Monday mid-day rush.
Just before crossing over I-5 I gassed up and cleaned the road grime off my wind screen. I continued east to Lebanon, but took the wrong road north. I wanted to get on the highway taking me north to Scio but ended up heading toward Albany. I turned right onto the first reasonable looking road I found, hoping to cut across to the other highway, assuming it paralleled the road I was on. It didn’t. After a 10 minute detour I wound up right back in Lebanon again. I found the right road and headed north again.
Once again I found myself behind really slow cagers. I forced myself not to get too hot-headed as I poked along behind them, only passing when it was safe. I was very mindful of cops and never went more than 10 over the limit. The rain was getting heavier and it just wasn’t safe to go too fast anyway.
I never stopped again until I got home. There were several especially heavy rain showers near Stayton and Silverton, then again in Estacada.
The trip total was 1,260 miles, putting my bike’s odometer at 11,930 in just over a year of ownership. The best part of the trip was the loop from Eureka to Weaverville on hwy 36 and back on hwy 299. The worst part was the cold and wet ride home on the last day.
