B
BobMielke
Guest
Yes, it started innocently enough, looking for foliage with Fall colors to photograph. I started from my home in Beaverton on highway 26, picked up 217 to Interstate 5. I headed South to Albany, OR before turning East on Highway 20. That lead me to Bend and a Northern trek on Highway 97. Through Redmond and Madras I road, looking for any color at all. Of course now all I saw were burnt out trees from this year's batch of wild fires. I decided to start turning West so I rode to Highway 26 and Sisters, OR. By then I had a sore touche and was nearly frozen. The temp had dropped from the low 50s to 32 with rain in Santiam Pass. Who knew!!!! I enjoyed a great prime rib sandwich and fries at Bronco Billy's Ranch Grill right on the main drag. Tourists were everywhere as I rode through a real traffic jam. I stayed on highway 26 until the turn off on highway 35 to ride, one more time, around Mt. Hood to get to Hood River. By then my gas tank was starting to run pretty low. By the time I hit humanity again I pulled in the first gas station I came across showing just 5 miles left in my tank. I had ridden 325 miles already and was still 60 miles from home. I finished my return home on Interstate 84 along the Columbia River Gorge. I saw little color in the leaves which only means I get to do this again in a few weeks. What fun!