Not another Brit touring the Colonies.

Today I had a few miles to cover, as I had a tent space invite in Ferndale OR. So I whizzed along at a fair chuff, but stopped to grab a photo of a hole in a tree.

Had a nice lady that offered to take my picture of me and I returned the favour. She took a couple of shots and this one came out ok.



I rode through and grabbed another one of the bike on t'other side.



I then continued onwards, along The Avenue of Gaints, which was a lovely ride, but poor to photograph. Although lovely, I had an impression in my mind that the trees would be much bigger than they are in real life, but great to ride through them all the same.

Then it was on to my new buddy, Mark's place for the night. Mark had mentioned he'd had a recent poor experience on tent space, where a small group had stayed who needed their hands holding most of the time they'd stayed. Both Mark, and his wife, Meredith work hard and live in a small home. Ideally, they're geared up for one or two travellers tenting in their garden for an overnight stop. I told Mark I was happy to kip in a quiet corner and he'd hardly notice I was there, or could have a chat over a beer and be sociable, and I certainly didn't need mollycoddling. That went down well and we went out for a rather nice pizza and back for a drink around the fire, before an early night ensued.

Another top host, Mark.

 
I can see you had to duck to get under the tree :)

Hope you took the coast all the way up to the chandalier tree as the top section is a magnificent ride.
 
I've stuck to the coast as much as the landslides would let me. However, it's been very windy, with a few gusts trying really hard to whip me off the bike.
 
Leaving Mark and Meredith behind, I headed for Hw36. Yes, I know it's not North, but my buddy Cheesy Mike, said I had to do 36 if I was in the area.

On turning into 36, I passed Frank's place.



For the first part of the run, I followed this chap on a KLR. We had to stop for some roadworks, so I had a chance to say hi. He was local and proved to be a good rider to follow on this road. However, he turned off around halfway and left me to my own devices.



The road swoops right



and the road swoops left



Gratuitous barn shot for Mike O fans.



and then we start climbing.



for some big views







I also spotted these retired fire trucks



The road levels out at the top and then the windy decent begins, which was very good and I was in the groove, so didn't stop for photo's.



You then descend into the heat and the scenery changes.





Gong on 36 West to East is a good way to do it. It's long and twisty, so you need to back off and refresh yourself. When you drop down to the heat, the road becomes a roller coaster of bumps that get you in the pit of your stomach. I found this helped keep me awake and alert, ready for my lunch stop in Red Bluff, at a Raley's supermarket.

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There are some great roads in that area and Hwy 36 is a belter. People often overlook Northern California in favour of some of the more "famous" routes and they really don't know what they are missing.
 
I'll add more later, but if you're ever in Oregon, Sitkum Lane from Myrtle Point to Roseburg is better than 36 IMHO. And you get to do it twice if you do a loop ride to Crater Lake,:thumb2
 
Heading back on 299, you head back into the mountains on a lovely, sweeping 5th/6th gear road.





lovely, sweepy bends



until I got to this landslide. The wait was half an hour, as they run the lorries through in convoy and load the slide debris, before letting 'us' road users through.



Chatting with the lolipop lady, they've been 18 months, so far, sorting this one out



The 299 mainly follows the river back to the coast. Fantastic.



and as you approach the coast in Oregon, you quickly go from hot to quite cool, as the sea temperature's still bloomin freezing and the fog rolls in. It's also magic fog, as the wind blows a hoolie and it doesn't shift it.



But the afternoon sun does burn some decent holes in it.









I saw this and though of you Andy Powell.



and into DaFoole's at Myrtle Point, for a weekend of beer, bbq and bollox with a bunch of Advriders.

 
Some of my neighbours



and the view from my front door



and the other way



Mike's bikes...







This guest from year one of DaFoole's and Perapin's weekends, never quite made it home, which was a little worrying!



This bunch of reprobates needed an Englishman present, t correct them in their pronunciation!



Great bunch of people, that made fro a brilliant weekend



We even had home made Jenga. That's yenga y'all!



Someone drank way too much beer, way too early.



Has anyone noticed all the Kermit chairs yet?



This looks interesting



Can you bear the suspense?



and the winner is!



More beer anyone?



As well as the old wrecks drinking all the beer...



there were also a couple of these parked up



and then we ate



That's Mike (DaFoole), sat on the right. Top chap!

 
Saturday morning and a day trip to Crater Lake beckons. I head out from Mike's onto Sitkum Lane. This turns out to be a grand idea, Sitkum Lane proves to be one of the best roads i've rdden in the USA so far. I think it's even better than 36!



It's also got some off road that follows the river.



Nicely surfaced and twisty!



and some views on the way to Grants Pass.



and into the trees for the climb up to the lake



coming out on top.... are you ready for this?



Wow!



Crater



Lake's



Amazing



Another bridge for the Mike O fans



there's loads of this stuff going on all over Oregon.



and back for the Saturday night shenanigans



Some people were no-shows and weren't that highly thought of. :)



I've never seen so many Kermit's in one place.



DaFoole. Top fella and the world's a better place with folks like this in it.



A rather cheesy customer



Good people.

 
Leaving DaFoole's do, I headed North, up to Steve Carr's for the night. Going by my experience, it should be on every UKGSer's bucket list to attend an Advrider meeting.

There's a lot of watery stuff to see in Oregon.



They have some nice roads with posh armco.



and some great ocean views, but only when the fog clears.



Northern Oregon's got some good surf too.



But it's also bloomin windy!



Just a snap shot of the area.



Another gratuitous bridge shot



before arriving in Newport and spotting this strange structure.

 
Nestled away, in a quiet corner, overlooking the river, near to Newport, live Steve and Marina. Another lovely couple, who also had some travelling friends visiting. They also had a Canadian house guest, John, who'd been in a little traffic collision and was laid up whilst trying to get his bike repair sorted. They've taken him in and are really looking after him, so hopefully he'll be back on the road sometime soon.



Newport's a fishing town, and it was great to see all the boats in the harbour. I've not seen this many boats in a similar UK fishing port in years.



They've got a spiffing bridge over the river too.



But living here does have some associated risks.



Steve also said I should look out for this place. Dennis Robinson, you'd love this.

 
Leaving Steve and Marina, it was up the Oregon Coast, through the magic fog, and into Astoria. Many years ago, I watched Kindergarten Cop, which was filmed here and always said to myself, if I ever get to the USA, i'd like to see Astoria. Well, I made it.

This place used to be a two story car sales showroom. Back in the day, there was a huge fire in Astoria that wiped out most of the town. This building....



and the one next door, are two of the few remaining original buildings in the town.



The showroom is now a brew house, restaurant and bakery/cafe. Brian had arranged to meet us there.



Brian had said his wife, Gretchen Allen, was also coming to join us for dinner, but the really nice surprise was when their daughter, Alexis Mather turned up as well. For those not in the know, Alexis is one smart cookie, beautiful and has only recently handed back her crown from being Miss Oregon.



It's rather a nice place and we had some very nice pizza.



If you've seen Kindergarten Cop, you'll recognise this place.



Astoria is at the mouth of The Columbia River. It's rather big and there are a lot of container/bulk carrier ships using the natural harbour.



Mark's having bike troubles.



it appears the ethanol has eaten his fuel strip, so he has no idea how much is in his tank.



This bridge is something else and is another, lasting, memory of a few movies that have been filmed here over the years.



I was photo bombed by this muppet.



And we've made The Pacific



Yup, both of us.



Not only is the country big over here, the bugs are too.



The bridge is one hell of a piece of engineering, but my memory of Kindergarten Cop is that it used to be white.



We stayed two, really enjoyable nights, with laughter and banter and treated our hosts to dinner at this spot.



Right on the river, the little boats sail by.



Then Brian took us to see a couple of the Astoria sights.



This rather large anchor



an even bigger screw



It was slippery getting up there



and one of the bikes, to keep Mark happy

 
Brilliant RR. Waiting for more. :popcorn.

Just returned from a cage trip around the west coast. Some beautiful roads and scenery around that part of town begging for two wheels.
 


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