Blue's Big Blog......The Road Trip Section

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Locopez
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#11 Unread post by Locopez »

wow great pics...thanks for posting...

ride safe!!!
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sv-wolf
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#12 Unread post by sv-wolf »

Great pics and excellent reading, as usual, Blues.

The panorama of the valley inland from Astoria is just breathtaking. I want to eat it!

Cheers

Richard
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blues2cruise
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#13 Unread post by blues2cruise »

THE OREGON COAST

If you have the need to feel insignificant on this planet, then I recommend visiting the west coast. The Pacific Coast Highway (#101) has enough turns and undulating hills to make the ride interesting even if the scenery wasn't spectacular.

The scenery along this route is stunning, awesome, magnificant, inspiring, spectacular...whatever adjective you could come up with could not describe the ever changing beauty to be seen and experienced.

Dr_bar and I had planned to make certain destinations by a certain time, but it never did come together. Although the mileage may not seem difficult to achieve, the constant stops to admire the scenery and chat to people took up a lot of time. We usually ended up getting into our destination around dark time.

We were very fortunate in that for the whole 1-1/2 half weeks we were ridng, we had only about 4 hours of rain. We did have to exercise some caution for awhile after the rains due to wet roads, but it wasn't long before they dried up.

We also were blessed with reasonably clear skies. The Oregon coast is famous for fog. We saw a little bit of fog, but nothing to prevent us from seeing the miracle of the Oregon coast, however, there were some misty mornings and that is reflected in some of the photos.

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blues2cruise
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#14 Unread post by blues2cruise »

My pictures are a poor reflection of the reality of the Oregon Coast. If you could see the rocks, the ocean, the waves and the sand in all its glory, you would see what I mean about my puny inconsequential pictures.
However, they serve as a good reminder....and as an incentive to go again. And yes, I would love to do that ride again.

More of the coast.....

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#15 Unread post by KarateChick »

Those ocean/coast pictures are fantastic! Love em!
Ya right, :wink: there are only 2 kinds of bikes: It's a Ninja... look that one's a Harley... oh there's a Ninja... Harley...Ninja...

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#16 Unread post by blues2cruise »

There are a few reasons why we were always getting into the towns late.

Dr_bar: "Look at the time, girl."
Me: "Yep, I know, I'll be quick."
Dr-bar: "We're going to run out of daylight."
Me: "OK, I've got the picture I need. No more stopping." :)

A few minutes later.....

Me: On comes the signal......pulled over for a look at the view. Dr_bar right behind me. :laughing:

Dr_bar: "We better get a move on."
Me: "Yep, I know, I'll be quick."

several miles later.....

Me: On comes the signal...pulling over for another vista point.....
Dr_bar: pulled in right behind me.
Me: I'll be quick."


Several miles later....

And so the routine carried on. Although occasionally I wold lose sight of Dr_bar in my mirrors and I would have to pull over and wait for him. Sometimes he would see something that intrigued him and pull over for a look or a photo.

Eventually we would reach a critical point where we would just ride like the wind. One such example came on our second night on the road.

The original plan had been to stop in Tillamook for the night. There is an aviation museum there that would have been interesting to see and there is also a big (famous, I think) cheese maker. They give tours. However, once we got to Tillamook, neither one of us liked it there. It is a farming community and it smelled like fresh fertilizer had been spread just before our arrival.
We cruised through the town looking for a hotel....that is when we spotted the bread that had almost run me off the road. It was another biker.....He and his pillion were riding back and forth looking for a hotel also.
Anyway, we pulled into a gas station where dr_bar asked about a decent place to stay. The man there suggested going to Lincoln City. He said it was about 40-45 minutes away. Dr_bar asked me how I felt about riding for another 40-45 minutes.
I told him OK, but first I needed a bathroom break, a coffee and a stretch.
We took about ten minutes for our rest break there and then headed toward Lincoln City.
I was on a mission.....Dr_bar is learning all about what it is like to be with me when I am on a mission. For some reason, I get into a groove and...well....dr_bar you'll just have to keep up.... :laughing:

It was dark by the time we left Tillamook, so I was on extra alert. The traffic was almost non-existent for most of the ride to Lincoln City.

We were there in 30 minutes. :shock:

I was having a blast. We had no idea where we would stay. Being off season it wasn't going to be a problem to find rooms. On the way into town, I spied a billboard advertising a "NON SMOKING" hotel. It gave the street to watch for and you can bet I was watching for it. Suddenly it came into view and I barely had time to signal before turning into the driveway.
Sorry, dr_bar....

This place was great. It'a complete non-smoking place. :D
We ended up staying there for 2 nights. Aside from the fact that the hotel was nice and Lincoln City was nice, I was still not well, so we decided an extra day rest in one place would be good. We checked in a had just enough time to ride a few blocks down the hill to a restaurant for supper.
I can't remember the name of it, off hand, but it was good.

we said our good nights with an agreement to meet for coffee in the morning.
In the morning, we rode the few blocks down to the "sister" hotel to ours and parked the bikes. This was the access to the beach. The ocean was calm this morning.
It was quite an amazing transformation from the night before. The waves crashing ont the shore could be heard from blocks away. Standing out on the balcony of my room, I marvelled at the clear sky with all the twinkling stars while I listened to the power of the ocean.

By day, it was much calmer. Don't be mislead...the waves are still powerful by day. We walked the beach and enjoyed the pristine air, the fine clean sand and watching the waves rolling in and crashing on the rocks.

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Soon, though, I had to get out of the cold wind because it was causing me to be short of breath. So, we walked back to our bikes and made our way through town to the Outlet Mall.

Dr-bar wanted to go shopping.

We browsed around and found a few things to buy. We had some lunch and then decided to go for a ride to a waterfall nearby. It was just outside of town. It was called Drift Creek Falls and there was a sign for the turnoff. I led the way and because of the speed on the highway, couldn't make the turn when I saw the sign. So, I kept going until I saw a place to turn off and turn around.

Jut as I was about to turn around, Dr_bar said to me, that he thought we were already on the right road. I told him, that, no, the sign for the falls was back on the highway. He insisted that he heard the clerk in the hotel telling us to go past the road with the sign and turn on the next road. :roll:

It's ok...I actually did roll my eyes at him. We "debated" this for a few minutes, until I finally said, OK. I should have trusted my instinct. :roll:
I knew we should have turned back, but since Dr_bar was insisting we go for a few miles more, we went....

for TEN miles in and TEN miles back

Although it was great road to ride, it did not take us where we wanted to go. So-o-o-o, I headed back to the highway and made the turnoff for the falls. Without a doubt, this was probably the most difficult, stressful piece of road I have ever ridden on. In fact, dr_bar considered it to be so dangerous, he took over the lead. (I had to ask him later why he did that.....because he hates to lead)
This road to Drift Creek Falls is a paved very narrow (almost single lane) logging road. It is like a corkscrew that winds it was up the mountainside. I was trying valiantly to keep up, but after a while , I had to slow it down. I was getting too tired from the energy expended maneuvering this road. Dr_bar got a little testy with me for dropping back, but I needed to make sure I didn't let my fatigue get the better of me. Once I explained why I had to drop back a bit, he calmed down. The truth is he was just as stressed as I was.
When we got to the top, we were so relieved, but it was short lived. We had wasted so much time on the wrong road, and the ride up to the trailhead took so long, it was now too late to go to the falls. Oh well.....

After a rest and water break, we took a few photos and prepared for the hairy ride down.

At the trail head...


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stressed to the max....

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By the time we got back down it was starting to rain. It was also getting very cold. We decided to go into the Starbuck's near the hotel for some tea. It felt wonderful to sink into the soft easy chair and have a hot tea after the cold wet ride back to town.

More later....and yes, we're still talking to each other. :laughing:

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#17 Unread post by Lion_Lady »

Great pics... but then again on the west coast ALL the scenery is beautiful, it seems.

Makes my pitiful pics of Skyline Drive feel so inadequate.

P
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#18 Unread post by Shorts »

Pics from PNW remind me of Whidbey Island and Deception Pass. That was our station before getting out here to JPN. Great photos.

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#19 Unread post by blues2cruise »

Lion_Lady wrote:Great pics... but then again on the west coast ALL the scenery is beautiful, it seems.

Makes my pitiful pics of Skyline Drive feel so inadequate.

P
Where is Skyline Drive? Are the pics in your blog?

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#20 Unread post by -Holiday »

blues2cruise wrote:
Lion_Lady wrote:Great pics... but then again on the west coast ALL the scenery is beautiful, it seems.

Makes my pitiful pics of Skyline Drive feel so inadequate.

P
Where is Skyline Drive? Are the pics in your blog?
skyline drive is in virginia, and eventually turns into the blue ridge parkway in North Carolina, near the tennesee border. the entire thing runs along the ridge of the appallacians.

Funny you mentioned Tillamook. I've been there. No smell though when I was there. The Aviation museum is more just a big building that houses the "Spruce Goose", the plane that Howard Hughes had built ,and flew once.

You guys probably went through a tiny town on the 101 called Hebo on your way to Lincoln city. That is where my ex's mom lives. You would of actually passed her house because its right on the 101. Did you see Haystack Rock? I forget where that is, but its in the area.

Funny thing, you saw how in the middle of nowhere Tillamook is. When I was there, we went into a small diner to get some lunch. Now, I'm from just west of Philly, a town of about 17k called West Chester. I happened to mention that the particular area reminded me of parts of northern PA, minus the beachfront of course. The waitress heard me mention west chester, and she says, "West Chester PA??". I said yes, that's where I'm from. It turns out she's from there, and in fact, lived in the house across the street from my grandmothers house, 15 years prior.

So funny, meeting someone from down the street, 3,000 miles away, in a land that reminded me of home.

Anyway, the Oregon coast sure is beautiful isnt it? I'd love to go back some day.
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