I've been pretty busy the last two years trying to grow Wuta Joy Candy, especially during the summers. This year however I carved out some time to go on a motorcycle trip for a week and a half. So I started making some preparation to the neglected 750. It got new coils and fresh vacuum plugs, new belts, new plugs, new grips, I installed the spacers in the suspension to raise the ride height, but the foot peg lowering kit didn't come in time for the trip. It also got a wash for the first time in years. I had wanted to address some other issues before the trip, but ready or not the time came and what was done would have to be good enough.
My dad showed up at my house Wednesday night towing two motorcycles behind a pickup. We got his and his friends bike unloaded, his two dogs unloaded, and the 7 or 8 pictures unloaded that my wife bought the last time we were visiting my dad, but couldn't fit in the car.
The next morning we headed off from Klamath Falls Oregon in the cooler than usual 45 degree weather heading east into the "out there" with the sun in our eyes. Eastern Oregon has a whole lot of not very much "out there". It's definitely what I would call the open road. The decent sized towns are about 100 miles apart, so we got gas at each town we came to. Our route took us to Lakeview, then north and then east past lots of BLM land and a alkali lake, and some big horned sheep until we got to Burns about 260 miles later.
Lunch was had, and then we fed the bikes. One thing about Oregon is that the roads are pretty good for the most part. The downside is they are all posted at 55. We rode most of the way at 65-75 but the higher speeds are hard on Ted's KLR 650. The Monster of course is loafing along at 65 and my Dad's old K100 has no trouble going as fast as needed.
Eventually we made it over to Idaho and got on the interstate for a short while before getting off to make our way over to highway 56 and McCall. This was about the time it started raining.
It was a good thing I had just cleaned my visor again with the foaming glass cleaner and the cloth I brought along for that purpose because it made the rain bead off. And that was fine because the rain kept coming down harder and harder and soon I was soaked. My feet were sloshing in the boots.
As we started heading up highway 56 the rain let up and finally stopped, but it had caused numerous rock and mud slides some worse than others. We had put in nearly 500 miles with about 40 miles to go when we came upon a gaggle of cars and trucks at a turnout. It seems that just a few miles up the road there was a large mudslide that had covered the road completely for about 300 feet. It was then that I noticed how the river that had previously been crystal clear just a few miles back, was now a raging torrent of mud that seemed to be getting higher. It didn't look like it was going to top the road and flood the canyon we were in but I kept my eye on it for a while.
It was 7:30 at night and the prospect of back tracking 50 miles and then going another 95 miles up the road another way just wasn't very appealing. So we decided to head back to Boise and spring for a hotel, and after some more adventure that I don't feel like writing about now, by 11:30 I was in a warm dry bed and turning out the lights.
The next morning was bright and sunny after the hotel breakfast, Ted and I donned our mostly dry riding gear and headed up the interstate for US 95. My Dad had gotten separated from us last night in Boise and I hoped we could meet up with him at the resort. After another 150 miles some of it very scenic I finally arrived at the condo. Ted and I agreed to split up halfway there, because he just wanted to ride slower on the KLR.
Much to my relief my Dad had arrived already, so we talked about our misadventures of the night before. Tomorrow we plan to do some exploring here and there, maybe visit some hot springs and see the lake.
