Labor Day Trip

We went to Corvallis, Oregon to visit some of Ax’s friends and former co-workers, specifically, his friend Ray and his wife Michelle and their son, Riley. Many people camped out at Ray and Michelle’s place and others arrived Saturday or Sunday morning for scheduled rides. I was introduced to lots of different motorcycles on this trip. These people weren’t all Harley riders and didn’t all ride touring or sport bikes. There was a mixture of everything; Harley, Honda, Yamaha, BMW, Kawasaki, etc. (I’ll make sure Ax checks this over so no one gets left out.)

Each night we ate dinner together, played a little Frisbee and had a bon fire. Ray came up with his own, unique way of starting the fire…

Friday, September 1, 2006
Ax and I left Boise by 7:30am on the motorcycle. It's about 450 miles to Corvallis. It was pretty optimistic of both of us to think that we wouldn't hate each other by the end of the trip, but we did survive.

Ax ordered us some cooling vests after our last motorcycle trip, but it looked as though we wouldn’t even need them this time. It was quite chilly on Friday morning and early afternoon was comfortable, but by late afternoon it was getting pretty warm.

11 hours is the time it took us to get to Corvallis. We stopped in Sisters for a long lunch and we had several other stops along the way. I have now decided that 9 hours is pretty much my limit. Just being a passenger on a long bike ride is not very exciting. However, it was nice for the majority of the ride, watching the landscape change, the wildlife out in the fields and passing the crops of onions and mint with their wonderful aromas. I even enjoyed the curvy mountain roads. And it's great when you find and unexpected cool spot just as the heat is getting to you.

At 6:00pm we arrived at Ray and Michelle's. We were a little grumpy but mostly just tired out and sweaty. Once we cleaned up and ate dinner we were in pretty good spirits. Ax was glad to see friends he hadn’t seen in a while. Ax arranged ahead of time to stay in a friend’s camper, so we had our own space and didn’t have to haul camping equipment all the way from Boise. It was also nice not having to sleep on the ground.

Saturday, September 2, 2006
We woke up early in the morning before the sun came up. I had more aches and pains than I expected. After a shower and breakfast I thought I could handle another day on the bike though.

More people showed up after Ax and I went to sleep last night. While we ate breakfast others were arriving for today’s ride. By the time we were geared up and ready to go I think we had 12 or 13 bikes. Only a couple had passengers.

The first part of the day was nice (good temperature, winding roads). We made one pit stop where we would be changing highways. It was an interesting sight for all the bikes to be parked in the center median of the two highways. We stopped and ate lunch at a restaurant. I hope the waitress got some good tips; she earned it after putting up with all of the “rowdy bikers”.

After lunch I was O.K. for another hour maybe two, but we didn’t get back to the house till 4:00pm or so. We broke out the cooling vests in the afternoon too. Ax and I were both tired and grumpy again. I decided I was taking a break on Sunday. With that knowledge, another shower and a great dinner, I had the energy for more Frisbee that evening. Ax wasn't sure if he would go the next day or not.

Sunday, September 3, 2006
I stayed at the house visiting with Michelle and Riley. Ax, on the other hand, decided he would go on the ride today. One of the other guys brought over his daughter on Friday and his son on Saturday, so Ax inherited a passenger.

Ax said that day's ride was rough. I'm glad I didn't go. But everyone was excitedly telling their stories when they returned. Something about roads being closed, gravel roads, construction, etc. It was good that Ax got his rear suspension fixed.

After lunch on Sunday, we rode about 75 miles to Ax's parents' house in Molalla. We had a nice visit, and most importantly Carol (his Mom) made us dinner. We got to bed early because tomorrow would be a LONG day.

Monday, September 4, 2006
Today was a very long day of riding. We made more than half way home before I started getting some pretty bad sinus pain and eventually was afraid of getting sick. I was sort of expecting this, but not today. I figured I would be in bad shape on the way to Corvallis. We rode through so much smoke that first day from forest fires, I thought for sure I would have problems. Now, most of the smoke had cleared away, but not all. Ax was tired and sore from 4 days of riding and I was miserable. We made frequent stops for a few more hours and nearly got a hotel just before we made it to Idaho. Eventually the medication began to work and we did make it home a little while after dark.

It is so good to be home! Even though we sat next to each other for the majority of 4 days, we felt that we hadn't spent much time together at all.