Oregon trip, Day 2 - Astoria.

After a much needed straight 8 hours of sleep, I was up at 8am, in time to chat with A.J. before he headed off to work. So we talked about it, and Jason and I would stop by the shop, and I would get a chance to test ride the new Ducati Multistrada 1200 (with the 1198 motor in it). Sweet. Jason and I cooked up some food, got our things together, and headed out the door. After getting lost a bit, we made it to Motocorsa in Portland.

The new Multi is something else. It is super fun to ride, and with the on-the-fly electronic adjustment between multiple settings, such as "Enduro", "Sport", "Urban"...the bike electronically adjusts the Horsepower, Traction Control and Suspension. Enduro has 100hp, and I switched to the Sport version and gained an instant 50 hp. A nice kick in the pants, and got the front wheel up just a bit. :D It was a fun test ride. I just can't walk out of a dealership at the moment with a 21k bike (OTD). Sigh, I'd have to do with the test ride for now.

A few shots while at Motocorsa. On the left, is a table that A.J. made from spare parts for the cafe in the shop. It is probably one of the top Ducati shops in the USA, and I don't trust my bike fully to anyone but A.J. The center photo is of a nice Desmosedici, and also when someone purchases a new bike, this is the photo room. :) last photo is of a trick full exhaust system for the new Ducati Superbikes.

After talking it over with Jason, and going over the Oregon motorcycle specific state map (free at your local Oregon motorcycle dealerships), we decided we'd go to Astoria, Or. for lunch and then ride back via Washington, while A.J. finished up his work day.

We rode up to Astoria, first by getting out of Portland on hwy 26 westbound, and cut off at Hwy 47 north. This would be a phenomenal road. I have a lengthy video of it, and will try and edit it down to a good 10 min video for some good on the fly scenery.

We turned west on hwy 242 directly into Astoria, which is also known for a few of the movies that have been filmed here, maybe you've heard of them (Kindergarde Cop, The Goonies)

We stopped by the cannery, and had a Salmon burger, with a wasabi mayo side and som chips. I have to say that this was the juiciest, tenderest salmon I'd eaten in forever. So freaking good. It didn't help that we'd been on the road for about 2.5 hours already. But it went down perfect.

After letting lunch settle, and grabbing an espresso to avoid the ill-fated food coma, we decided to make our way back to Portland for tonights bbq. First a stop and a photo at the Astoria Bridge on the Oregon side. [A few quick facts about the Astoria bridge: Completed in 1966, it is the longest continuous truss bridge in North America. No pedestrians are allowed on the bridge except for the annual "Great Columbia Crossing" October 3rd, 2010 this year. The bridge was the last segment of hwy 101 to be built to connect Olympia, Washington with Los Angeles, Ca.] We'd decided to go over the Columbia River to Washington state, and ride back to the IH-5 on the Lewis and Clark trail.

First me....the bridge is near the mouth of the Columbia River that feeds into the inland, from the Pacific Ocean.

...then Jason.

We rode across the 6.5 kilometer long bridge and stopped for a quick photo. The weather is amazing and warm, actually hot in some places....and Portland was to be having a heat wave this weekend, in the 90's.

The section of hwy we rode on back to the IH-5 was about 65 miles long, and an absolute treat to ride on. At a quick pace we made ground quickly, while at the same time enjoying the amazing scenery that was our background for this spirited run back to the city.

We arrived back at A.J.'s house about a half hour after him, and busted out the PBR. After making our way to the supermarket, we purchased some of the thickest ribeyes I've seen, and slowly cooked them up with some of A.J.'s friends over for a great barbecue. Another succesful day, and our mileage today was 245 miles total.

Oregon Trip, Day 1:

As mentioned before, I was up for a long time before making my run up to Portland. I was to meet Jason at A.J.'s house, and we'd be planning it to get there at about the same time.

Wednesday, I got up around noon, as I needed to find a new chain for the Ducati Multi, since the one on it right now is so stretched out, I can hear it clacking as I ride. No bueno!

After some phone calls, I find the chain, and also the sprockets, which come to find out...are more expensive than I thought.

On the Multi, the rear sprocket and sprocket carrier are 1 piece from Ducati. costing $251 bucks. holy hell! So after some talking, I found out I could buy a seperate sprocket carrier for $170, and a sprocket for $60 bucks....which is total of $230 dollars to replace the rear sprocket....and in the future, the only piece that I replace is the $60 dollar sprocket. So I chose this route.

After working all Wednesday night, I got home about 8am, put the chain on, and decided to wait on the sprockets till I got to Portland.

I threw the bags on the bike (this will be the first time I ride with hard bags on any bike), and headed out the door, about 10:20am. Start mileage: 22, 596

The plan is to bomb up the IH-5 and get to Portland as quickly as possible, and not fall asleep on the road. haha

The day was long, and even though I had my gas spots planned out, I was working with different readings on the dashboard to see how far I could go. The first gas stop was in Willows, Ca. at 144 miles. not to shabby. But I thought I could push it more. So on the next one, I was watching the "fuel remaining" reading on the dashboard....imagine my surprise when the bike said it had used 4.3 gallons of the 5.5 available, and suddenly sputtered just before cresting over a long uphill. Forcing me to dive across 2 lanes of traffic past some more than annoyed 18-wheeler drivers, I'm sure. haha

On the side of the road, I shook the bike, and kept getting it to turn on and go about a 1/10 of a mile at a time. I had run out of gas just before the sign that said, fuel = 1 mile. So I knew I was close. The bike finally wouldn't start, and I stood there for a bit, before beginning the arduous task of pushing my bike to the gas station. for shame. LOL

A guy on a harley stopped by, asked what was wrong, I simply said it was out of gas, and he told me about the next gas stop. Nice guy, but nothing he could do for me at the time, so we said our goodbyes. About 5 minutes later, a gentleman with his family stopped and asked if I was out of gas...I said yes, and he simply says "I got some you can have". Super awesome!!!! Sure enough, Dario had a 5 gallon tank in the trunk of his car. After grabbing a gallon, I shook his hand, he refused any money, and went along his way. There are still very cool people out there.

After fueling up at Hilt, Ca. I resumed my ride north. I didn't lose much time either, about 30 minutes total.

With the day getting long, and me getting tired, since I've been awake since the day before, around noon...I am ready to get off the bike. I make it into Portland, right after 6pm, and wind my way to my buddies house, by about 7pm. Jason had just arrived 20 minutes ealier, and A.J. had arrived from work, 5 minutes earlier. I don't think we could have planned it any better.

I arrived to a stout beer, and great friends. End mileage: 23,236 miles (total for today, 640 miles)

After getting the bikes settled in, we had more beer, a couple cheladas, and one of the best freaking burritos I've ever had from the local restaurant "Los Gorditos".

We ended up downtown somewhere, having a drink at a bar, where a friend of mine works, and I got to say hi to her as well. A great first day. I need sleep!!!