The Ride Northwest Week 1

As I've already blogged about, my trip to Salem, OR for the BMW MOA rally began with a Bun Burner Gold ride to Boise, Idaho.  I returned home last night after riding 5605 miles since July 14th.

After finishing the BBG, I spent a couple of nights in Boise.  My Cousin Randy was kind enough to take Tuesday off and show me some of the great scenery around the mountains there.  I hadn't seen him in 18 years so it was good to catch up.  Here's a pic of Randy with a great view behind him.

I left Boise on Wednesday morning and rode over towards Salem.  Both western Idaho and Oregon are very pretty.  The ride in Oregon was along a nice river with winding roads and big rock formations.  As I got closer to Salem, I started seeing all the mountains.  The trees were so thick along the road, my satellite radio signal faded in and out.  Here are a couple of pics of Oregon scenery.

What really surprised me is that the speed limits in Oregon are 55 mph on almost every road.  As an example, a nice smooth road in Oregon has a limit of 55 mph while a 2 lane country road in Montana has a limit of 70 mph.  Oregon also requires gas station attendants to pump gas but for a motorcycle they can hand you the pump handle.  

I got to the rally and checked in Wednesday afternoon.  I was surprised at how many people had already set up their tents.  I have a nice little Nemo Morpho 2 that is very easy to set up and take down. Here is a pic of my camp set up with my nifty Kermit chair that I wrote about before.

The rally was fun and I attended several seminars on various topics ranging from using the GPS and Basecamp to slow speed maneuvering.  I also got a set of Clearwater Krista lights installed on my RT.  These things really light up the night.  The good news is you see animals that you never knew were there, the bad news is you see a lot of animals.  I bet I saw 20-30 deer while riding back to Oklahoma. I think they look pretty slick on the bike too.

While at the BMW rally, I rode over to the Oregon coast and north on Highway 101.  It was chilly and windy along the coast but some great riding.  I camped at the rally Wed thru Sat nights, then loaded up and took off early Sunday morning for Missoula, Montana via Wallawalla, Washington and highway 12.  This sign is on highway 12 and when it says 99 miles of winding roads, it means it.  Here is a video taken near the summit of Lolo Pass.  Look for the deer near the end of it. I made it to Missoula and checked into a local motel to celebrate the end of week one of my road trip.  Week 2 will be posted shortly.  I also took a few videos of riding along the coast.