OREGON

DAY 19 continued - May 30, 2001
360 miles
Total miles: 4859

There were now 100 miles to go to reach Coos Bay. It was getting colder - the temperature was down to the low 60's and I was wearing the silver hot-weather jacket, which is lovely when the temp is in the high 70's but when it's cold I get cold pretty fast. Complicating the puzzle was the high wind - gusty wind blowing in off the ocean, making it difficult to feel solid riding at speed. Finally at about 6 pm I decided to forego Coos Bay (as I had Fort Bragg the night before) and try to find a smaller town with another cozy B&B. At 6:45 I entered Bandon, OR and cruised the seaside strip, settling on a small place called the Sea Star that offered both rooms and hostel space. I chose the former and sit there now, enjoying the view of the fake fireplace (with hologram flames and electric heater).

I decided to step out for a beer before dinner and went into the very small-town Arcade Tavern. I was quickly addressed by Henry, a regular at the bar. He urged me to play a game of pool and, not wanting to offend his local sensibilities, I complied. I won. I got a little nervous - was he the kind of guy who would get bent out of shape being whooped by some city boy? But I bought a rematch and this time he won - I didn't even have to throw the game.

[Henry, at the Arcade.]

After this rich cultural experience I got a bite at the Wheelhouse Bistro (actually in the upstairs Crow's Nest lounge). There I met Sage and Amanda, who had just ridden in on Sage's new '89 Kawasaki Police Special 1000. The bike still had a lot of the extra lights on it (no blue ones though) and the previous owner had hand-painted stars on the tank. This was an evil bike - though rather than strike fear into everyone I think it would have the effect of making every car you come upon immediately slow down to the speed limit. I wonder if there's an anti-cop bike out there? Otherwise that's a lot of passing to do.

[Sage and Amanda, cold and fresh off the road.]

[Sage's new ride. Look out bad guys.]

[The Bandon harbor as seen from the Crow's Nest lounge.]

Unfortunately tonight, like last night, there is no phone in my room so this update won't be posted until tomorrow. Perhaps next ride I'll have that cell phone with the computer jack on it...

DAY 20 - May 31, 2001
236 miles
Total miles: 5095

Up and on the road somewhere around 9 today. I knew I had a fairly short haul to Portland so I could afford to relax a little. The day was sunny but still cool here by the coast, so I dressed for warmth. 30 miles later I hit Coos Bay, my original destination for last night, and I was glad I'd stayed in Bandon. Coos Bay was bigger and not really all that scenic.

As an aside, I should point out that highway travelers are almost always going to end up with a negative picture of the larger towns and cities on their route unless they get off the highway. For obvious reasons, the nice parts of town are not typically found beside the highway. The same is true of travel by train - who puts the deluxe accommodations or the quaint town center right next to the railroad tracks? Small towns are different though. Usually the center is so small, and the traffic so light, that you end up with a much more integrated picture of the place without ever leaving the main road.

I breakfasted in Coos Bay where I ran into three tourers, one couple on a Harley and a single guy on a Ducati - yes it was their "sport/touring" model (like mine is in the BMW world) but this guy had to have been suffering in the shoulders big time. It did not look like a comfortable riding position.

I continued north past towns smaller and larger, and crossed over a number of very beautiful art deco-style bridges. Fortunately the bridges were beautiful because the road didn't run very close to the coastline here, and when it did, while lovely, it wasn't nearly as dramatic as the southern Oregon coast. I did pass through the Oregon Dunes area and they were quite impressive - vast piles of sand with a few clumps of grass here and there. Between actual dune sightings were sightings of dune buggy rental joints. Another one of those motorized nature activities (like jet skis, snowmobiles and dirt bikes) that are obnoxious if you don't do them and fun as hell if you do. Big money will flow to the inventor of the quiet jet ski engine.

Within the space of 15 minutes around 12:30 three significant events happened: First, I passed through Lincoln City, a place I went a couple of times about ten years ago, to hole up during the winter storms and watch the ocean. It's grown tremendously since my last visit but I did manage to figure out (approximately) where I'd stayed when I was here. Second, I crossed the 45th parallel (or so said the road sign) - the imaginary line halfway between the north pole and the equator. And third, I hit the 5,000 mile mark on this trip. At this point I had put more miles on the bike this trip than it had when I bought it (used), and more miles in this one trip than I'd done since I bought the bike a year ago.

A few miles north of Lincoln City I turned east on highway 18, headed for Portland. I stopped for lunch around 2 in downtown McMinnville, which has a very attractive restored downtown area (surrounded by outlet malls and multiplex theaters sprouting out of vast plains of asphalt, of course). I'm not sure why but I was exhausted. Perhaps it was the heat - the thermometer was reading over 90 (a result of leaving the cooler coast). I drank as much coffee as I could handle (iced) and resumed course eastward. As I reached the outer Portland area traffic began to slow considerably. It was getting on toward 4 and apparently Portland has as much rush hour traffic going into the city as it does coming out. So there was stopping. And there was going. Stopping. Going. Thermometer in the high 90s now. Radiator fan kicking in and blowing hot air across my legs. Naturally the radiator fan never needs to come on in cold weather, but it loves to come on in the heat, especially in stop and go traffic.

I finally made it to my hotel a few minutes after 5. I was supposed to meet my friend Erika for dinner at 6 so there was just time for a much-needed shower (you sweat much more in 90 degree Portland than in 110 degree Phoenix), change into the least dirty shirt, quick gin & tonic at the hotel bar then off to dinner at the very tasty Brasserie Montmartre. The Brasserie has a fairly authentic French bistro vibe, with tile floor, high ceilings and simple wood furniture. The tablecloths are sheets of paper (and they give you crayons) and the walls hold framed works done in this medium - amazing works really.

The ceiling is covered with playing cards with things written on them in magic marker. On weekends a magician strolls through the restaurant, doing tricks and illusions for the patrons. When I was here a few years ago he managed to steal someone's watch, I think someone's wallet too, and he did this amazing card trick where the victim writes something on a card, puts it back in the deck and somehow it ends up stuck to the ceiling above the table - writing visible of course so you know it's yours. If you visit Portland this is definitely worth seeing - you will be blown away.

After dinner we walked to another club and played a few games of pool (Erika is good - she kicked my butt), then went by a Kinko's to check out this site on a real computer monitor. I was pleased that the image quality was so good - all the color correction and editing has ben done on a laptop and you can't really trust those LCD screens. And it worked on a PC (I'm on a Mac). I was happy. And tired. The coffee wasn't doing it anymore, nor the Sudafed I'd taken a few hours before. So I bid Erika good night and returned to the fine sheets on my Benson Hotel bed.

[The Benson, but not the bed.]

DAY 21 - June 1, 2001
204 miles
Total miles: 5299

I tried to get a fairly early start today because I wanted to detour out to Astoria and the coast, and either stay there until the Olympia area (at which point I'd rejoin Interstate 5) or go up to Bremerton and catch a ferry.

I ate the official trip breakfast at the downstairs restaurant in the Benson. The official breakfast consists of scrambled eggs, potatoes, either veggie sausage or bacon (depending on availability), toast, a small oj and of course coffee. Fortunately I have very low cholesterol because I've probably eaten at least a season's worth of eggs in the last three weeks. But it makes a great breakfast for the road - lots of protein and heavy enough to last until lunch.

[A gray day in downtown Portland.]

The day was cloudy and a lot cooler, and I figured I'd need to start off in the rain suit and change once the day warmed up, but that idea fell flat soon after I crossed into Washington.