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Sweet day trip from Rally site

bob_m

Active member
I had a meeting in Corvallis on friday and took the long way back through some signature Oregon landscapes.

Went west from Corvallis and just past Philomath took Hwy 34, the Alsea Hwy toward the coast. After a series of 25 MPH looping turns and just before the crest of Alsea summit, the turn off to Mary's Peak is to the right. Marys Peak is the tallest mountain in the coast range, and getting there is a well paved curving route that just goes up and up. Fierce Pacific Northwest storms prevent trees from living on the summit, so the broad rolling "peak" is a wildflower meadow where the most conspicuous flower is the native Columbia Lily. This bloom is a perfect spotted turks-cap in intricate miniture, colored bright yellow-orange like 70s era Ducatis. To embrace the Germanic experience, take some Liederhosen and Von Trapse through the meadow.

Back down and back to Alsea Hwy. This well paved road is lightly trafficed and sweeps out of the mountains onto the coastal plain and eventually to Waldport by the sea. Tha Alsea bridge is a beautiful and iconic structure. Rolling north past Seal Rocks and into Newport, the Newport bridge is a much grander iconic structure. (Rouge Brewery on the south end of the bridge, near the Aquarium for lunch) From the north end of Newport I took Hwy 20 back east. This is a much busier road than 34 and a major construction project is underway to replace this "old road" because it is too narrow and twisty. Well this "old road" replaced another older, narrower and twistier road, route 180, the Nashville road. Nashville road picks up just west of Eddyville and parallesl RR tracks through picturesque valleys of fresh mown hay surrounded by dark evergreen cloaked mountains. There is some gravel, there are several oblique RR crossings and there may be log trucks (I saw none on the extremely low volume route). I did not turn to go to Siletz, but continued "straight" and the road rejoined Hwy 20 in Blodgett across from the Country Store.

From there I rolled back south to Portland having had a wonderful ride.
 
Hi Bob,
I have been to Oregon numerous times by car and RV. First trip for me by motorcycle. Just curious, when getting fuel, does the gas station attendant have to fuel your motorcycle? You get use to doing it yourself here in CA. I don't want to look like a tourist? I know the attendant has to fuel up your car, RV, etc. in Oregon.
John
 
Oregon and New Jersey are the only two states that require attendants to fuel vehicles. I have never had an attendant insist on fueling my bike. I always say "I'd like to fill it up with premium", the attendant takes my card, swipes it and returns it and pushes buttons, then hands me the nozzle and usually a shop rag. I put the nozzle back and usually push "no" when the pump prompts me about the receipt. The pump jockies are very welcome during our long wet winters when I drive, but in summer, and with the motorcycle they are happy to facilitate your doing the fueling.

When you get here you will understand why we endure those gray dreary winters.
 
Very nice ride report. Another excellent food option in Newport is Nana's Irish Pub located in Nye Beach (www.nanasirishpub.com).

Agreed, gas station attendants in Oregon always hand you the nozzle to fill your motorcycle tank.

Cheers!
 
Ride West indeed!

All you Mid-West Folk... Head to the Coast. Nothin' beats that ride. Nothin'.

Ohhh Yea... Took that ride today. :) Nice day ride west and then north along the scenic Oregon Coast to Mt.Vernon WA. On a perfect day... But for some strange reason I let sanity leave for a moment and decided, at the last opportunity, to switch from two lane blacktop doing 35 in a 50 behind a dozen campers, with the prospect of another night camping and a short ferry ride, to a quick blast up the super slab to home. Big mistake. Two miles later I am committed, and Instead of a quick blast North at interstate speed, I encountered a two hour crawl where I got to practice slow riding techniques. :banghead But, on the bright side of the same coin, after visiting air head central and getting my carbs synched by some of the coolest guys on the planet, the bike was up to the task at hand. Before, at speed, the bike ran fine but low down near idle, there were vibrations and sputtering that made riding in traffic a chore. But now, riding barley above a walk for miles and miles with occasional quick maneuvers into the next lane were done with out a cough or hesitation or skipped beat. Then when the traffic finally cleared north of Tacoma, I hid behind a fast Mercedes with B.C plates and followed at a highly illegal speed all through Seattle and places north until I ran out of gas on my off-ramp. Then, less than two minutes later, a couple of guys with a trailer full of small two strokers stopped and helped push my 82 R100 cs to the top of the ramp so I could coast into my favorite non-alcohol dispensing gas station. If I stayed at the legal speed I am sure I would not have run out of gas, but where's the fun in that. I had a great time, and so did the bike. And the rally was great too.:dance
 
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