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Denver to Portland and back via a new and interesting route. September 16th to September 22nd, 2001
Yes, Portland again.
Fred writes me two weeks ago and says “come out here and help me
unpack, Jessica and the kids will be gone to her dad’s”
I reply, I dunno, you know I don’t have a job or anything.
Exactly he says, nothing to tie you down, now get out here and help me. How can you argue with logic like that?
So, I start planning how I’m going to get to Portland, Oregon and back.
I figure I have 1 week (7 days) to do it and I really want to hang out at
Fred’s for a while, so 3 days out and 2 back.
It’s a little over 1200 miles
straight up the freeway, but that’s boring and I don’t want to do that and I
really try every trip to go on different roads. You know, to check them out for you guys and see which ones
are good and everything. J So, I get the routing figured out and I get ready to go.
I haven’t really been on a fall trip in a couple of years and figured
it would be a nice change, and it was. But first, I had to go over to Neal’s
for a really nice dinner with some motorcycle people and some of his hunting
buddies. It was great to eat his
food (Neal is a great cook, who knew? J
) thanks. After getting rained on
for an entire day this summer in Oregon I figured I would pack the top to my
rain suit and if it really started to rain I could wear that over the ‘stich
and keep it drier longer. It’s
also a magic rain suit. Whenever I
actually remember to bring it, it never rains, so hopefully that would work in
my favor too. I also washed the 'stich. (It’s gray green, not brown gray, who knew? J
) and re-waterproofed it. Sunday Up Sunday morning right at
daybreak and off I go. Now
remember, that cold front had just come through and it was still a wee bit
bitter out at 8am. Ran up and over
I-70 to Wolcott and 131. There was
frost on the ground at the top of the passes and it was just flat out freaking cold. Thank god for heated everything.
Up 131 just because it’s fun and then quick gas and HOT coffee stop in
Oak Springs and then over 20 mile road towards Hayden.
20 mile road is still fun and boy with all the colors changing was it
beautiful. The scrub oaks and the
aspens and the pine trees, just great. Would
have been even better except for the all the damn deer.
Where are you hunters? Eat
more Venison! Anyway over to Craig and then up highway 13 towards Baggs,
WY.
Just wanted to take Hwy 13 because I never had, I have to put more colors
on my big wall map. (I have a large road map on my office wall, I highlight all
the roads that I have been on, another reason to take new roads).
Nothing special, not to interesting and of course, Wyoming is well, ummm,
Wyoming. West on I-80 to Rock Springs and north on 191 after a quick gas stop in Wasmutter. Man, the trucks haul a$$ on I-80 and there are a ton of them. Up 191 (another new road to me) to another quickie gas stop in Pinedale. It’s just Wyoming until here, but after Pinedale it turns into a really nice road, coming up the canyon towards Jackson. And the colors of the aspens? Wow, very impressive. Skip Jackson's Hole and go up Teton Pass towards Idaho. (it’s not a pass, it’s a road built into a cliff, 10% grade!!), and then go up hwy 33. Hwy 33 goes north from Victor and then turns back east. I can’t really remember why I’m taking this road except that it’s another new to me road. I make the big curve after Tetonia and I’m jamming down the road heading for Rexburg. Now Idaho has THE BEST historical markers in the US. They warn you a ½ to ¼ mile before hand. They tell you which side it’s going to be on and the signs have REALLY BIG PRINT and they face the road, so you can scan at least the title as you fly by. So, I’m zipping down and I see historical marker and as I zip by I read it and it says “Teton Dam” Wham, binders on, brakes flying, anti-locks clicking, get down to about 20 and only then do I think “hey, I wonder if anyone is behind me?” quick check, no one is (or was?) and flip around. Read the sign and the site itself is about 2 miles north on a little farm road. Now, if you watch Discovery/History/TLC channels occasionally they have some of the specials on dams. And being a civil engineer at heart I always watch. And there is usually the famous one about Teton Dam in Idaho but they never say where it is. They built this dam in a questionable at best spot and had major leaks, within a year of finishing it they had water coming out the front of the dam (this is bad, real bad) and within an hour of that, the whole thing failed and the entire reservoir came pouring out.
So, I run into Rexburg while
staring at this huge black cloud coming across the plains and thinking “you
know, maybe I’ll stop in Rexburg for the night”.
Good decision, 15 minutes after I’m in my room, it pours, and pours
hard. The lady at the desk let me
park the bike under the big awning, so it didn’t get too wet so that was nice.
650 miles for the day, no rain although I skipped between thunderstorms
all across Wyoming. (magic rain suit, remember?) Monday Up early and off I go across the big Snake River plain. Run across hwy 33 because I haven’t come that way, past the Nuclear Reactor research site and down into Arco. Grab some gas and think about where I’m going. I was going to go up 93 and then down 75 to Stanley. But I’ve done 93 before and it looked like big clouds rolling over the mountain. So figure I’ll run down 20 past Craters of the Moon and then up 75 through Sun Valley and then into Stanley. Gives me more “new” miles anyway. So, zip along US 20 and am still amazed at the volcanic areas around Craters of the Moon N.M. and then take some little farm road cutoff and then head into Sun Valley. I knew or thought I knew that Sun Valley was a ski area. Well, no one said it was Aspen north. What a mess. Think hwy 82 between Glenwood and Aspen, before it was 4 lanes. Ugh. 40mph, all ruined by rich people’s play ranches and golf courses. Ugh. Awful. I was going to stop and get gas, but decided that this new Aspen could do without my money and keep going.
It’s
been getting colder and colder and the clouds are moving in (or they have been there and
I’m moving into them) and by the time I get to Stanley, It’s maybe 40
degrees out. Put back on all the
heated stuff I had taken off in Arco and grab some gas.
The clouds are definitely bad to the north, so it was a good decision to
not go up 93. Head west on 21 towards Lowman
and of course, within 20 miles, I go up out of the clouds and it warms up
nicely. This is a great road.
Follows the river on one side and goes up to a pass and then back down
(actually closed in the winter, so you know it’s good) and then I get into
Lowman. There is a road (no number)
that crosses the corner from Lowman to Banks.
My map shows a very small portion as dirt (some maps show all dirt, or
almost all dirt). I figured I could
do a couple miles of dirt if it was. The road turns out to be all paved. This road is GREAT, like top 20 great.
Left
right, cliff, turn, left, brake, right, just great 20mph to 70mph. So,
the stretch from Stanley to Banks is just fantastic, a must do.
There was a mudslide, but they had just cleared it as I got there, so
didn’t have to wait at all. I get onto 55 and go north.
This is a canyon road and it pretty tight for a US highway.
But they are doing road work and there is quite a line of cars.
Right as I get to the line (happy to reach the line actually, so now I can take off some
layers of clothes, it’s now hot out) and the line starts moving.
Hmmm, cool, get up to the flag lady and she stops me, hands me a big flag
baton and says “can you hand this to the flagger on the other end?”
Um, sure, but what do I do with this thing?
(it’s like 2 feet long), I finally just stick it under the tank bag and
off I go. This is a long stretch
that is one lane (gotta be more than 5 miles) and I get to the other end, hand
off the baton and go. So I was
really lucky to not have to wait forever. But
I still need to get rid of all this extra gear on me.
So, I figure I’ll pull out, no cars will catch me for at least 15
minutes or more and then I have lots of space in front of me before I catch all
the other cars. It’s true and it
works out and I have a grand time up to Cascade, where it then opens up onto a
plain and go into McCall. Stop for some lunch in McCall
and then go north on 55 to New Meadows. There
is a crazy section of road just north of McCall where you come down this
pass. You go from big wide open
plains to 25mph corners for like 3 miles.
Idaho is rugged, what can I say? Now,
I stop for gas in New Meadows because the next stretch looks pretty barren for
real towns and I want to make sure I have plenty of gas for this next stretch.
I go southwest on 95 down towards Council which is a fantastic run,
big woods, plenty of sweepers and then it opens up as we go towards Cambridge.
At Cambridge I go west on 71. Now, this is what you have waited for. This road (Idaho 71) is unbelievable. The first 25 miles are like a big version of Deer Creek Canyon, sweepers, tight stuff, but no cars, no bicyclists, no nothing, just a wonderful flowing road. Then, 6 miles from the end it goes crazy good. In 6 miles, you fall 4000 feet!!!!!!!!! Into the beginning of Hell’s Canyon. Mile after mile of 25mph or slower turns losing altitude like crazy. You then come down to the first dam, then follow the cliff down to the 2nd dam, Oxbow dam. At Oxbow dam (and there is a small town of workers there, but no gas) I take a break and think about what I want to do.
Hell’s Canyon is insane. Now
I really want to take one of the jet boat rides and see the whole canyon.
Anyway, I zip back to Oxbow and go through the town.
Not all maps show up, but just up the creek on hwy 86 there is a road. It
winds around and around, goes past the Hell’s Canyon Overlook (which is really
what I was aiming for) and then
ends up in Joseph. This road is so good it makes my top 10, maybe top 5. It’s that good. It’s insane. I think it’s a forest service road that’s been paved. After a while they just give up on the curves signs and they just say “Curves (squiggle) 25mph next 5 miles” At the 5 mile mark, there is another one “Curves (squiggle) 25mph next 5 miles”. You just climb and climb and climb up to the overlook. 25 miles from Oxbow, but insane leftrightleftrightrightleftOH15MPHleeeeffffftttt.
This guy pulls up in a truck and 5th
wheel travel trailer. We BS for a
while and I’m like “is there gas in Joseph?”
yes, he says, but it closes, at 7. Oh,
cuz I really need gas (I’m at 170 miles and it’s like 46 miles from here to
Joseph and I’ve been running at 6k rpm for the last 150 of that 170).
It’s now 5:20 because I’ve lost an hour coming over the border.
The guys says, oh, even on the bike you are going to need the time, you
should probably go. HE’S NOT KIDDING! 41
of the next 46 miles, I made 3rd gear maybe 4 times for short
stretches. Insane road
really great. I’m sweating it’s so exhausting.
I get into Joseph at 6:30. It took me over an hour to go 46 miles and the
last 5 miles were 80mph. (errr,
55mph officer :-)) It’s now getting
dark, I go 7 more miles into Enterprise (which turns out to be a large town, 2k
people and 3 gas stations, opps) and grab a hotel, some dinner and some sleep. 650 miles, all 2 lane, a good
200+ of it 2nd and 3rd gear two lane.
Great day, maybe one of my best days ever on a bike. Tuesday I leave Enterprise and go west on
82 towards Elgin. This a fun road,
beautiful country and you wind up and down the pass to get out of the valley,
neat road. This whole valley is
very pretty (Wallowa valley?) and needs more exploration. J
Go west out of Elgin on 204 to Weston and then south a bit to Athena.
Go west on some farm roads to 37 heading towards the Columbia and
Umatilla where I’ll cross the river and run down the Washington side of the
Gorge. Now, I’ll be honest, I
just took this road for a new way to go and no real reason, I figured it would
run across farm country and be straight and boring.
And it is until you reach OR 37. Then
37 down towards the river is incredible. It
follows the creek drainage so it twists and turns as you fall down towards the river,
the farm land getting higher and higher above you.
Great road, so much fun, and nobody out there.
I wouldn’t go out of my way to go through it, but if you are around,
it's well worth it, it
was a hoot.
Zip down Washington 14 on the
north side of the river and as you continue to go down, the cliffs get higher
and higher and the plains get further and further away. Went by Goldendale and just keep going. The farther down you go, the winds get stronger and stronger
and stronger. By Hood River, there
are whitecaps (the wrong way, upriver) on the river and tons of sailing people
out there. I see why.
Sometimes you go through these tunnels and it’s like going into a 60mph
wind funnel. Amazing.
After Hood River is where it really starts getting beautiful.
The scenery is amazing as the river just cuts through the Cascades.
(like 3k feet deep) and the river is HUGE.
BTW, another casualty of the cowardly terrorist attacks, all the dams are closed, visitor
centers, everything. Makes sense, but still sad.
Zip into Portland around 2:30 and say “Fred, let me in!!!”
Scarily enough he does and much malt and hops are consumed. 350 miles Wednesday Hang out, adjust the valves on
the beemer. ( I guess running it at
6k rpm for 6 hours, they tend to loosen up, who knew?) drink beer, etc. 0 miles Thursday Figured I wanted to finish off
the Oregon coastline and actually see some of it since it was supposed to be
very nice and the last time I did it, it was pouring rain. Ran out
hwy 6 to
Tillamook. This is the same road I
came in in July, but this time it wasn’t sleeting and raining and snowing and there was very
little traffic. Nice road, pretty
too. Grab some gas in Tillamook and
then go north on the coast. A
little too much commercial but there are some very nice places. Pulled out in one spot and just watched the ocean crash
against the beach.
Beautiful clear day, you could see forever.
You could actually see the curvature of the earth.
Went up to Astoria and then went across this HUGE bridge right at the
mouth of the Columbia. Not only is
the bridge like 3 miles long, but part of it has to be 500 feet in the air, you
are WAYYYYY up there. Fred tells me
they used to bring battleships upriver to Portland to be worked on. Amazing. Continue up the coast to Raymond
Washington, some nice stretches in here and some signs that say “Tsunami
Evacuation >” too wild, never
did get a picture. Went east on 6
and then at Pe Ell turned south and southeast on some unnumbered roads.
Fun ones too, and finally ended up in Vader and picked up the freeway at
Toledo. South on I-5 back into
Portland and back. More beer and cigars were consumed. Oh, and if Jessica
is reading this, we did move some stuff. Really, I swear it. 350 miles, all of the Oregon
coast is now done, only have about 250 miles of Washington coastline to be totally done with Highway
101. Friday Up early, well, up before
sunrise anyway and off. I have a
long way to go today, I’m trying to make Utah and then that will make it
doable to get home on Saturday. I
thought about doing a BB1500 on the way home, but I could never make mapquest do
the routing I wanted, it just doesn’t have some roads in it’s database and
so I could never get some mileage so, I didn’t do it.
Down the 5 to Salem. (BTW, I
think I have Oregon drivers figured out. They
hammer if there isn’t anyone around, but they just flat will NOT pass anyone,
we did like 85 plus the whole way) get off and go east on 22.
For a while this was brutal because the sun was right in my face, really
couldn’t see much of anything. As
we started going uphill, the road got more interesting, and the sun got higher
in the sky. Went past Detroit Lake.
This lake must be down 100 or more feet.
Half the reservoir is gone. Amazing.
Pretty country and you climb all the way up to 4500 feet or so and then
back down a long bulldozer road into Bend.
Grab some gas in Bend and then
east on 20 to Burns. Its mid-east
Oregon, boring doesn’t begin. Think
Wyoming without the excitement. I tried to be good, but
the speed just kept creeping up. Grab
some gas in Burns and then south on 205. The
first 30 miles of this has 2 curves in it. And then it just kinda hugs the
Steens mountains for a 100 more. I
hoped it would be more interesting than it was, but I really don’t think there
is an interesting way across this part of Oregon (again, think Wyoming). I’m
not really sure why 205 is even paved. I
mean there is nothing out here and it doesn’t connect anything. Roll through
Denio Nevada, (pop 20? 10?) and am heading south on 140 now to Winnemucca NV at
140 miles on the odometer. 1 mile
out of Denio, a big sign says “next services 99 miles”
Oh oh. That means I’m at
240 to gas. I usually go 235 in
town which leaves me about ¾ of a gallon.
But what if there is a head wind? What
if this ummm, reasonable and prudent rate of speed means I’m getting worse gas mileage?
Fug. Flip a bitch and go
back to Denio. One gas pump in the
whole town. $2.51 a gallon. For regular (but hell, after all it’s 100 miles from anywhere).
Get 2 gallons and then go south. At
least Nevada has real speed limits for boring roads.
Same boring road, 70mph in Nevada, 55 in Oregon, 90 for Brian for both. :-) Boring!! Turns out there is a new gas
station at 70 miles in and I could have made it. Fiddle. Go into
Winnemucca and get gas (and would have made it anyway, but it would have been a
long hard hot push) and jump on 80. Now,
before you whine and say “an interstate?” go get a map of Nevada.
There are a grand total of 3 roads going east--west across Nevada.
US 6, US 50 and I-80. I went
across US 50 in July. So, now
it’s I-80’s turn. Boring.
Boring. Boring. Although
there were a couple interesting passes that go up and down pretty steeply and
it’s interesting watching the train tracks and thinking about them putting the
train across in the 1860’s, it's still boring. So,
getting near Wells and was going to stop for gas, but realize that I can make it
all the way to Wendover and get a hotel/gas at the same time. I’ll have 220 miles since feet down in Winnemucca but I can
do that. About 15 miles from
Wendover, the sun goes from being bright and day to night and pitch black.
It was amazing, like a light switch.
And of course, I’ve got both my shades and a shaded face shield on.
It was really dark for me. Pull
into Wendover, get gas, remove the shades and face shield and then go find a hotel.
First hotel, pull in, ask how much? 89.95!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Are you kidding? Go to next place, which is a total hole, and they say 75
bucks. I don’t fugging think so.
Screw this and screw this crappy town (yes, Cartmann came alive), I’m
going to Salt Lake City. Now mind you, it’s dark out, but the next stretch of road
is straight as an arrow across the salt flats.
Fine. 1 hour, 15 minutes
later I pull into the Comfort Inn at the SLC airport.
(BTW, it’s a 115 miles from Wendover to SLC, for some reason I did not get
good mileage on that last stretch. J
) 912 miles!!, 13 hours, not too
damn shabby if I say so myself. Saturday Get up with the sun, I’m in
“going home” mode and ain’t nothing stopping me.
I’m betting it’s about 500 miles to Denver and it turns out to be pretty
close (540).
Go across the new freeways of SLC (nice) and up this crazy pass
(Cottonwood?) just west
of SLC, unbelievable, I think I need to come play in the Wasatch mountains a
little more. Get off on US 40 going
east at Park City. The colors of the aspens and oaks were astonishing, just
really beautiful. Of course, it’s
now cold as heck and I’m dressed for the salt flats, I figure it will warm up
as the sun comes up. It does, but
it sure takes a while. The stretch
from Heber City to Duchesne is actually pretty fun as it follows a canyon up and
goes by this HUGE lake (Strawberry lake) and the colors were wonderful. Then it’s farm and oil land to Vernal. Stop
for gas in Vernal. Thought about
going north and doing the hairpin sweepers on 191 but thought better of it and keep going
on 40. Go down through Dinosaur and
then grab 64 to Rangely. Yep, back
into Colorado finally. Then at
Rangely go east on 64 for another new road experience.
This is actually a pretty road, not super, but maybe TCIR kinda or
better, follows the White river all the way up to Meeker.
At Meeker I turned south on 13 (another new road) and went into Rifle to
get gas. Nothing to write home
about except the colors were pretty impressive.
Jump onto I-70. It’s now
like 1pm and I’m starving. Wasting
away to nothing. I haven’t found
anything interesting to eat at. I
finally decide that I’ll just go to Mango’s in Red Cliff.
I know it’s good and it’s about halfway from here to home (it is) and I’ll need a
break ( I do). I jump up to Red
Cliff on 24 and grab some amazing fish taco’s again.
And then back down 24 and back onto the freeway.
I’m a going home. I’m in
Terry Mc mode. Let’s just say
good time was made. Also, the Vail
valley was really beautiful with all the colors going up the hills, I was
impressed with Vail for once. Home
at 3:30.
Great trip, many new roads, the
one day was just incredible (Monday), maybe one of the best days riding ever.
No cops, no rain (magic rainsuit), saw Fred, even finally figured out
kinda how Portland’s freeway’s work. About
3500 miles
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