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!!!