Ducati Monster Forum

Hey all the wife and I are riding up to Portland. Our route can be found here:
http://tinyurl.com/68tbx4

We are riding our monsters and are mostly all set, but I wanted to post up for two reasons.

1. I wanted to brag about our awesome 2 week vacation.

2. If anyone has advice on the route and the roads and where  [leo] like to hang out  [roll]

We leave in 4 days, and I will bore you all with the tale when we return :)

Good luck and take pictures!

This is something I really hope to do sometime in the future with a significant other that enjoys motorcycling. I'm also jealous of your 2 weeks off :P

Awesome. I would love to hear your thoughts of the route, as my partner and I are planning to ride up to Grants Pass, then Portland in mid September. Please be sure to post up pictures and how well the trip went for you two.

Post up in PNW local section. They can give tips and such as well and might even meet up with you.

As you get to the northern boundary of the Humboldt Redwoods SP (South Fork), get off the slab for a few miles and ride through the Avenue of the Giants.   [thumbsup]

Wow, nice trip  [clap] [clap] [clap]  You also might consider going up Hwy 97 through Bend, to The Dalles, then West on Hwy 84 to Portland.  It's longer, but more rural & twisty.  Not sure about the distance between gas stations.  I've driven it several times & it's nice.

If you get the chance, hit CA128 out to HWY1 thru the Mendocino Mtns, and OR34 from the coast inland. Absolutely amazing!! I do the haul from San Fran to PDX to visit my son, and it's always great riding.

Oh! Definitely hit Avenue of the Giants, just north of Garberville, CA. It's 70 miles of 2 lane through the giant redwoods, and it parallels and crosses over the 101 for it's entire length. It's a great, kinda going the same way, detour to take. There's a great little log cabin general store/sandwich shop about half way along the road.

Might want to buy a couple of extra memory cards before ya go...you'll fill em up!

I'll PM you my number...I've got lots of contacts along the way if you run into a snag.

That sounds so great!  [thumbsup] Can't wait to see the trip report....

I'm headed up to Portland area myself with my son next week, except we're taking the train.  ;D

Wow! thanks for all the suggestions :)
We've done the avenue of the giants before in a cage, but I am really looking forward to it on the monster.

I am brining the Camera and hope to take lots of photos.  We'll be stopping often since the Lovely Wife hasn't done any long distance on her bike and are only riding 200ish miles a day leaving LOTS of time to stop and take pictures and enjoy the ride.

Very cool. I'm going to have to do this the next time I head up Oregon-ways. Or maybe just for the hell of it. Have a great time!


Definitely. Beautiful area, especially going west on 128 through the forest, and popping out right at the ocean.

On the way back, you may want to take a detour off 29 between St. Helena and Napa (it tends to get trafficky), head east across 128, then come down 121, which will take you back to where you want to be going.

I've done SF to Portland more times than I can count.

Johnny  [leo] Is waiting for you in SHASTA COUNTY. Guaranteed. Right behind any over pass, or waiting on the on ramp radar down field.
The 2 speeding tickets I've gotten were both there. Especially in that piece of 5 you do there.

Ashland usually not speed traps but  [leo] floating around, keep the eyes wide [roll].
They like to pull over trucks. Like, all of them. Oregon tickets cost more than you want to know.
Kalamath Falls, - not sure been there twice - but I'm going to guess you'd better watch out there too. It's a major cross roads for a lot of weirdness. (trains, cargo trucks etc, cross country travelers...) Amazing in the mountains on the way West from there. It'll get cool in the afternoon between Kalamath Falls and Ashland. Scarf in pocket.

Should be spectacular from there to Portland. I love that ride. Just watch out for big rigs. Lots of those on I5.  :o Oh ya and lumpy highway  :o from the trucks. Keep your hands fresh.
You want to gas up in Ashland which is GORGEOUS. You don't want to stop at all after there through Medford and Central Point, you'll throw up in your mouth a little if you do. That is the armpit of Oregon. Just hold your breathe until Grants Pass. Then its amazing again.

I did it on the Monster in summer 2006...at extremely high speed, of course  [evil] Excellent ride.

Also, consider Highway 199 between Crescent City and Grants Pass (http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=Crescent+City,+CA&geocode=&dirflg=&daddr=Grants+Pass,+OR&f=d&sll=41.762861,-124.200439&sspn=0.055315,0.11055&ie=UTF8&z=9). Excellent, rural twisties, part of it through the Jedediah Smith Wilderness.

+1 to 199 between Crescent City and Grant's Pass.

Oh, and get get used to Skippy McMethfeind pumping your gas for you. It's illegal to pump your own gas in Oregon.

Excellent trip!  [thumbsup]

If you can manage it, I'd definitely recommend routing past Crater Lake. I rode through Susanville up there many years ago and it was spectacular. (Crater Lake, not Susanville, which is hot and flat.)

I heard that most of the time they just hand you the nozzle and let you do it yourself, I know in a car they pump the gas, but man that's going to be weird on a bike, especially since normally I don't get off my bike... it's like he'll be sitting in my lap pumping the gas  [laugh] [laugh]

...and then straddling the tank to get your visor with the squeegee.  [laugh]

Same price as here and cheeper + free service. Thank you. I wish it was here. There are gas stations that are 100% war veteran run. I think that's awesome.

+ 1 on Crater Lake. Spectacular/ life changing. But if you follow everyone's little 'must sees,' the trip will rival "Long Way Around."  [laugh]

Ah yeah, well I will do this trip a few more times so I am taking notes, both the Lovely Wife and I have family in Oregon, so it's a frequent trip for us. 

If it was just me I think we'd be doing a lot more miles, but I am trying to keep the Lady from killing me at the end of the day!  [cheeky]

I wish you a safe and a happy trip. Enjoy!!  [thumbsup]

i like portland, but i LOVE busts (http://www.bayarearidersforum.com/forums/images/smilies/boobies.gif)

When you get to Portland, you gotta visit Motocorsa located at 2170 NW Wilson St, Portland, OR 97210.  This place rocks!  I have visited a majority of the Ducati dealerships in the West and have to say that this dealership is probably the best!  Lots of bikes, coffee bar, lots of apparel, cool displays, music, moto racing on TVs, and accessories galore.  People are super friendly.  Seems that the further I visit from California, the people get nicer.  Californians are nice.  I'm born and raised, but people further out are even nicer.

+1  There's more crack in the water. Or less crack or something. I'm always astounded at how friendly people are in Portland. I get chatted up for 10 min.s buying muffins. Genuinely friendly intelligent people. I think it has to do with many things but the lack of density is huge. Though there are 2 million people around the metro area, you never get this feeling like you have to kill someone to get a parking space or a coffee. Everything seems easy getting around. The train around town is free. Flowers bloom out of control. Its green always. Like that.