I forgot to mention that Oregon is like New Jersey in its fuel practices. You don't pump your own gas. I had completely forgotten all about that and while riding yesterday I remember reading about that. Anyway, I got chaperoned at the pump and hit the highway with an impending sense of doom.
One bright note was the traffic around Portland. People go the speed limit. I'm not talking 65 speed limit, I'm talking 55 speed limit! I was in heaven! When was the last time you were around a large metropolitan center where you didn't feel like you were going to get run over?
Got out of Portland and got into the Columbia River Gorge area. It started off really nice and it looked like rain up ahead. I was hoping it would hold off.
Such a lush green to most everything on this side of the state.
I eventually had to stop and rain gear up and rode through a bit of rain. The sun broke out and I found a nice rest stop. Good time to stop, relax, and have a bite to eat and enjoy the river.
As I was gearing up, I spied two riders riding away. They were running dual-sport type bikes (KLR and BMW 650 GS) and they spied me and the Tiger. I thought "cool, maybe I'll catch up with them, but probably not."
Rolled down the road and the road forked off. As I went down my road, I saw the two riders again, heading the opposite way. "Huh, must've missed their turn." Then I saw what they saw...Next Gas 82 miles. Quick check, currently at 127 miles...I don't think I want to try and push 209 miles out of the tank. Pulled over and checked the GPS, and saw there was a gas station not too far away. I turned around.
As I went detoured to the gas station, I saw there was gas station right there. There were the riders as well. Some friendly hellos and then they recognized my ADV sticker. Found out there was an ADVRider event going on over in Clarkton, Washington and promptly got invited. I had no set schedule but just a goal to get to Walla Walla, so I was game!
We whipped out of there and headed north (instead of east) up to Bickleton, WA (middle of nowhere), hit some curves and got a great little lunch in the freezing cold of the Washion a map. Had a nice conversation with Erika and Travis and talked about our professions and a little about my travels so far.
We rolled on over through Walla Walla (home of...onions) and hit more rain. The hills around here were gorgeous. They were the color of jade and just beautiful. It was also really nice to be riding with some other folks too. It's nice traveling alone, but it's also nice to be able to commiserate with someone else from time to time.
Rolled into Hells Canyon State Park and met some other riders. Now it was time to find some place to hole up for the night. Well, I got a decent room with a jacuzzi (oo la la) and made plans to meet up with some of the other folks for dinner.
It was a good ending to a surprising day. In fact I'm actually staying another day and going riding with the other folks. It may set me back a little on getting home, but there are interstates for a reason. The opportunity to talk to other riders and enjoy a day of just riding around an unfamiliar area is really what this trip is all about. I even got the nickname of "The Stray" at the campground..haha..I guess the stray has been adopted.
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