TAT 2018 Post 11 07/07/18

Day 7 of 9 completed. Departed Prineville, OR at 8:30 am heading to Crescent, OR 131 miles through open country and woods. We arrived in Crescent at 1:00 at a great motel named The Woodsman Country Lodge. I can’t say enough about this place. It is beautiful, clean and the owner is a great young guy that could not do enough to make our stay an enjoyable experience. I included several pics of the motel. You should stay here if at all possible.

Expected this to be a fast ride so we decided to still run two groups but keep close for support. I was in the 3 group in the back because I have the SAT phone that would be used for breakdowns or emergency. We’re too close to the finish to take any chances with delays so we are trying to provide as much support as possible. The 4 group took off first and because they are faster, soon were a mile or two in front of us. We met up several times during the ride, so I think this worked good for our style of riding.

The weather is perfect. Although it was very cold as we loaded the bikes this morning, we walked a short distance to have breakfast at a local spot before finally hitting the road. The temperature was in the low 50’s by the time we started.

The terrain in the first half was open country and we made really good time. Our progress slowed as we came into the woods, but the ride was pleasant except towards the end. At La Pine the TAT route came to a gate that said “road closed”. This meant we had to backtrack a few miles and work around this section. Not a big problem but it is something to look for. The road after the closed area that went into Crescent was terrible; sand, dust, ruts, etc. This road then took us into an area by a saw mill that had no trespassing signs everywhere. We drove on through and no one stopped us, but you may have to find a way around this place.

Miscellaneous events:

While getting ready to depart the motel at Prineville, we started having hot air balloons lift off right next to the motel. There was a dozen or more by the time we rode off.

We rode through several stretches that had red dirt that stuck to everything. It was very lite and made the bike a bit squirrely at speed.

One more note on The Woodsman Country Lodge. This is really a neat place. I even liked the toilet seat which I included a picture.

Woodrow had a close encounter with a cow yesterday that I forgot to mention in my last post. It crossed just in front of him at the last moment. Those things a really dumb and we have had to deal with them many times since entering Oregon.

I included a picture of Jason checking the spring on his kick stand yesterday, at least that’s the excuse he’s giving for giving his WR a nap.

We walked across the Street for some of the best Prime Rib any of us have ever had at the Big Foot Tavern. Can you pick out the real Big Foot in the close-up?

We also think we found the wolf that Terry said he saw a few days ago; picture included.

Finally, as we returned from dinner to lock up the bikes Terry found oil on the ground under his bike. It appears to be coming from the clutch case seal. After lots of discussion he decided to just top off the oil (took 1/8 quart) and carry the rest of the quart tomorrow in case he needs to do it again. Woodrow had to photo bomb Terry as he dealt with this crisis; picture included.

Tomorrow is a long day of 196 miles, all in the woods. We all plan on leaving around 5:30 am so we have plenty of time to get to our destination of Glendale, OR. Because of the distance and short range of several of the bikes we plan on the support truck meeting us at two different spots along the route.

325 miles left to go, and we are getting very excited about completing this adventure that we started in 2016.

I’ll try to get a post out tomorrow if I am not completely exhausted.

Ride Safe!

TAT 2018 Post 10 07/06/18

Day 6 of 9 completed. Departed John Day, OR at 5:15 am heading to Prineville, OR via 165 miles through the woods.

Once again, we broke up into 2 groups primarily because of the departure time. Mike, Jeff and Terry wanted to start early so we would be off the trail before the afternoon heat. Steve, Jason, Woodrow and Matty wanted to have breakfast and leave several hours later.

As for the route, it is primarily in the Oregon mountains with lots of trails of different degrees of difficulty. Lots of gravel roads as usual but Sam (TAT guru) has continued to throw in some more difficult stretches to keep us alert. Mostly rough tracks with rocks, holes and even some mud through very dense forest in narrow valleys.

We are amazed that we very rarely see ANYONE while in the forest. Occasionally a single camper but only when we were close to the start or the end near civilization. We were in the woods for 100 miles today and all alone the whole time.

The trail can be extremely rough in places and you have to consider how much strain do you want to put on your bike considering that a breakdown could mean a very difficult extraction of the broken bike and its rider. Some of the guys like to blast through these sections but I prefer to back the speed down to put less stress on tires and rims. You think of these things when you are 50 miles deep in the woods and nowhere close to help.

It is beautiful country and outdoor lovers living here have so much to appreciate.

As I stated earlier, three of us left at 5:15 am just as dawn began. It was in the hi 40’s and expected to warm up later in the day. We all dressed in our warm gear and headed west. It took us 6 hours to ride the 165 miles and we arrived in Prineville, OR around 11:15. Although it was relatively warm at the start it quickly got colder the higher we rode into the mountains.  It actually got down to 32 degrees at one point; lower than we had expected. Jeff has a thermometer on his GPS so we are sure of the measurement. We had the clothes to deal with this but were sure glad when the temp began to rise later in the morning. As for the early arrival; the temperature was getting much warmer just as we got to the motel, so I would still do it again.

The 2^nd group arrived at the motel several hours later with only minor issues from what they tell me.

One disadvantage of the early departure was the likelihood of deer or some other critter jumping in our path. We did see several deer but kept a sharp eye out and speeds low until later in the morning.

Misc events:

I’m number 3 in trail through some deep forest when Jeff says over the intercom “Get a picture of that bent over tree”. I immediately locked up both tires trying to stop in time to get the picture and caused the bike to skid off the road to the right. As it went over the edge I just stepped off the bike and let it slide down. What I didn’t consider was I was in pretty deep gravel at the time so big mistake for me. I included the picture of the stupid tree and my bike in the ditch.

I mentioned in a previous post that Terry swears he saw a wolf cross his path on one of the stretches. Well today he is in the lead in some heavy forest and he says, “some big animal just went into the brush just ahead of me, I think it was a moose!” Neither Jeff nor I saw said moose but in the middle of the path were two big, I mean real big, piles of fresh crap. This is more evidence than he had with the wolf story so once again we give him credit for an unknown big animal sighting.

All I saw earlier in the day was a cayote running across a field, not nearly as exciting.

We did see lots of cows on and near the road since we continually rode over cattle guards. At one point we are on a track that has a steep side going up on one side and down on the other and there were 6 or 7 cows in the middle of the road. Terry eased up and started herding them down the road with his bike by revving the engine. It worked, and they finally trotted off to one side or the other. Terry needs a cowboy hat to complete his riding clothing.

Somewhere deep in the woods Jeff discovers he had a chain guide that had lost its bolt and needed fixing. Of course, he pulls a box of metric bolts out of his gear bag and has just the right one to do the job. I want him with me on all adventure trips because he carries his whole garage in those bags.

We did come up on a big tree across the trail but easily got around it through the woods.

BTW, thanks again Marty for being at our refuel spot waiting patiently for us even though the groups were several hours apart.

Tomorrow should be an easy day; I’ve said that before. 125 miles to Crescent, OR with what looks like half in open country and half in the woods. Weather continues to be excellent so not sure yet of our departure times or group configuration.

Enjoy the pics.

Ride Safe!

TAT-4 Post 9 5Jul18 pictures

TAT 2018 Post 08 07/05/18

Day 5 of 9 completed. This actually turned out to be a very good day; 193 miles in ~7 hours. Lots happened, and I have many pictures to share (if I can this slow Wi-Fi to download them at all).

We departed Ontario, OR enroute to John Day, OR in two groups again; 184 miles. Jeff and I started at 7 am hoping to make some miles before the forecasted 100+ degree temperatures arrived later in the day. I also ride slower than the other guys so wanted a head start. The remaining five riders (Steve, Terry, Jason, Woodrow & Matty) left at 7:30. Our first stop was planned to be 84 miles down the trail where we would meet Marty in the Support Tuck for fuel. Marty as always was waiting along side the road with fuel and refreshments. Jeff and I only took a small bit of extra fuel because we knew that the other bikes behind us would need more than we did; smaller tanks.

The terrain for this stretch was very scenic and gave us lots to experience. The first half was beautiful rolling hills with no trees anywhere. I took several pictures to give you an idea of what we saw. The second half was forest with lots of climbs and descents and in one stretch with some of the most difficult trails we have encounter since crossing the Rocky Mountain passes last August 2017.

Animals:

Deer jumping out of the bushes right next to the trail, snake on the road, coyote running up a hill, long horn cow, eagle, bulls blocking the trail and Terry swears he had a wolf cross right in front of him on one of the mountain tracks. Terry is pretty reliable, so we are giving him credit for a wolf which beats all the rest of the sightings. We also came upon a dead cow next to the trail but I won’t post its picture.

The temperature most of the day was around mid to high 70’s and great for riding. Later in the day the temperature rose quickly and was over 90 by the time we hit the motel at 2 pm. We were all glad to be done by then. BTW we have been extremely lucky with the weather; no rain or mud (up to now). We’ve ridden lots of trails that have deep ruts caused by previous wet weather so we are very thankful.

The TAT route we are using mixes up the riding, so you don’t get bored. The rolling hills provided lots of turns and decent roads except for the occasional gravel sections. The forest and mountains had lots of varying tracks with gravel, sand, rocks and even some terrific pavement with lots of turns. The one spot I will give more detail on is the climb/descent we made on a rough, rocky section that was barely wide enough for an ATV. It was not a dual-track like most of the TAT but a single lane through lots of brush. It included deep ruts, baby head size rocks (lots), off angle track and many opportunities to drop your bike in a very bad spot. What makes this a strong memory for me is that I hadn’t ridden anything this bad since Ophir Pass in Colorado. I was doing ok but was keeping it slow because a fall would definitely mean damage to me or the bike. At one point I glanced in my rear-view mirror and all I see is a bright headlight and a blue motorcycle right on my a__! I said over the intercom to Jeff “WTF, some a__h___ is on my tail wanting to pass!” I pulled over where I could, and he sped by. That’s when I recognized it was Steve and the 2^nd group catching up with us at the worse possible place.

We all pulled over and discussed our riding experiences up to this meeting. As I predicted, they were riding much faster than I wanted too and that’s how they made up the 30-minute lag in time. Terry decided to join up with Jeff and I, so we let the speed freaks leave first and then us 3 left a short time later. We met up several more times later and arrived at the motel about the same time.

Lastly, Jeff ran out of gas 3 miles from the hotel, so we had to stop and pull his RotoPax off to give him enough gas to finish today’s ride. Guess he didn’t get enough fuel and the meet up with the support truck.

If there are no pictures with this post it’s because att service here is lousy so I will upload them tomorrow at the next motel.

Ride Safe!

TAT 2018 Post 07 07/04/18

Day 4 of 9 completed. This actually turned out to be the easiest day so far; 141 miles in ~7 hours.

We pulled out of the Boise Hotel at 7:30 am but being a holiday, traffic was very lite. We had to ride about 10-15 miles back north to hook back up with the TAT but it was on paved road so made good progress. In fact, the TAT continued on Hwy 21 for about 35 miles until we arrived at Idaho City. It was cold though and we were all dressed in our heavy riding gear; 47 degrees.

At Idaho City we stopped to do gear checks and decided that a group of 7 riders is just too hard to manage in traffic and even bike to bike communication in the forest/mountains is difficult. As a result, three of us broke off and headed out (Mike, Jeff and Jason) while the remaining four followed about 30 minutes later (Steve, Terry, Woodrow, Matty). We did this same thing on previous legs and found that since we are on the same trail and eventually cross paths plus end up at the same spot, it’s a much more enjoyable ride for everyone.

Not a lot to report since this was pretty easy riding except for lots of gravel roads. The terrain is totally different from the previous two days. Not much forest. No mountains but lots of open rolling hills. We made excellent time and went through several small towns that ensured we had fuel the whole way.

Days events:

The group of three were riding on a stretch of pavement and I hear Jeff shout “Jason, you just ran over a snake”. Sure enough, Jason was messing with his GPS and looked up just as he rolled over a 5 ft snake; not sure what kind. By the time I passed, it was not happy but continued to slither across the rest of the road.

I’m number 3 in trail on a gravel road with lots of deep gravel piles so I’m taking it pretty easy when I hear something like a Buzz saw coming up behind me fast. A young guy on a motocross dirt bike passed me like I was standing still, back end slewing back and forth with gravel flying out behind. I alerted the two riders ahead of me when I heard another buzz saw coming up again. This time it was a small 8-10-year-old kid on a bike barely up to my knees screaming down the road, also skidding at every corner. Finally, another motocross bike passed with an adult right behind the kid on the mini-bike. Just as fast as the first two but he did wave as he passed. They turned off the gravel road a short distance after passing us and headed up a steep single track over one of the rolling hills. That kid was riding like a pro so I’m sure he thought we were a bunch of wimps with the way we were riding.

Both groups arrived at the motel in Ontario, OR within 20 minutes of each other. We couldn’t believe we had plenty of free time to clean and maintain the bikes after the three previous long days.

Not a lot of pictures today.

Tomorrow is a 172-mile day across some pretty open terrain in eastern Oregon and we will spend the night at a small-town named John Day. Hard to believe we are finally in the last state of our TAT adventure from coast to coast through 13 states.

South Carolina

Georgia

Tennessee

Alabama

Mississippi

Arkansas

Oklahoma

Kansas

New Mexico

Colorado

Utah

Idaho

Oregon

Ride Safe!